by Joshua J. McElwee
From the Sept. 24 Vespers - Pope Francis has poignantly thanked U.S. Catholic women religious — until recently the subject of two controversial Vatican investigations — for their work in building and maintaining the church throughout the country.
Sr. Chantal Vu Thi Tho, 81, is a Saint Paul de Chartres nun who has served as director of Son Ca Center for orphans and children with physical disabilities based in Hue City, central Vietnam, since 1991 when she got government permission to reopen it. She asked for funds from foreign benefactors and built new facilities that now freely house 65 children served by four sisters and 10 workers.
Commentary - Were you not, like me, proud the first five U.S. citizens Pope Francis greeted as he stepped off his Alitalia flight from Havana were African-American? On U.S. soil for the first time, the pope met President Barack Obama; his wife, Michelle; their daughters, Malia and Sasha; and Michelle's mother, Marian Robinson. How society has changed.
by Joshua J. McElwee
Pope Francis made an unscheduled visit to a U.S. community of Catholic women religious that has been fighting against an Obama administration mandate covering contraceptives in health care plans, the Vatican spokesman said late Sept. 23.
by GSR Staff
“Look! I am making something new. Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?”
by GSR Staff
GSR Today - The NCRonline.org site is hosting daily "Following Francis" news blogs, which are updated as reports come in. Since GSR's Sr. Jan Cebula was in D.C. with Nuns on the Bus, she has her own glimpse of the pope's reception at the White House.
The eldest of nine children, Sr. Lucía Aurora Herrerías Guerra was born in Mexico City and joined the Verbum Dei Missionary Fraternity in 1976. She completed theological studies in Manila at the University of St. Thomas in 1985, a doctorate in philosophy at Gregorian University of Rome in 1995, worked as a missionary in Spain, Australia, the Philippines, Mexico and Italy, and taught philosophy for many years. She was president of the Verbum Dei Missionary Fraternity from 2012 to 2018.
by Elizabeth Eisenstadt Evans
Contributor
On his six-day swing through three East Coast cities this week, Pope Francis will be warmly welcomed by diplomats, members of Congress and princes of the church. The young and the marginalized so close to his heart and mind — homeless men and women, prisoners, students — are also prominent on his itinerary. But because the pope's stay will be short, he may not have the opportunity to spend significant time with many of the religious women whose grit and compassion power many local ministries and institutions in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and New York. We talked to six sisters who we suggest he would do well to meet with.
by Jan Cebula
Nuns on the Bus Blog - As I write this, we are on the bus on our way to Washington, having made our last stop in Wheeling, West Virginia. During the silent time of our prayer this morning, the faces of people we have met along the way kept rolling through my mind. Next this Scripture passage was read: “Look! I am making something new. Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” (Is. 43:19-21) How appropriate!
The 2015 Nuns on the Bus tour concluded here Tuesday with a rally on the National Mall hours ahead of Pope Francis' arrival in the United States. On their 13-day tour, the sisters hosted 33 events in in eight states to "connect with real people — and to hear about the injustices they encounter daily," according to the Nuns on the Bus website. The theme of the fourth annual trip: "Bridge the Divides, Transform Politics." "If we can't face and bridge the divides here, where else can we expect it to be done?" asked Social Service Sr. Simone Campbell, leader of the bus tour and executive director of NETWORK, a Catholic social justice lobby.
