At least 250 people died on Easter when suicide bombers attacked three churches and three hotels in Sri Lanka. As suspects have been arrested, the Catholic sisters have been visiting with people affected by the loss, listening to them and helping them process anger, shock, guilt and sorrow. More than 200 sisters have been assigned by the Conference of Major Religious Superiors of Sri Lanka with the mission of healing, providing psychological support to the parishioners.

I have spent many moments in the past week thanking God for the gift of a fellow retreatant who left me note last week when she noticed my absence. Why did that observation touch me so deeply? Because it said to me that my presence mattered to her.

From A Nun's Life podcasts - In this Random Nun Clip, Sister Maxine and her guests discuss vacations and retreats, both chances to disconnect for a while.

In a property transfer they're calling "A Gift of the Heart to the Heart," the sisters hope their property, which they have owned for 142 years, will help their schools continue to thrive and expand. The move, however, is not without its sadness, "This is where we were all formed; this is where we started. We all thought we'd eventually come back full circle," said Sr. Janet Peterworth, president of the Ursuline Sisters of Louisville. 

Pope Francis' 2015 encyclical "Laudato Si': On Care for Our Common Home" was widely lauded for its scope on the moral and ethical response to protecting Earth's environment for future generations.

Contemplate This - Contemplation invites us to awaken to the reality around us. It helps us see in new ways what can be considered an everyday experience. It asks us to take a long, loving look at the real so that what is invisible may come into view. The issue of human trafficking has been in our consciousness for many years. Women religious have worked tirelessly to bring this issue to the forefront of political debate and corporate decision making.

Focus on Human Trafficking - Though common knowledge warns against anyone wandering into La Línea, Sr. Angélica Segoviano has gained daily access by establishing trust with the women she visits. It takes time before they open up to her about their lives and worries, their initial suspicion born of the fact that some have gone years without anyone simply asking how they're doing.

Reactions to the publication of "Male and Female He Created Them" include gratitude and affirmation for the positive subtitle of the Congregation for Catholic Education's document, "Towards a Path of Dialogue on the Question of Gender Theory in Education" — as well as disappointment and concern that the foundational positions of the document about gender theory are woefully uninformed by contemporary science and by the lived experience of transgender people.

"I am a Hmong nun, and I work hard for my people's benefits," says Dominican Sr. Marie Cu Thi Quynh Hoa, who travels hundreds of kilometers by motorbike to work with Hmong villagers in Vietnam's northern mountainous provinces.

Lay-led organizations offer working models at every level from international to parish. The most illuminating model I've seen is the Leadership Conference of Women Religious and its congregations – all lay women like me. Very quietly, with no spotlights, they've been evolving innovative ways to be a community of communities since the 1960s.