For the last 50 years, the prevailing narrative in the United States has been that the number of Catholic sisters is steadily declining. However, in a special report released today, the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate says maybe we should reconsider that blunt storyline. 

The Servants of the Holy Eucharist in the Philippines are soley focused on restorative justice. Through this charism they work with Caritas to help inmates return to community life by supporting their families and providing transition services. Last year through painstaking research, their paralegals were also able to free 108 people who were wrongly imprisoned.

Given the reality that most of us younger sisters are part of a very small age cohort in our own communities, we should be building relationships now with age peers across congregation lines so that we can support one another in the coming decades. Certainly, our demographic reality means that we not only have an unusual opportunity to develop intergenerational friendships, we also have a lot of experience in saying goodbye. My experience as a Catholic sister has helped me to realize that grief and play must be intertwined.

GSR Today - Last week, the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods relocated the remains of their founder, St. Mother Theodore Guerin, the eighth saint in the United States. Guerin’s remains have been moved seven times among various locations at the motherhouse since her death in 1856. This time, they were transferred to the chapel of a new shrine named for her that opens Oct. 25 with a public reception.

Social Service Sr. Simone Campbell never fails to cause a stir. As executive director of the Catholic social justice lobby NETWORK, Campbell is spearheading a third Nuns on the Bus tour, and from a strong kickoff at the steps of the Iowa State Capitol in Des Moines, the “We the People, We the Voters” tour has been rousing what Campbell and her colleagues are calling the “100%.” This year, the bus will travel more than 5,000 miles through 10 states Sept. 17-Oct. 20, with a focus on voting, ahead of Election Day Nov. 4.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”

Filed in 2011, a case in Lewis and Clark County, Mont., against the Ursuline Sisters, Western Province is scheduled for trial Dec. 1. So far 95 plaintiffs allege abuse occured at the St. Ignatius Mission church and school from the '40s through early '70s.

GSR Today - Earlier this year stories were circulating that the long-awaited final report on the Apostolic Visitation of U.S. women religious would be released prior to the Year for Consecrated Life, which begins on Nov. 30, the first Sunday of Advent. Now women religious themselves are giving their own perspective on the experience.  Power of Sisterhood: Women Religious Tell the Story of the Apostolic Visitation has just been published by University Press of America. 

A great woman has gone from our midst. Her name is Christine Vladimiroff, and we who are passionate about church reform owe God profound thanks for the gift of this woman's life.

Nuns on the Bus Blog - Tuesday evening, after a Town Hall for the 100% at St. Peter's Catholic Church in Charlotte, N.C., the Nuns on the Bus went on a short break. They had spent four days in the state, which just had its restrictive voter registration laws ruled "OK" by the U.S. Supreme Court. The ruling on Wednesday overturns the Fourth Circuit Court's Oct. 1 reinstatement of same-day voter registration and out-of-precinct voting.