Daughter of Wisdom Sr. Jean Quinn is executive director of UNANIMA International, a United Nations-based coalition that brings the years of experience of 22 Catholic congregations to speak to the concerns of women, children, migrants and the environment.

Members-turned-facilitators spread the self-help groups, which guide women to gain self-confidence, financial independence and friendships. The program is part of a network of ministries run by the Oblates of Notre Dame Sisters and their Hesed Foundation in Mindanao.

"With the commitment to embrace the world just as it is, we begin to see that sanity and goodness are always present and can be uncovered right here, right now."

Notes from the Field - Serving within the Immigrant Outreach Program at Beatitude House in Youngstown has been exceptionally meaningful. One thing we do is help adults improve their English-language skills. We hold numerous conversations with the women who are our students to help them gain confidence in their speaking. Although we tend to discuss simple, everyday matters, we learn about how each person has been shaped by her own life experience.

Many people make New Year's resolutions, so perhaps we could start the new year by contemplating a mandala in which "no one and no thing is excommunicated" — which could become the basis for a new orientation toward 2018.

She entered religious life thinking skills she'd learned on the soccer field and volleyball, basketball and tennis courts would have to stay on the sidelines. Then came the boys and girls of St. Michael School in South Sioux City, Nebraska.

Recently, a Global Sisters Report headline read: "Reckoning: White sisters respond to their own racism, to one historian's call for justice." The photo under the headline was of a segregated investiture ceremony in 1947 of the first five black Sisters of St. Mary (now the Franciscan Sisters of Mary).

"Literally and metaphorically, voice is not located in the mouth or on the tongue where words are formed. Voice is deeper ... Where you find that meeting place, the home where heart and lungs gather, where breath meets blood, there you will find voice. When you find your way home, there you will find yourself, the unique gift that God has placed on this earth."

U.S. issues like immigration, gun control, racism and petroleum energy expansion are lately more prominent in people's view, especially since the 2016 presidential election, causing some people to notice for the first time that Catholic sisters are activists for social justice and equality. Here's how sisters are reacting to that increased awareness.

As I transition to a new ministry, I leave Ruah Community Services with gratitude for all it has taught me about working alongside people living in poverty and on the margins. The Western Australia nonprofit is a great model for us in religious life today.