Joyce Meyer

With "Hope Amid Turmoil," the most ambitious and challenging project we have undertaken at GSR, we've been inspired by the incredible courage and deep faith of sisters serving in conflict areas throughout the world.

GSR Today: I have been pondering what pregnancy was like for Mary after the Annunciation. I found a study of 12 women who kept diaries during their pregnancies. So, reading their stories, I did my own imagining of Mary. 

GSR Today - When we were asked at LCWR breakout sessions to reflect together on the challenges of membership and leadership internationally, we realized that sometimes the blessings named also brought challenges. 

GSR Today - I was mesmerized by color this past July at the sixth Women Deliver Conference  in Kigali, Rwanda, where more than 6,000 women, girls and a few men discussed the themes of "Spaces, Solidarity and Solutions."

Hunger is a word that has caught my attention recently, as I reflect on four of its dimensions: human hunger, Earth's hunger for restoration and relationship, hunger for voice, and hunger for heart intelligence.

La relación entre el abuso sexual, el emocional y el espiritual con el abuso de poder en la vida de las religiosas ha sido visibilizada gracias a una mayor conciencia en el seno de las congregaciones y en la sociedad en general. ¿Qué consecuencias tiene este fenómeno para la salud mental, la libertad y la vocación de estas mujeres? ¿Puede la Iglesia prevenir y combatir el abuso de poder y de conciencia en las comunidades religiosas? En entrevista para GSR en español, la Hna. Ianire Angulo Ordorika, teóloga y profesora en la Universidad Loyola Andalucía, contesta estas interrogantes y expone su visión sobre cómo enfrentar este desafío. 

GSR Today - Elizabethada Wright is researching Mother Mary Joseph Lynch, a 19th-century Sister of Mercy whose boarding school in Minnesota reflected a drive to integrate Native Americans into the dominant white culture.

As we moved into new residences, we Presentation Sisters considered our land's future. We wanted to do our best to restore the land to its original state, so we hired people who introduced us to regenerative agriculture.

Social Service Sr. Margaret Slachta, the first woman to be elected to parliament in Hungary, fled her beloved country in 1949 for the U.S., where she died in 1974. In 2021, she was honored as her remains returned home.

GSR Today: I was greatly amazed by these women's historic and resilient commitment to Gospel life and their ability to thrive in the midst of much uncertainty in China.

GSR Today - Advocacy and partnership were themes of "Leadership for Change: A Call to Action From Sisters Supporting Vulnerable Communities," an event this summer co-sponsored by UNANIMA International and UISG.

GSR Today - Months after the UISG plenary, I'm still thinking about Jessie Rogers' talk, "Wisdom for the Synodal Journey," which inspired the assembly to engage in this journey called for by Pope Francis.

GSR Today - At the end of the May assembly of the International Union of Superiors General, a new UISG president and council were elected. Here, the new team shares the impact the assembly had on them as new global leaders.

GSR Hoy - Hace muchos años, aunque a veces parezca que fue ayer, mi congregación también pasó por una crisis que nos obligó a enfrentarnos a la ruptura y la vulnerabilidad de lo que éramos. También fue una época dolorosa que, en cierto modo, no ha terminado realmente. La transformación, por suerte, no tiene un punto final.

GSR Today - In willing to be tilled and our souls brought to the surface, we often become aware of potential desires. What am I seeking, longing for, desiring? What are we as religious communities seeking, longing for, desiring?

GSR Today: The International Union of Superiors General interviewed leaders to explore its plenary theme of "Embracing Vulnerability on the Synodal Journey." As I listened, I was touched by the sisters' openness and humility.

Abuse of power in women's congregations is beginning to come to light because of a greater sensitivity to sexual abuse and increasing awareness that sexual abuse is an extreme expression of abuse of power.

The upcoming International Union of Superiors General plenary focuses on leaders and how they are handling the vulnerabilities they experienced through COVID-19 and other challenges. 

GSR Today - Even now that Sr. Shahnaz Bhatti is in Italy, "safe and sound, every time I hear a knock at the door or hear the sound of a shutter moving in the wind, my heart leaps and I am terrified that someone has come to get me."

The Association of Consecrated Women in Eastern and Central Africa has endured for nearly 50 years, despite being not often recognized or fully engaged by the church hierarchy or civic communities. I recently participated in a miracle: its 18th assembly.