Public accounts of mental illness and addictions among sisters have been rare, as have details of treatment and recovery. That may be because of the pervasive shame those illnesses can elicit, as well as a historical tendency for those who struggle with them to be directed only to spend more time in solitary prayer. But that is changing as knowledge and attitudes about mental illness evolve.

From A Nun's Life podcasts – Sylvania Franciscan Sr. Shannon Shrein reflects on the story of the Samaritan woman at the well and how faith can free us.

National Catholic Sisters Week and its sibling program, SisterStory, are now joined by an effort to engage young Latina women, a diocesan outreach program, and a curriculum-development project under one U.S. umbrella, the National Catholic Sisters Project.

Sr. Jisha Jiya is the first Catholic woman religious in India to direct and produce a feature film. The 39-year-old Medical Sister of St. Joseph made the film "Ente Vellithooval" ("My Silver Feather") in Malayalam, the language of the southern Indian state of Kerala.

GSR Today - A year after we launched Global Sisters Report, we conducted a survey of our readers to find out more about you and how we could improve. It's been two and a half years since then, and it's time we checked in with you again. What do you like about GSR? How can we continue to get better as we head toward our fourth anniversary? 

On the campus of the Comboni Missionaries in Juba, South Sudan, a monthly Recollection service helps religious cope with the stress of serving in a country enduring a civil war. Sisters, brothers and priests from different congregations come to the service for time to be together, prayer, community and quiet moments of solitude.

"I believe everyone has a unique vocation, and I enjoy helping people find what that is," says Sr. Sharon Dillon of the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Third Order of St. Francis. Dillon spoke with Global Sisters Report about her vision for the organization became executive director of in June, and how her past ministries inform her work.

Although she died 100 years ago, St. Frances Cabrini is a shining example of "love and intelligence" in ministering to the needs of immigrants and helping them become integral members of their new homelands, Pope Francis said.

The once-oppressed have now joined the oppressors in Myanmar. Continuing centuries of suffering and violence in the country's history, the current plight involves Myanmar's army rampaging across the state of Rakhine, killing hundreds and displacing thousands; the country's leader, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, "is chief apologist for this cleansing."

Eleven nuns take the stage wearing traditional black-and white habits but are anything but old school as they belt out songs to the ringing of electric guitar and a rock 'n' roll beat.

GSR Today - The people I cover, Catholic sisters and other humanitarians in countries like South Sudan, are not in a position to help a journalist contact local militia. Nor should they be, especially when the military may be accused of human rights abuses.

See for Yourself - An example of calm stands out in a hectic world.

From A Nun's Life podcasts - This Random Nun Clip explores the inspiration Catholic sisters provide to people like Rachel, who writes in from Utah asking whether it's acceptable to be like a sister, even if she can't take vows.

For the Adrian Dominicans in West Palm Beach, Florida, waiting was the worst part of Hurricane Irma, especially those hours between when the preparations finish as the first winds arrive and when the full fury of the storm begins. Days of frantic prep-work come to a halt, and all you can do is wait, wonder and pray. Global Sisters Report talked to two communities of Dominican Sisters affected by recent catastrophic weather in the nation's southeast.