What does it mean to be truly connected in this day and age? For one, it means being a part of a much more realistic worldwide web than the one on my phone or computer screen. It means connecting with real people and recognizing that those connections have implications and expectations.

Women religious are often the first people to discover problems emerging in society because they work directly with so many people in need, an anti-trafficking advocate said. However, because religious focus more on providing assistance than publicizing their efforts, the rest of the world is often slower to catch on to where there is trouble.

"Indigenous peoples have the collective right to live in freedom, peace and security as distinct peoples and shall not be subjected to any act of genocide or any other act of violence, including forcibly removing children of the group to another group."

See for Yourself - I shifted in the pew, fully expecting that the homilist was finally getting to the pith-y moment. You know the moment — when everything culminates in a zinger line to think about. The liturgy on this Sunday was no different.

The Ethiopian government closed almost all private orphanages starting in 2011, including dozens run by sisters. Now, sisters are ministering to children by running temporary group homes for them. These semi-orphanages are part of an effort to place children back within their communities.

Since 2010, Sr. Valorie Lordi has volunteered her time each summer ministering to children and youth in rural Haitian villages, and her connection to the Haitian people is "part of her daily life throughout the year." And in recent weeks, concern about Haiti has become a consuming worry.

At the LCWR Assembly in August, I had the good fortune and distinct honor of being in a small discussion group of young leaders that inspired and challenged me, leaving me with a feeling of buoyancy. The most lasting aspect of our conversations, partnered with the other dialogues and addresses of the assembly, was the consistent and virtually universal sense that the changes occurring in women's religious life right now are demanding of us not just something new and different, but something transformative.

"Waters wash clean the unsettled within. What do our waters need to purge inside?"

"We will digest the sorrow and beauty again and again showing up, praying, working. What else can we do but Love the world as deeply as we can?"

GSR Today -  On All Saints' Day, the Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine of Siena living in Irbil, Iraq, wrote a letter to their supporters across the world, to update them on the situation in Iraq.