Mary McCauley is a Sister of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary whose past ministries include administering at the BVM nursing home and directing health care ministry for an archdiocese. She served as pastoral administrator at three parishes, including St. Bridget's in Postville, a town of 2,200 people in northeast Iowa, where on May 12, 2008, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) carried out a raid at a meatpacking plant , a moment she says was "transforming."

GSR Today - I visited Thailand in 2008 and met members of the Karen community, including the Mae Pon Sisters. I never dreamed I would be meeting Karen community members from Myanmar (Burma) in Aberdeen, South Dakota.

The latest Conference on the History of Women Religious was June 26-29 at Santa Clara University, the group's 10th such gathering. This year, scholars presented papers to the approximately 100 attendees on topics like pioneer sisters in the American West, the makeup of international sisters now in the United States, and how the concept of the "modern girl" changed religious formation in 20th-century Great Britain.

The Sisters of Mercy, the largest order of women religious in the United States, are among the communities being asked to come to Rome for further conversation following the apostolic visitation, Global Sisters Report has learned.

Trains have always held an almost mystical fascination for me. I have often lived near railroad tracks. Growing up in a suburb of Chicago, I lived a block away from the Harrison Street "El" (the Chicago Transit Authority Elevated Line) which today purports to speed you to downtown Chicago in only 11 minutes.

In September 2014, three Xaverian sisters were murdered at their convent, despite having police protection, in the small country of Burundi, in central Africa. The murders remain unsolved, but the missionary order also remains dedicated to staying where they have served since 1964.

GSR Today - Publications just love to give readers a summer reading list, but my list is, ahem, slightly different than the usual light beach reading. Here are two very long stories you'll want to sit down and spend time with. And, unlike those beach reads, these may just change your perspective.

Shortly after Srs. Olga Raschietti, Lucia Pulici, and Bernardetta Boggian were killed, the Xaverian Missionaries of Mary issued a statement expressing gratitude to the women for "giving their lives to the end, and to all who sent messages of support and solidarity. Here are a few words about their lives. Related - Murders in Burundi: Missionary order reckons with killing of three sisters

"Keep your language. Love its sounds, its modulation, its rhythm. But try to march together with men of different languages, remote from your own, who wish like you for a more just and human world."

See for Yourself - Sitting across from my sister at a recent family gathering was a perfect location for me when her granddaughter climbed up on her lap clutching a "Curious George" book. We looked knowingly at each other as my sister situated little Samantha on her lap and pointed to the book.