NCR Preview - Women play a key role in helping to fulfill Pope Francis' message of mercy, service and compassion, three women leaders of the largest Catholic social service organizations said in a panel discussion at Georgetown University on Oct. 22.  

NCR Preview - The leader of the umbrella group for some 600,000 global Catholic women religious has said that in the wake of this month's Synod of Bishops the women are called to carry forth the pastoral work that the official church is sometimes not able to do. Sr. Carmen Sammut — who participated in the Oct. 4-25 Synod as one of 32 women who took part in non-voting roles alongside the 270 prelate-members — said the women religious should engage with people church institutions may not even know need help.

GSR Today - Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Mexico and others as Hurricane Patricia has passed through. And we remember the sisters who were killed 35 years ago in El Salvador and 23 years ago in Liberia.

The way the Sisters of Charity of Our Lady of Mercy have been responding to people's needs has changed dramatically in recent decades. Founded in 1829, the congregation had 110 sisters at its peak in the 1960s. Now there are 14, so they partner with other groups under the nonprofit Our Lady of Mercy Community Outreach to serve more than 11,000 people a year. The largest effort is on Johns Island, where it has a health and dental clinic and the largest program in the country that teaches English to speakers of other languages. Founded in 1989, just two weeks before Hurricane Hugo devastated the area, the organization took over operating Neighborhood House from the Charleston diocese in 2005.

Reducing the illiteracy rate among the less privileged children in Patna, especially of the girls, who have only a 53.3 percent literacy rate, is how they can advance in life and be stronger members of the community and nation. In India, women and men are denied the opportunity to go to school for a variety of reasons, like having to become bread winners for their families or have running away from home due to sheer hunger.

"All Members shall settle their international disputes by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security, and justice, are not endangered."

"God used beautiful mathematics in creating the world."

It was September, and we had been in Ecuador for almost two months. As Rostro de Cristo volunteers attempting to live simply in intentional community, we didn’t have many treats. One Sunday, we realized there was some left-over money from the previous week. Two of my community mates decided to try a banana cake recipe they’d read about. Finally! It had been too long since we’d tasted home-baked dessert. We waited in joyful hope as they mixed delicious ingredients at our kitchen counter and put the pan in the oven. A sweet aroma danced through the house, priming our senses for post-meal paradise.

The Economic and Social Council Chamber at the United Nations headquarters is typically buzzing with ambassadors and representatives in suits and interns frantically taking notes, creating a constant clicking of pens and laptops. But on Oct. 10, 2014, I walked into the ECOSOC chamber to find hundreds of girls from around the country with their mentors, chatting and anxious for the event that was about to start: The Speak Out is in celebration of the International Day of the Girl, a day declared by the General Assembly in 2011 in recognition of the potential and importance of girls. The day is a global movement that refreshes activists and advocates to continue their fight for the full recognition of girls’ human rights.