The Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles in Alhambra, Calif., who have recently embarked in partnership with the National Religious Retirement Office, are beginning to assess their current needs, make some substantive changes, and work with the National Religious Retirement Office to plan for a more secure future.
This is the final installment in our seven-part retirement series. Read the overview and additional profiles here.

Leaving their habits behind and disguised along with police in regular clothes, a small group of three or four nuns raid brothels in Kolkata, India, at night, snatching young women and girls as young as 12 from the clutches of their captors. In four years, "we have put 30 traffickers in jail," Sr. Sharmi D'Souza, a member of the Sisters of Mary Immaculate, told journalists at a Vatican news conference Dec. 10. She and a number of other religious women attended the event that presented Pope Francis' World Day of Peace message, which urged everyone to fight modern forms of slavery.

Four Advents and what seems like seven years ago, I was sitting in this very same spot: on the prayer pillow in the corner of the little house chapel, the one by the window where I can watch the sun rising over the mountains as I pray. The place is Casa Caridad, the formation house for the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati, located in La Union, New Mexico, right outside of El Paso, Texas, and only 20 minutes from a port of entry to Mexico.

"O God of Unexpected Places, fill us with the strength and conviction to find you as we journey through this Advent season."

GSR Today - If you haven’t yet placed your holiday order for “Heavenly Trash,” mixed by the skilled hands of a group of women religious in upstate New York, read on.

Now that their sisters who need nursing care are well placed, the Sisters of St. Francis of the Providence of God in Pittsburgh, Penn., begin planning the best uses for their 33-acre campus.

See for Yourself - As congregational secretary, I eagerly embraced the assignment to shepherd our response to the Apostolic Visitation. It was up to me to work on the questionnaires, to research the facts, and to gather the supporting documents. I saw it as a unique opportunity to tell the Vatican directly what a faithful congregation we Sylvania Franciscans are. I went at that with fervor and a positive attitude.

Because they have sisters gifted at planning and assessment, the Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi were able to make informed decisions and make the best of use of the assets they had.

You don’t have to see a picture of Holy Cross Sr. Verónica Fajardo to know what she looks like – you can hear the wide smile in her voice and in her ever-present laughter. At age 39, she has already had what most would consider a full life: Natives of Nicaragua, her family fled the war there and came to the United States when she was 8 years old. She grew up in Los Angeles and studied education at Loyola Marymount University, getting a master’s degree in special education, which she used to teach in public schools for six years before getting involved with the Sisters of the Holy Cross and teaching in Catholic schools for five years.

The Sisters of Divine Providence not only used decades of projections, reflection and planning to maximum advantage, but met the right buyer at the right time – a turn of events that could be termed happy coincidence or divine providence.