Notes from the Field - Thus far in this volunteer program, I have been given the motivation and the ability to really re-evaluate why I want to live a "weird" life by the standards of general society. With the focus on simplicity, spirituality, social justice and community, I have already explored and learned so much, and I am coming to a better understanding of what I want my life to look like.

The Sisters of Mercy hosted an hour-long webinar June 6 to talk about how fracking affects human rights, like access to clean water. "If we take Pope Francis' words to heart, this crisis is so large, we have to do something," said Sr. Mary Pendergast.

Representing Catholic Scholars for Worker Justice, I joined about 100 others from around the world from May 2-5 at Notre Dame University in Rome to share experiences and challenges in this age of climate change and economic globalization at the "Sustainable Development and the Future of Work in the Context of the Jubilee of Mercy."

Sr. Philomena Pichhappilly, a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Chambery, left the comforts of a convent to live in a slum 10 years ago. She arrived at this corner of the central Indian city of Nagpur when it had no proper roads, water or electricity. People lived in tin-roofed huts with walls made of sheets, clothes and other materials. A lot has changed since then.

In the Central Highlands, growing bananas is the main source of income for some of Vietnam's ethnic minorities. The Saint Paul de Chartres Sisters have run a bananas-for-rice trading program for more than 20 years, providing basic foods to the struggling farmers who can't get adequate payments from typical buyers.

"Maybe we, people of faith, have not done a very good job demonstrating the interconnectedness of all life and the importance of interdependence."

Education is the undergirding foundation for all of the U.N.s Sustainable Development Goals, and to achieve that kind of "civic learning" involves advancing a social justice approach. Catholic sisters have a role to play in this.

"Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me."

In 1987, Mercy Sr. Gerrie Naughton went door-to-door in her new town in Las Milpas, Texas, meeting families to get a sense of the community's needs. Few people in the town of 12,000 spoke English, and a majority of the families lived off a yearly income of $7,000. They had no fire department, public lighting, paved streets, drainage system, clinic, or public transportation. She would not do for the community what the community could do for itself, so in 1989, Naughton founded ARISE with five immigrant women all eager to change their lives for the better. The grassroots network now serves hundreds of members in four areas around Pharr: Las Milpas, Muniz, Hargill, and South Tower.