In her Aug. 15 presidential address to the Leadership Conference of Women Religious' annual assembly, Holy Cross Sr. Sharlet Wagner said Catholic sisters are called to stand together and be models of hope in world beset by hateful rhetoric and political division.

Catholic Mobilizing Network Executive Director Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy spoke to about 40 sisters and guests at the Leadership Conference of Women Religious' annual Assembly Aug. 15, in a session on why actively fighting capital punishment is so important.

Four Missionary Sisters of the Eucharist in the Nogales community run the Aid Center for Migrants, part of a congregation of about 60 sisters, living in 11 communities in Mexico. A 10-minute walk from the Mariposa Border Crossing, the center serves more than 100 people a day. Every day the sisters minister to people who have encountered stressful situations. To handle this, the sisters rely on prayer and their community life, as well as days off for personal chores, time and renewal.

"The responses needed today are often not found in the big initiatives of the past but instead are like tiny mustard seeds: a word of hope, a listening heart, a compassionate presence, a healing glance. This mysticism of encounter happens everywhere," said Sr. Pat Murray, executive director of the International Union of Superiors General, during the opening day keynote address at the 2019 assembly for the Leadership Conference of Women Religious.

At our recent convocation, we Ursuline sisters, associates and friends heard from Sister of Charity of the Incarnate Word Teresa Maya, who gave us a new way of thinking about charism. For each congregation, she said, there is a founding call. Then, as need finds us, there is an apostolic response to that call. Charism happens in the present moment of the dialog between the two.

On a recent oceanside retreat, I was kissed, found sweetness and learned to carry pearls.

Concealed behind tall brick walls and strong iron gates in a struggling Memphis neighborhood, nuns have been quietly praying for the city and its people since 1932.

Drawing from her own battle with major depressive disorder, Cenacle Sr. Maria Cecilia "Cecille" Tuble now advocates for greater mental health awareness and help for people who are depressed and suicidal.

Aberdeen, South Dakota, never boasted a taste for diversity of culture or color. But if the city was to grow, it was time for the town to move into the 21st century, and education in diversity would be needed to help this transition.