On a chilly day with drizzling rain, Conception Sr. Maria Nguyen Thi Hien stood at the gate of the healthcare clinic warmly shaking the hands of each patient who came in.

“We are delighted to welcome all of you. We will try our best to provide medical treatment and loving care for you and to relieve your physical pains,” Hien told them.

Benedictine Sr. Edita Eslopor and fellow survivors of Typhoon Haiyan trooped to Malacañang Palace on Monday morning to give President Benigno Aquino their petition for government relief, rehabilitation and financial assistance to survivors -- but the president was a no-show.

The Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature held a global summit in Eucador in January 2014, and sisters are among those who are working with the stark reality of how mining, for example, is threatening life in Africa, Europe and South America.

The first National Catholic Sisters Week will kick off March 8-14 at St. Catherine University in St. Paul, Minn., as part of Women's History Month. By bringing together college-age women and women religious from a variety of congregations, St. Catherine will honor Catholic sisters who have served faithfully as an integral part of American history.

Faced with economic realities that make it impossible to continue operating its six hospitals, the Western province of the Daughters of Charity are putting the facilities up for sale.

Robert Issai, president and CEO of the Daughters of Charity Health System in California, said mounting debt caused by several factors, including the 2008 recession and changes in health care payment systems, necessitated the decision, which was announced last month. At the end of 2013, the system had a long-term debt of approximately $294 million.

Beginning in 2005, after decades of civil war in South Sudan, bishops of that country invited international religious communities to consider serving in South Sudan. Since that point, members of men’s and women’s congregations have been committed to a presence to support the church through the collaborative project, Solidarity with South Sudan.

On Sunday, Pope Francis celebrated the 18th World Day for Consecrated Life highlighting the fact that at the center of Consecrated Life there is always Jesus.

Thanks to the efforts of local Catholic sisters in Vietnam, HIV/AIDS patients and others in need find simple pleasures during the festival of Tet (Lunar New Year). This help comes during an especially difficult time for many Vietnamese recovering from an economic downturn in 2012.

Before the year dedicated to consecrated life begins in November, the Vatican congregation for religious hopes to release its final report on the 2009-2010 visitation of U.S. women's communities.

Archbishop Jose Rodriguez Carballo, secretary of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, said, "We are working intensely on the final report, and after careful study and consideration, we think it will be made public soon. We're at a good point. I think we can conclude it before the beginning of the Year for Consecrated Life" in November.

Amid the zero degrees temperatures here in the Midwest, I recently received a "heads up" email from a long-time friend in California that warmed my heart; and if you care deeply about our planet, it will probably set yours a-glowing, too.