Paris - The community of the Handmaids of the Blessed Sacrament and of Charity, or Sisters Adoratrices, was founded in Spain to minister to women who were prostitutes; in France today, the sisters continue to help women who were trafficked from other countries and who likewise need assistance leaving prostitution work they were forced into.

"I am definitively loved and whatever happens to me I am awaited by this Love. And so my life is good."

Christmas was a little different this year. Ever since I was a little girl, Christmas has been one of my least favorite holidays. Of course, in my family we celebrated with family and friends, and we always received gifts on the feast of St. Nicholas all the way through little Christmas. But for me, it was only stuff.

Notes from the Field - I applied to Dominican Volunteers USA and chose to serve in the Dominican Leadership Conference at the United Nations. I wasn't sure I was going to get the gig, but I applied and left the rest up to God. 

"You sanctify whatever you are grateful for."

Sacred Heart of Jesus Sr. Rosemary Nyirumbe is perhaps Uganda's most famous sister, a status she uses to raise issues that no one else can, in forums sisters don't usually reach. "If you look at me, Sister Rosemary, you have to know there are many more Sister Rosemarys who are working in many places."

Sisters in the Africa Faith and Justice Network-Nigeria have set out to change the statistics on human trafficking in their country. At a recent meeting in Benin City, we gathered community leaders to educate, sensitize and enlighten them and their people about the horror of trafficking in Edo State.

"It turns out all these stones — rejected by an empire that drives wedges between us and labels some of us 'criminal aliens' and 'thugs' — make a stunning foundation. ... And as we organize together to put one rejected stone on top of another, my sentiment echoes: Good luck movin' that!"

Thirteen sisters collaborated on 13 essays in a new collection, In Our Own Words, published Jan. 25 by Liturgical Press. "We're not reinventing religious life, but connecting with our experience of religious life," said Dubuque Franciscan Sr. Sarah Kohles, who edited the book with Society of the Sacred Heart Sr. Juliet Mousseau. Younger sisters want the collaboration used to write the book to be a model for religious life, where differences in congregations and leadership conferences don't create division.