Franciscan Sr. Callista Robinson is president of the National Black Sisters Conference, a  group of black Catholic women religious formed in 1968 to support, encourage and advocate for black Catholic sisters. Or, as the group’s website puts it, they’ve “been shouting 'Glory!  Halleluiah!' since 1968.” The group was formed at a time when, unfortunately, black sisters needed all the support and encouragement they could get – a forthcoming book shows the history of black women religious in the United States is replete with shocking examples of racism, racial segregation and marginalization, perpetuated by their white religious leaders and peers.

“An Open Letter to the Great Generation” in Global Sisters Report, struck many chords in me as a woman religious, who, along with many others, caught the “contagion” of Vatican II. The author, Sr. Teresa Maya, helped me to realize that what I considered a “normal” response in reinterpreting the Gospel for the modern world and the events of the day was really an extraordinary, miraculous, prophetic response.

"Climb the mountains and get their good tidings, Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees."

Notes from the Field - In May 2013, I fell in love with Central America. After my graduation from Carroll College, I had the opportunity to be immersed in the Guatemalan culture for two weeks with a group of fellow students, faculty and staff. We learned about the people and culture, volunteered and encountered the church and her people on a totally different level. The experience planted a seed of desire to deepen that experience.  

"For the very same kind of people Jesus attended to as he walked from Galilee to Jerusalem, sisters give themselves away. Like Jesus, they refuse to abandon the refugees that so many today call lepers. . . ."

After Mass and breakfast at the Motherhouse one morning a few weeks ago, Sister Flo asked me to stop by her room with her; she had something to give me. Florence Cremering has been a Sister of Charity for 70 years. She is 91 years young! Living on the Motherhouse property during the time of Novitiate, I’ve gotten to know her over breakfast chats and visits to her room. She is faithful, loving and wise as only a woman with such life experience could be. In her years of retirement, she has remained hope-filled about the future of our community and takes great delight in praying for those in discernment and formation. In fact, it’s speculated that once Flo starts praying for you, you are in trouble!

"The vision of the world to come seldom encourages the flourishing of the material world, but flight from it. It does not promote the splendor of the world we have, but the glory of the next."

It is a confusing, bittersweet time for my city. On May 26, Cleveland mayor Frank Jackson and the U.S. Justice Department announced a sweeping agreement to reform the Cleveland Police Department. That evening, our beloved Cleveland Cavaliers won the Eastern Division basketball championship. The next morning's Cleveland Plain Dealer carried the oddest front page I have seen in 37 years of living here. Predictably, in this crazy-for-sports-town, the Cavs had the biggest headline: ON TO THE FINALS! Directly beneath, in smaller type, I read: DEAL SEEKS SWEEPING REFORMS.