"I have always wanted to become a saint. Unfortunately, when I have compared myself with the saints, I have always found that there is the same difference between the saints and me as there is between a mountain whose summit is lost in the clouds and a humble grain of sand trodden underfoot by passers-by."

When Pope Francis released "Laudato Si', On Care for Our Common Home," the title of the encyclical emphasized a shared responsibility to protect the Earth, but Franciscan Sr. Mary Francis Wangare was already preaching this concept. As director of the Office of Justice, Peace & Integrity of Creation Franciscan Africa, she recently coordinated a second annual interfaith environment conference for youth in Kenya. About 600 people participated, and Global Sisters Report shares reactions from six of them.

See for Yourself - Aunt Myrt had a unique outlook on many things. I was young when she passed away, so I was never sure if her comments were sincere or just for shock value.

Benedictine Srs. Carol Ann McLaughlin and Rita Groner take their 13-year-old miniature poodle, Rusty, to various places in Erie, Pennsylvania, to provide therapy. They visit nursing homes, schools, hospitals — wherever they are needed. McLaughlin and Groner adopted Rusty from a friend who had fostered him. When they visited the then-4-year-old dog, he jumped right into their laps, McLaughlin said.

Lovers of the Holy Cross of Thu Thiem sisters have challenged the government ownership of their former education facilities in a developing riverside district of Ho Chi Minh City after they staged a rare prayer protest Oct. 22-44 against destruction of their property.

I have done justice training with the project staff in Kolwezi, Democratic Republic of the Congo since 2013, so I was anticipating the release of the video "Maisha: A New Life Outside the Mines." I was told it was a documentary of the work of the Good Shepherd ministry being done there. And so it is — and quite a good documentary at that.

Notes from the Field - After graduating from college in the spring of 2015, my husband, Ian, and I moved from Michigan to Kermit, West Virginia, to live and work at the Big Laurel Learning Center where we both help Sr. Kathy O'Hagan and Sr. Gretchen Shaffer explore ways to make it more sustainable by helping to host various work groups throughout the year.

GSR Today - Right now, Missouri executes death row inmates faster than any other state — reportedly about one inmate a month, outpacing even Texas’ per capita execution rate. Last week, prominent death penalty opponent St. Joseph Sr. Helen Prejean was in Kansas City to discuss Missouri’s capital punishment situation. 

Sr. Elizabeth Tran Thi Quynh Giao, former provincial superior of Franciscan Missionaries of Mary in Vietnam, has spent more than 15 years training and building the Apostolic Institute of the Annunciation. The institute aims to give chances to poor, uneducated women in northern Vietnam so they can become nuns and serve other people. It was founded by the late Cardinal Archbishop Paul Joseph Pham Dinh Tung of Hanoi when Vietnam started to open its doors to the outside world and ease its religious policies.