After arriving in West Virginia in 1976, St. Joseph Sr. Gretchen Shaffer co-founded a school for a town that didn't have one. Though retired now, she is still a constant presence in the area, continuing to minister to the powerless.

"You have to be a visionary – to see the beauty, to hold the truth, to see in a way others don’t."

Notes from the Field - Most people would agree that time flies. But for me, it did not. My year of service was slow. The year never seemed to end, but I appreciated that I had more time to enjoy the year and to do the work that I set out to accomplish.

"If standing up for justice and for peace for all people should call us to leave behind what's comfortable and what's safe, will we, too, be compelled?"

An international network of priest associations and reform groups gathered in Chicago last October. I was eager to see if wounds previously felt by the group around women's issues in the church had healed. Would there be any movement in the group's willingness to accept women in more visible liturgical roles? Or would the same fears and concerns resurface?

Sr. Mary Joan Njeri, an OB-GYN, made a conscious decision to work in a public hospital where women in Nairobi's largest slum who can't afford to go anywhere else come and give birth.

"I am hopeful to maintain this awakened outlook in the face of a world seeming to bleed and disintegrate endlessly as it cries for release from the force of some kind of captivity.  "

After the Cold War, Catholic sisters and peace activists never entirely dropped the issue of nuclear disarmament. But now, rising international tensions and the election of Donald Trump have renewed worries about the proliferation and the nuclear threat to life on Earth.

The Leadership Conference of Women Religious issued a statement Monday about the executive orders that President Donald Trump issued Jan. 27, saying they show "misplaced priorities," denigrate American values and endanger all citizens.

The complex struggles of migrants reached a peak in 2016; at the same time, nations receiving or refusing migrants were involved in bitter debates and social crises. Global stability trembled with protracted regional wars and uneasy economic situations; political pressure toward isolationism was associated with rampant terrorism across borders. Migrants were literally left out in the cold, reviled and dying on borders that were next to what seemed to be rich utopias.