"For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens."

Thanks to a new $240,000 grant from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University will conduct four studies of women religious and host a visiting scholar.

Sisters from various congregations are offering emergency aid to tens of thousands of flooding victims in central Vietnam. Some sisters are collecting food, clothing and health care to give to people impacted by the floods, while others are providing donations.

Remember the romantic musical "South Pacific"? The idyllic life where people lived peacefully together in unlimited sunshine surrounded by white sandy beaches, swaying palm trees and turquoise waters was so mesmerizing. Unfortunately, our fantasies keep us from seeing some of the harsh realities beyond the beaches. Sr. Judith Moore was the provincial of the Missionary Sisters of the Society of Mary and also the secretary for the Conference of Religious Women and Men.

Notes from the Field - In mid-2015, while sitting in an office that overlooked the Hudson River in a tall skyscraper in downtown Manhattan, I realized that there was more to life than reviewing financial policies and attending endless meetings.

Sharing 164 acres of Jubilee Farm with heritage chickens is one of several examples of the philosophy of sustainability that is foundational to this ministry of the Dominican Sisters of Springfield, Illinois. The farm was purchased in 1999 to "honor the Year of Jubilee and its biblical injunction to let the land lie fallow, to honor Earth and support the delicate bioregion."

"Globally, there is deeper awareness about the social concerns facing our world that cannot be handled without cooperation. We need each other to transform our world."

Everyone is born with worth and dignity, choices and opportunities. Unfortunately, some individuals enlarge their own choices and opportunities at the expense of others by creating unjust systems and structures. This deprivation of the humanity of others became clearer to me as a provincial of my religious community some years ago.

A new book by Sr. Susan K. Wood, a theologian and Sister of Charity of Leavenworth, and Timothy J. Wengert, a Lutheran historian, sheds light on the similarities and differences of Catholicism and Lutheranism in time for the start of the 500th anniversary of the start of the Reformation.