GSR Today - On June 12, 2014, the FIFA World Cup will start its soccer matches in several venues across Brazil. As the tournament draws closer, so does a heightened concern among human rights workers, men and women religious and churches about the potential for human trafficking.  

Thua Thien Hue province in central Vietnam is particularly vulnerable to the effects of extreme weather. The plains where people can cultivate crops are only about 66 feet above sea level. And in this part of the world, the annual rainy season causes flooding that makes farming quite difficult, so nuns here have taken the lead to help. Their goal is to work with people to develop climate-resilient livelihood options and to plan for the impacts of climate change in areas prone to natural disasters such as annual flooding.

GSR Today - Each day we read about the religious wars in various parts of the world, people claiming their dedication to God and God’s favor of them over others. How will we ever learn to respect and appreciate that God is One and that we all share commitment to that One but in different ways?

From NCRonline.org - The theme of the recent 60th annual assembly of the College Theology Society was "God has begun a great work in us: The embodiment of love in contemporary consecrated life." The focus on Catholic religious life was partially in the light of the Vatican's continuing criticism of an umbrella group of U.S. Catholic sisters known as the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR).

While Auxiliary Bishop Eusebio L. Elizondo of Seattle was in El Salvador recently, an immigration-reform advocate shared his view on the topic that was the focus of the bishop's trip: the increase in unaccompanied minors making the often dangerous journey from Central America and Mexico into the United States.

Over the course of two years, I had the great pleasure of interviewing more than 40 Catholic sisters on environmental issues. Interviews with these “green sisters” radically changed my conception of religious life and broadened my own understandings of environmental issues, peace, justice and Catholic theology.

GSR Today - Back on May 7, Sr. Jan Cebula and Tracy Abeln, who are based at the Kansas City office of National Catholic Reporter, were guests on A Nun's Life Ministry's "In Good Faith" podcast. Take a listen as we describe GSR when it was only two weeks old.

"We have not inherited this earth from our parents to do with it what we will. We have borrowed it from our children and we must be careful to use it in their interests as well as our own."

The work of novitiate is that of soul searching.  It requires digging deep, meeting yourself and God head on, facing your true self, learning about what religious life is, nurturing a deeper prayer life, learning to live intentionally and with constant discernment, and prayerfully considering if the call to live in this way with a specific congregation in their manner of being is right for you. Suffice it to say, you don’t get weekends off.