by Jan Cebula
GSR Today - The rate of incarceration in the U.S. has skyrocketed in the past three to four decades, and now the United States has the highest per capita imprisonment rate in the world, according to the International Centre for Prison Studies.
by Monica Clark
Contributor
For Syria’s three-year armed conflict to come to an end, all foreign fighters and the external powers that support them must first leave the country, said Mother Agnes Mariam, a Carmelite nun in Syria, during a public lecture April 29 at Saint Mary’s College of California. That departure, she said, would allow the Syrian people the safety to resolve their political differences through non-violent negotiations.
by Barbara McCracken
Contributor
I have been interested in doing some kind of jail ministry for many years. The women I have met in detention are often as honest and serious about their faith as those I’ve met anywhere. Their struggles are right up front, staring them in the face. Most do not hesitate long to talk about them.
Benedictine Sr. Barbara McCracken is a longtime member of Mount St. Scholastica of Atchison, Kan. Her ministry has been primarily in Kansas City. Currently she is an associate director of Keeler Women's Center which provides programs and services for inner-city women. Her past ministries include peace and justice consultant for the Archdiocese of Kansas City, Kansas, a staff member of Shalom Catholic Worker House, providing hospitality to homeless men, and doing justice and nonviolence education in parishes.
by Nancy Wiechec
Contributor
Young people living on the Arizona side of the U.S.-Mexican border are inspired by Minim Daughters of Mary Immaculate and the Missionary Sisters of the Eucharist to cross over to volunteer their time at an aid center for deported migrants in Nogales, Sonora, that is part of the Catholic-run Kino Border Initiative.
Freelance journalist and photographer Nancy Wiechec is a veteran Catholic media professional based in the Phoenix, Ariz., area. She is formerly of Catholic News Service in Washington, D.C. In 2013 she was a finalist for the St. Francis de Sales award, given by the Catholic Press Association for outstanding contributions to journalism. Follow her @nancywiechec on Twitter.
Three Boston College professors, Sr. Jean Bartunek, Simona Giorgi and Sr. Margaret Guider, recently published their study on the effects of the Apostolic Visitation on U.S. women religious as seen through the lens of organizational theory; their findings explore the concept of "productive resistance," a concept with wider implications than just within consecrated life.
by Michael O'Loughlin
NCR Contributor
NETWORK lobby director Sr. Simone Campbell talks about her new book and the need for increased justice in American policy.
by GSR Staff
"It is a symbol of love that protects and saves. It is the mother who sees her children suffering and suffers with them, even with those who do not love her. For she wants to save them all and not to lose any of those the Lord has entrusted to her. Her heart is a safe refuge."
GSR Today - Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto have a gorgeous new residence designed by Shim-Sutcliffe Architects that takes advantage of its natural setting; students at St. Joseph Catholic Academy in Kenosha, Wisc., learn meditation; and other stories from around the non-NCR news this week.
