GSR Today - A week back I had the pleasure of spending an afternoon and evening with the Dominican sisters in San Rafael, California. Over a dinner meal several of us talked about books and which authors had influenced our thinking in recent years. Someone asked me: “Which book, published in recent years or decades, most influenced my thinking?”

"Sophia Wisdom, wound with the turnings of time and space . . . ."

The opening song line, “Summertime, and the livin’ is easy,” runs through my mind this August. I wish the living were easy. But with the papal encyclical and the drum beat of climate change steadily speeding up, life is less than easy for those working in solidarity with our many suffering brothers and sisters around the planet — nor is it easy for those living on the frontlines of climate change.

In the face of encroaching farming that is causing deforestation of Vietnam’s central highlands and pushing out the ethnic minorities who have lived there for decades, sisters from the Mary Queen of Peace Congregation are striving to collect traditional crafts from these disadvantaged people as a way to conserve their traditions and cultures. Sr. Mary Nguyen Thi Thuan also runs a hostel for 130 children from 13 ethnic groups. They are able study at local schools and are given free accommodation and meals by the sisters, who also teach them how to play traditional musical instruments and dance to perform at festivals and public ceremonies.

See for Yourself - Much of the world considers the Christmas season to be “the most wonderful time of the year.” Yes, I, too, love the holidays from Thanksgiving through Epiphany featuring a magnificent convergence of religious, familial and social traditions. But I pick right now as wonderful.

Nuns on the Bus is hitting the road again, starting in St. Louis and ending up in Washington, D.C., in time for the pope's visit to our nation's capital. Sr. Simone Campbell is once again the driving force behind the newest iteration of the “Nuns on the Bus” phenomenon; she thinks whatever their modes of travel, both the pope and the Catholic sisters are united in their core themes: a faith-based promotion of economic justice and political consensus for the common good.

"When women are empowered, whole families benefit, and these benefits often have a ripple effect on future generations."

Sr. Deborah Marie Dunevant is a Daughter of St. Paul, and it would be easy for those who aren't familiar with the congregation to make assumptions based on its conservative dress. But the congregation, celebrating its 100th year in 2015, is dedicated to communicating Christ through all forms of media.

GSR Today - We youths are an optimistic (albeit sometimes cynical) bunch. Maybe it’s sheer arrogance that leads us to believe that our chosen paths will continue to be available to us despite all empirical evidence to the contrary. Or maybe it’s a sense that even if the outward appearance of things change, the fundamental values can remain the same. 

From A Nun's Life podcasts - Is God keeping score — why do sinners seem more successful than I am?