"Failure to include women as equals has deprived the church of fresh and innovative discernment. It has consigned it to recycled thinking among a hermetically sealed, cozy male clerical elite."

The Commission for Social Development, the U.N. body charged with supporting and monitoring global development progress, met Jan. 29-Feb. 7. Catholic sisters who represent their congregations at the United Nations shared best practices from their own programs and brought stories of what getting out of poverty really means for the people they serve.

"Speak! When you speak about yourself, it will reflect on what others are doing. Because you are never alone; we're a community."

Mercy Sr. Ana María Pineda, a theologian at Santa Clara University, spoke to NCR about the friendship between Archbishop Óscar Romero and Jesuit Fr. Rutilio Grande, about Romero's spiritual life and the meaning of his pending sainthood.

Notes from the Field - Will 23 be the age when I start feeling more sophisticated and mature? Will I finally feel more confident in my professional life? Will I stop feeling this sense of anticipation about waiting for my life to begin?

Like dried beans prepared for a stew, do we all need a good soaking by the love and mercy of God? What is the recipe for compassion, empathy, and embracing the DACAmented, and the undocumented among us during this season of Lent?

"The climb may be difficult, the sky is witness. One step at a time will I be able to balance and follow the way to an unknown future."

I just read a book that portrayed the 16th century as a dark night of faith, an overlay for our own age. The mystical tradition provides a way forward: I write this as someone who knows darkness as an "old friend" through the insight of John of the Cross.

National Catholic Sisters Week, the annual celebration of women religious, kicks off its fifth year March 8, International Women's Day. This year's iteration includes about 80 events funded by mini-grants to the hosting organizations.

Because of her work trying to counteract the fact that formation programs usually focus on poverty and obedience and have little education on sexuality for the vow of celibate chastity, Sr. Marie-Paul Ross of the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception was called "the nun from Canada who is speaking clearly and openly about sexuality" — and was called to Rome.