GSR Today - Sisters are constantly on the front lines of justice issues and are extremely effective in creating systemic change. This is true historically and continues to be true today.

During a two-year program on aging, illness and death, I invited sisters in my community's assisted living convent to participate in small groups to share their experiences. I was fascinated by their responses.

Sr. Aisha Kavalakatt of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth started organizing women's empowerment groups in the village of Koshi Dekha, Nepal, in 2014. When the 7.8-magnitude earthquake April 25, 2015, leveled hundreds of villages and killed about 9,000 people in the small mountainous country, she pushed through blocked roads and returned to the village of 1,700 people five days later to help with recovery. She says she won't be needed soon, expecting Koshi Dekha to be self-sufficient by 2020.

"Can we discover, I wonder, before the laws of physics weigh in against us, what it means to belong to a single, Earth community and how to protect its viability and flourishing?"

African women want to heal their continent of its many afflictions, but are beset by the cultural and religious practices that harm them and force them into the role of healer, even when they need healing themselves.

See for Yourself - What if two tech inventions had babies? What new invention would result? Consider the following, and remember: you heard it here first.

"I wondered if I was the only one in the room who felt like I was at worship. ... I wondered if anyone else noticed that we — poets and audience — were the body of Christ in communion with the great Creator."

"We are the roses of the world, blooming gloriously amid small and big thorns."

Ferguson "led us through an incredibly exciting, painful, liberating, and tumultuous time with great love, enduring faith, inspiration, and a joyful spirit," said Sr. Patricia Siemen, the congregation's current prioress.

"Historical barriers of prejudice have been overcome. We have not given up in the face of disagreements. There have been personal changes in mentality, toward greater openness."