Supporting themselves through impact investing, sisters use funds to promote social changes like reducing reliance on fossil fuels, creating opportunities for employment training,  and bringing fresh groceries to former "food deserts." Putting money directly into startup companies or organizations that create a positive social or environmental impact along with financial returns as they grow is a newer way that more Canadian religious communities have found to help people while generating operating and retirement income. "We don't just do this because it's a good thing to do," Ursuline Sr. Theresa Mahoney said. "It is that, but it's also good for us. It brings us financing we need, and it gives us joy."

A Sept. 4 letter signed by more than 1,500 Catholic nuns, priests and other church leaders from around the country addressed to U.S. senators voiced concerns about Judge Brett Kavanaugh, a fellow Catholic, as he faced confirmation hearings on Capitol Hill in early September that may result in a seat for him on the Supreme Court of the United States.

This story appears in the Crisis in the Church feature series. View the full series.

The church has a deep structural problem that is entirely bound to ancient metaphysical and philosophical principles that at this point requires either a radical decision towards a new ecclesial structure or the acceptance of the possibility of a major schism. 

Sr. Ancila Devadass and Sr. Mary Nijo work together for Color the Fallen Stars, a project that helps rescue people who live in poverty and bring them to rehabilitation centers. "The people with whom we work are the stars that are fallen," Devadass told GSR. "We go to the streets looking for them."