"Fortified by the Spirit, we emerge from our upper rooms bearing the Christ light in what might seem like unbearable times. Generation after generation, we, women religious, have done so."

Headlines in India show a rise in sexual violence against women. When perpetrators of rape and murder use a victim's creed, caste or political party to justify their bloodshed, our common humanity is at stake.

Bethany House of Hospitality, a staffed house that serves as a haven for migrant women, is just one of many ways that U.S. Catholic sisters support asylum-seekers. Sisters connect them with legal aid, counseling for trauma and other resources to help them resettle in the U.S.

• All the Seeking Refuge series stories can be found here.

"The true call of communion is to be able to say to you with my own voice, 'I love you; sit next to me,' 'I am trying to love you; sit next to me,' or 'You don't seem to love me; sit next to me.' "

"The hopeful news is that the Trump era has revived a grassroots movement of faithful, moral resistance not seen the days of Rosa Parks and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr." 

Sr. Reine Marie Badiane of Senegal is a member of the Daughters of the Holy Heart of Mary, the first congregation of sisters founded on the African continent. Begun in Senegal in 1858, the Daughters continue their mission to promote education and self-sufficiency in multiple African countries and in France.

I assumed that I might tweak myself here and there and all would be well. What I didn't realize was that by accepting the call, I was bound to let go of those aspects of my life that didn't resonate with the life of a woman religious.

"For every wild animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the air and all that moves in the field is mine."

An Indian Catholic nun accused a bishop of raping her four years ago and then sexually abusing her multiple times over the following two years. But it was not until June 29 that the unidentified nun, a member of the Missionaries of Jesus, complained to police of being raped in May 2014 by Bishop Franco Mulakkal of Jullundur.