The food pantry where I serve is a former Catholic church. Some years ago, volunteers came in, removed the pews and replaced them with shelves that hold the groceries we give away. The heavenly food of the Eucharist, once received here, has been exchanged for an earthly fare: rice, beans, fresh veggies and fruit, milk, meat, and other good stuff. Now, many — often broken and desperate — who reflect Christ's body, form community as they wait in the exact place formerly reserved for the blessed sacrament.

"There is a growing awareness that scientific and technological progress cannot be equated with the progress of humanity and history, a growing sense that the way to a better future lies elsewhere. "

Three sisters from around the country came together online March 8 to share their best memories, enthusiasm and hopes for religious life in honor of National Catholic Sisters Week.

See for Yourself - Something my brother said to his youngest daughter got me thinking: "Don't go through life with a catcher's mitt on both hands. You need to be able to throw something back."

I suppose being tossed from one side of the emotional spectrum to the other shouldn't really come as a "spiritual surprise," since it seems to have happened even to the disciples as they journeyed with Jesus.

"Frozen colors unite in dreams that need thawing under the light of compassion."

Sr. Simone Campbell suggests that senior clergy at the Vatican are more preoccupied with power than confronting issues that affect the faithful, like clerical sexual abuse. "These men worry more about the form and the institution than about real people," says the Sister of Social Service.

Participants at AMOR XVII in Yangon, Myanmar, said they would carry with them the message of ecological conversion and an affirmation of the meeting's importance in strengthening the work of religious in the region.

From A Nun's Life podcasts - When you have different Lent goals, it can be hard to be around certain "more enthusiastic" Catholics. A listener asks, "Should I give up tiresome friends for Lent?"

Six years after a major earthquake and tsunami triggered a meltdown at nuclear reactors in Fukushima, Japan, Catholic women religious are still working with the thousands of people the triple disasters affected.