GSR readers would never even consider dressing up as a "naughty nun," but every Halloween the marketplace and individuals come up with costumes that mock religious figures. Doing so traces back to medieval times, but the outcome is always hurtful, said Ken A. Grant, lecturer in history and religious studies at University of Texas-Pan American in Edinburg.

Recently I spent the night with the Sisters of Charity of St. Elizabeth at their convent in downtown Newark, N.J. They have offered me hospitality on several occasions when I have been coming or going to their retreat house, Maris Stella, on the Jersey shore some two hours away. Living just five minutes from the Newark airport, they are accustomed to visitors like me, in and out with barely time for conversation in the community room.

Nuns on the Bus Blog - As the “We the People, We the Voters” tour of Nuns on the Bus wraps up, one aspect of my experience riding on the bus still intrigues me.  From the very first day, what mystified me was the amount of energy we were feeling. “One huge swoosh of energy” was what I wrote at the end of that first day.

Missionaries of Charity Sisters in Vietnam prepare and sell traditional herbal remedies to support their community, but after their farmland was taken by the government for a new economic zone this year, they have to get their raw materials from other sources. The nuns plan to buy new land and build their houses near existing residential areas. “Our congregation’s mission is to live and do manual work among poor workers, to serve them.”

This past summer I had a profound experience that helped me to remember that heaven and earth are one. I was in Assisi, Italy, on pilgrimage. I was there with other Franciscans who were preparing for (or discerning) final vows, and participating in a study pilgrimage sponsored by Franciscan Pilgrimage Programs. As a Franciscan sister, it is understandable that my heaven-on-earth experience occurred in Assisi, as the village is holy ground for those of us in the Franciscan family.

See for Yourself - My polite refusal of beer at a party always spawns a question or two along the lines of, “Sister, aren’t you permitted to drink beer?” “Why yes,” I respond. “I can have alcoholic beverages. I just never developed the taste for beer or wine, so that leaves more for you!”

GSR Today - In my two weeks traveling through Uganda for Global Sisters Report, I visited cities in every corner of the country. In the coming weeks, I hope to bring GSR readers just a few of the thousands of stories about sisters in Uganda, their hopes and dreams, their challenges, their successes.

Responding to Ebola from afar - There are many front lines in a war, and none are more important than another. That’s how Mary Rizzo, the development coordinator for the Bernardine Franciscan Sisters in Reading, Penn., found herself battling the Ebola crisis in Liberia, even though she was nearly 5,000 miles away. Global Sisters Report shares the story of her fundraising that has sent more than $150,000 toward medical care in Africa and is asking you for stories about how others are stepping up to this outbreak.

Well, the extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the family lived up to its name. It was indeed extraordinary. It was extraordinary not because of the synod's developing content, which seems disappointingly same-o, same-o so far. No, what is noteworthy is the process through which the bishops are now engaging one another. Pope Francis' synod is modeling an open process. He invited input from grassroots Catholics around the world, insisted that that participants voice their opinions boldly, no matter how controversial, and clearly expected the heated disagreements that inevitably ensued.