"As women, we don't walk alone; together we shape history to help other women find freedom and build community," Sr. Ivania Blandón Montenegro said. "Synodality is exactly that."
"The days of building buildings and institutions is gone, but that only happened because it was responding to a need," said Sr. Betsy Pawlicki. "What is the need now?"
At Our Lady of Perpetual Help Home for the Elderly, the Little Sisters of the Poor attempt to preserve dignity when illness, disability, poverty and separation from family can easily make people feel forgotten.
Franciscan Sr. Margaret Carney wrote the libretto for "Francis: An Oratorio in Nine Scenes." Performances with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra are set for Oct. 10 and 11.
The sisters of the Association of Lay Missionary Institutions work alongside religious brothers and oversee 32 houses, collectively called Bhakti Luhur, caring for children of different ages, needs and abilities.
As COP31 approaches, Catholic sisters' struggling biogas initiatives at the Monastery of St. Dominic in Cameroon reveal the fragility of grassroots climate action in communities strained by war and poverty.
"Keeping silence is an act of the will that engages the whole person and helps to cultivate solid relationships, because they are animated by the Word of God," Leo told the Dominican contemplatives.
The $100 million project, expected to take about 15 years, is reviving centuries-old masonry techniques to create a self-sustaining monastery complex that will eventually house up to 40 sisters.
