GSR Today - Three hundred and sixty-four days ago, in the deep dark of night, the Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine of Siena fled their home in Qaraqosh, Iraq. The sisters were some of the last Christians to leave this region.

This summer, Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary have made national headlines over their conflict with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles about who had the right to sell the sisters’ villa-style convent in the city’s hip Los Feliz neighborhood. The conflict centers on who officially controls the property, and, therefore, who has a right to sell it, but speaks to larger issues: What are the property rights of women religious, and what can happen when conflicts over property arise? Whether it is a school, hospital, thrift store or herd of livestock, property ownership has been a central component to most religious institutions throughout history, especially in the United States.

Three Stats and a Map - With fewer and fewer parishes and a growing Catholic population, are we about to witness the rise of the Catholic megaparish?

Released with nowhere to go, dozens of undocumented immigrants flooded a church respite center in McAllen, Texas, after the Border Patrol set them free without bus tickets in July. The facility added an extra tent to accommodate the numbers. “We have had upwards of 60 to 65 people spending the night over the last few weeks,” said Deb Boyce, volunteer group coordinator for Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley. “Our numbers have almost doubled because they were being released without bus tickets. They had to stay overnight.”

Patrick Morgan, 57, serves as an ESL teacher at the Brooklyn, N.Y.-based Dorothy Bennett Mercy Center, which empowers families to overcome negative influences that impact their well-being and self-sufficiency.

"The daily unfolding has a beauty of its own as time slowly blossoms into full flower."

Jesus and Buddha, it has been said, discovered the same spiritual landscape. With that wisdom tucked away in my heart I have taken myself twice a week for the last two years to zazen, otherwise known as Buddhist sitting meditation, with an interfaith prayer group that meets close to my home.

Notes from the Field - “Live and Learn,” the saying goes, so I try to learn from where I live and observe my surroundings to gain knowledge from them. That said, there are a few things I have learned from living in a developing country that I didn’t know before I came to Ethiopia. For one, it's not easy to run a mission.

Sr. Mary Dominic Nguyen Thi Hao of the Congregation of Our Lady of the Missions has cared for sex workers in Ho Chi Minh City for 10 years. Her ministry focuses more on teaching about disease prevention than lecturing on moral lessons, since the women tend to be poor and uneducated. Hao, 73, also performs pro-life work by setting up houses for women experiencing unwanted pregnancies to live under her support until they give birth.

"Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after another."