The global compacts are documents that are not legally binding but provide a framework for nations to work together. "Even just the idea of international cooperation on the issue of migration was a victory. Now, it needs to be institutionalized," says Sr. Marvie Misolas, representative of the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns at the U.N.

This story appears in the Seeking Refuge feature series. View the full series.

America has long been known as a melting pot, but those who work with refugees say that idea misses the point. In a melting pot, the ingredients lose their individuality and become one with the whole. Rather than assimilation, they say, the goal should be integration — to be part of the whole without losing cultural, ethnic and religious identity. The Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ in Fort Wayne, Indiana, have helped thousands of Burmese refugees make their way in this midwestern city of 266,000.

• Also in this series: Painful memories, new cultures confront resettled families

Breanna Mekuly

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Jacqueline Small

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GSR Today - Eight female-identifying Catholics in their 20s and 30s, all of them students or recent graduates of programs in theology or divinity, gathered June 17-30 at Mount St. Benedict Monastery for the inaugural Joan Chittister Institute for Contemporary Spirituality: A Feminist Benedictine Option, a two-week intensive course as part of an ongoing effort to support young female Catholic theologians, who are often shut out of the church. It was inspiring.