Sr. Gabriel Mary Spaeth, SSND, and another School Sister administered hundreds of assessments over 16 years, carefully recording and transcribing the results of tests on 678 sisters in their U.S. community, to study the causes and effects of Alzheimer's disease. The data they carefully collected became the basis of the Nun Study, which led to groundbreaking research on aging and Alzheimer’s. Epidemiologist David Snowdon’s 2001 book, Aging with Grace, was based on that research and drew immense attention to Alzheimer’s disease. The painstaking records Spaeth collected remain available for researchers to compare with new findings.

So much has been written about the Leadership Conference of Women Religious of the USA particularly since April this year when the Vatican closed the controversial oversight of the LCWR. What I would like to express here is my/our deep gratitude to the LCWR for their exemplary way of going through this extremely painful and difficult process.

GSR Today - Though the situation in South Sudan continues to decline, there is joy in the midst of struggle. It isn’t confined to the South Sudanese – Br. Bill Firman of Solidarity with South Sudan says the Pauline sisters from Kenya have the same attitude.

"Organic buildings are the strength and lightness of the spiders' spinning . . . ."

Soon after I decided to ask to make my perpetual vows and was approved to do so, I became a bit obsessed with fire. It’s not a dangerous obsession or anything, it’s more that I am paying attention to all the ways that fire images and metaphors are incorporated into our culture and faith. I quickly became fascinated by what I was noticing and how often I heard popular song lyrics and ordinary conversation casually incorporate words like “fire,” “burn,” “spark” or “enflame.” It got me thinking about all the different ways we use the idea of fire – like in St. Francis of Assisi’s Canticle of Creation, where he offers praises to God for “Brother Fire,” for being so bright and lively.

From A Nun's Life podcasts - In this Random Nun Clip we talk with Sr. Heather Jean Foltz and Sister Mary Luke Jones about how "just a visit" led to an unexpected vocation with the Beech Grove Benedictines.

"Touch the hearts of those who look only for gain at the expense of the poor and the earth. Teach us to discover the worth of each thing, to be filled with awe and contemplation, to recognize that we are profoundly united with every creature as we journey towards your infinite light."

Her early spirituality shaped in high school by the Sisters of Loretto and her world views molded in the Philippines as a missioner, Maryknoll Sr. Mary Grenough could well be a poster child for a generation of U.S. religious women radicalized in the wake of Vatican II. These women have been as persistent as they have been faithful to their religious callings, many for more than six decades. Grenough is one of nine in her Maryknoll entrance class still in active ministry. She turns a young 82 today, having served nearly 40 years in the Philippines; 10 in Burma (Myanmar).