NCR preview - The Catholics on Call program brought together about two dozen young adults, mentors and others July 25-29 in Chicago, for discussion and community about finding direction in life.

This week, Holy Cross Sr. Sharlet Wagner, an immigration lawyer who has lived in four countries, transitions from president-elect to president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious. All who spoke to GSR about Wagner stressed her capacity to listen and take in all points of view.

However Long the Night: Making Meaning in a Time of Crisis, A Spiritual Journey of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious is a collection of 10 essays about the doctrinal assessment and apostolic visitation of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious. Today, two GSR columnists share their experience of both that time and of reading these reflections.

Roughly 800 sisters in leadership in their respective communities will gather Aug. 7-10 in St. Louis to reflect on this year's theme, "Being the Presence of Love: The Power of Communion," picking up exactly where last year's meeting left off.

The National Black Sisters' Conference celebrated its 50th anniversary Aug. 1 by honoring its founder, Patricia Grey. "The Holy Spirit was working through me. I was just the vessel," Grey said, at the closing banquet of a joint conference of several black clergy and religious groups. 

Updated - Following an Associated Press article about the sexual abuse of Catholic sisters by clergy, the Leadership Conference of Women Religious and three church reform organizations urged women religious to report abuse and called upon church leadership to take action.

How many of us can relate to the desire to undo something, to un-know something, to un-experience something that radically altered the way we perceive either persons or situations?

See for Yourself - Religion is big in the United States. America was founded on religious freedom, among other ideals, and we only need to look up and down our city streets to find plentiful churches of any denomination one can think of.

"The journey takes us somewhere, to someone. Jesus knows the road because he travelled it himself. He walks with us, telling us wonderful stories mile after mile, until we arrive. The secret is simply to keep taking the next step."

A major new study has found that more than three-quarters of the leaders of religious orders of priests, brothers and sisters in the U.S. believe it is "theoretically possible" to ordain women as deacons in the Catholic Church.