GSR Today - “What a steep learning curve!” we often hear people say as they find themselves in a new job, ministry or unfamiliar situation. It’s challenging to discover what is happening, understand a different culture or perspective, consider how to approach situations and chart new ways forward. That’s where we are when it comes to human trafficking: on a steep learning curve.

Dominican Sr. Donna Markham has been chosen to succeed Fr. Larry Snyder as the new president of Catholic Charities USA. The announcement was made Jan. 12 at Catholic Charities headquarters in Alexandria, a suburb of Washington, D.C. Markham becomes the first woman to lead Catholic Charities, which was founded in 1910. She will officially take over from Snyder June 1.

From A Nun's Life podcasts - What is "spiritual" itinerancy and how is it part of life for Dominican Sisters of Peace? In this Random Nun Clip, we talk with the sisters about spiritual itinerancy and community life as Dominican Sisters of Peace.

"Our present human community is hungering for transcendence, to evolve to a new level of life that is more unified, peaceful and collaborative."

In 1996 Sr. Mary Consolata Bui Thi Bong was a pioneer in joining hands with local followers of Buddhism, Protestantism and Cao Dai, a syncretic belief system founded in Vietnam, to serve people living with HIV/AIDS through a project funded by Norway-based Nordic Assistance to Vietnam (NAV). Now local Catholics and Buddhists still cooperate with one another on giving material and spiritual support to people with HIV/AIDS.

GSR Today via NCR Today - Dominican Sr. Donna Markham has been selected the new president of Catholic Charities USA, the national office for Catholic Charities agencies nationwide. Markham succeeds Fr. Larry Snyder, the current president, on June 1.

"I am as the insects, who dart between the rays of Light falling through the trees. . . ."

GSR Today - Iraqi refugees in Jordan keeping their Christian faith strong, Boko Haram's most recent massacre, and some good news about Haiti's continued recovery from the Jan. 2010 earthquake.

GSR: we're sharing this story with you again - Sisters from various communities work together to provide trafficking prevention and rehabilitation services for women who migrate to Italy, usually from Africa. While secular NGOs run shelters in Italy as well, Sr. Eugenia Bonetti emphasizes that, for sisters, working with the women is “their life.” They aren’t simply staff who rotate in and out with each shift, but people who come to know the women deeply.

Yes, you the Great Generation of religious life – to you all I write today. First, I share my most sincere and profound gratitude. Thank you, thank you all. You may not know this, but your lives were the first catechism of my generation – yes, your lives! Your attempts, your quest for meaning and purpose, your questions, your guitar, your commitment to peace and justice, your new liturgies, your folk music, your theology, your poetry, your art. Your lives were indeed our first theology.