GSR Today - This past April, as a board member of the Hilton Foundation Board I had the privilege of visiting early child development projects in Zambia, a special area of funding for the foundation. As a board we had received reports on progress being made by our various projects, but seeing children in person was a special experience.

When the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate started tracking the ages of women and men religious in the United States in 2010, it was already clear that fewer women were joining religious life. This made the average age of women in religious life higher and higher with each passing year, during a time when fewer and fewer young women were joining. But CARA data also showed that women professing final vows were themselves older — much older — than before.

"Simplicity — colors faded. And our beauty?"

“Why did you decide to become a Catholic sister?” This question has been asked of me many times in the 10 years since I began my vocation journey. It is really a very complex and multi-layered question of identity, call and response. Over the years, however, I’ve realized that the simplest and most honest answer is this: It is as a Sister of St. Joseph of Peace that I can become the person God dreams I can be.

Notes from the Field - It was good to be reminded that peace does not indicate the absence of anxieties or dire circumstances but instead is a grace granted to take the sting out of adversities. It was exactly what I needed to hear in that moment and I reflect on it often even eight months after Naam’s death.

GSR Today - Just over a month after the murders at  Emanuel AME Church, the attendees at the joint conference of the National Black Sisters Conference, the National Association of Black Catholic Deacons, the National Black Catholic Seminarians Association and the National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus found themselves in Charleston for their annual meeting, just a few miles from where the unthinkable had happened.

See for Yourself - One of the tough things about being an MC who needs to introduce several individuals is how to do that efficiently by not taking forever and how to give directions about the applause. We’ve all attended programs in which the instructions are to “hold your applause until everyone has been introduced.” So far, so good.

“Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously; defend the rights of the poor and needy.”

Patty Gillis, a one-time pastoral associate at a Detroit parish who now is the executive director of Voices for Earth Justice, founded the organization with Dominican Sr. Janet Stankowski in 2002. Amid Detroit's many needs, it focuses on environmental education. By 2011 the organization evolved enough to consider purchasing property in Brightmoor to help connect people with the environment. That property turned into Hope House. Hope House and its parent program, Voices for Earth Justice, an interfaith ministry with strong Catholic roots supported by the Dominican sisters of Adrian, 70 miles southwest of the city.

Commentary - I am among those 60-something nuns blessed to accompany our 80-something sisters as they gently weave the final golden threads into the rich tapestries of their lives. Today, I honor one of my personal "sheros," Notre Dame Sr. Mary Louise Trivison, whose wake service and funeral were celebrated in Chardon, Ohio, last week. I knew Mary Lou because she is the sister of late FutureChurch co-founder Fr. Louis J. Trivison (aka "Father Louie").