Agnes Nguyen Minh Hanh had an unhappy marriage. Her husband, a heavy drinker and gambler, beat her, sold their house to pay off debts, and abandoned her to live with other women. So she moved back to her own mother’s home and led a lonely life. Her changed, though, when she entered the local Secular Order Discalced Carmelite Community based in Hue City. “I follow St. Teresa of Avila’s spirituality and find peace in my mind,” said the 44-year-old mother who works as a grocer at a local market to support her two children. Hanh is among 100 lay Carmelites working in the Hue archdiocese. They gather weekly at churches to pray, care for patients, visit people who ignore practicing the faith and serve at funerals.

A star attraction at a recent meeting of moral theologians of Asia here was Sr. Vimala Chenginimattam, a member of the Congregation of Mother Carmel, an indigenous order for women. She is the first Indian woman to secure a doctorate in moral theology.

As Social Service Sr. Simone Campbell and the Nuns on the Bus tour bus rolled onto St. Louis' Kiener Plaza on Thursday, a crowd of about 70 people — many women religious — began to cheer. The cheers continued as Campbell emerged from the bus to kick off the 2015 tour, the latest iteration of what has become Campbell's annual tradition of traveling the country talking to people. "What a treat it is to be here in St. Louis with our very subtle bus," she joked when she reached the microphone. But then her tone turned serious as she described St. Louis as a symbol of both the darkness and the light of the United States.

There is a restless peace among women religious. The Vatican and the congregations of women religious in the United States have completed the apostolic visitation process initiated by the Vatican. Some people will continue to debate the terms of the settlement between LCWR and CDF, but sisters are moving to other issues. Sisters were passionately involved in other issues before and during and these events. But before we squander this moment, it would be a loss not to seek its fullest meanings, its learnings. What can we discover in these events? What we will take with us from this crucible? How do we navigate an environment relatively free from conflict between the official church and women religious in the United States?

"Rejoice and leap for joy on that day! Behold, your reward will be great in heaven."

See for Yourself - The second most popular book in the world after the Bible is The Diary of Anne Frank. Her writings, though, weren’t published until eight years after the diary was found in the secret hiding place by Miep Gies, a loyal friend to Otto Frank (her father) and the others who hid in the upper room of the Amsterdam office building for 25 months.

“Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.”

“We speak of the great deep as a reserved or wisdom that we believe can be accessed by living a life of contemplation.”

GSR Today - Last week, finally, all eyes were on the refugee crisis caused by instability in Syria that has been going on for years. “Europe is being tested as it has not been tested since the Second World War," said Lord Jonathan Sacks of the United Kingdom.

Nuns on the Bus starts its 2015 tour this week with a route that passes through "deep red and purple states" on the way to Washington, D.C. The sisters' Sept. 10-24 tour coincides with Pope Francis' Sept. 22-24 visit to Washington. In response to the pope's call for transforming politics for the common good, the sisters will highlight economic inequality and cuts in health care and education that they say not only disproportionately affect those dependent on government assistance, but also exhibit a disregard for their struggles and exacerbate the growing gap between the rich and poor.