For the first time, Georgetown University's Center of Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) conducted a study on men and women who have just entered religious institutes.

Eight more families of asylum-seekers were released from federal detention after they were rounded up in a federal deportation effort last month, bringing the total to 33 people in 12 families who have been released so far.

"The whole universe and all events are sacred (doorways to the divine) for those who know how to see. In other words, everything that happens is potentially sacred if you allow it to be."

GSR Today - We live in a society that has historically told and continues to tell black girls that they are not enough. So it takes a certain courage for black women to say, "No, we are beautiful, we are made in the image of God, and we are more than enough." It takes a certain courage to celebrate our blackness without apology and without caveat, and to insist that we are worthy of respect.

GSR Today - Today, Feb. 8, is the International Day of Prayer and Awareness Against Human Trafficking, and it's no coincidence that it is also the feast day of St. Josephine Bakhita: The date was chosen at the request of women religious to highlight her life.

After being involved with anti-trafficking efforts for 10 years, I received a grant from the Louisville Institute to study the resilience of women who have been trafficked here in the United States. Through my interviews, I discovered a face of the human trafficking reality that is rarely addressed. Survivors themselves made it clear that they would like more focus on their growth, goals and strength — on who they have become in their own resilience.

There is a prevalence of albinism in certain parts of Africa and people living there with the condition are at risk; they are shunned, they are attacked, and witchdoctors use their body parts for potions to bring wealth. In Tanzania sisters offer protection at residential schools and work with other activists who are trying to halt this practice with a simple message: People with albinism are just regular people.

Sr. Imelda Poole of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary is president of RENATE (Religious in Europe Networking Against Trafficking and Exploitation). On Sunday, Feb. 7, Poole, 69, attended a prayer service in St. Paul's Cathedral in the Albanian capital Tirana, where she has been based for the past 10 years establishing her Mary Ward Loreto Foundation, which works in the field of trafficking.

From A Nun's Life podcasts - How do I find a spiritual pen-pal? In this Random Nun Clip, a listener asks how to find a pen-pal for spiritual convo (conversation).

See for Yourself - Latitude and longitude are fine if you're traveling from one place to another. But what about inner travels? What about moving forward with my life or career or relationships or any number of other things? There aren't maps published for those.