See for Yourself - "I just hate to exercise. I've always hated to exercise. The thought of exercising makes me sick." So said a dinner party guest who came along as the friend of a family member. It was a snug group of family members around an efficient dining room table but we all welcomed Tim to join us.

This week marks my 30th birthday. Like many new members of religious communities, I have mostly lived with sisters many years my senior. I find myself with an awareness of aging, death and human vulnerability that is uncommon among my age peers. In a culture that often ignores these realities, my experiences in intergenerational living yield a complicated mix of gift and grief.

"With Jesus, it was always a personal interest in any person that came to him. He didn't treat them as objects to be taken care of. They were people, individual human beings made in the image and likeness of God."

A dispute between an order of nuns and an American priest over control of two major hospitals for people who live in poverty has ended with the nuns storming one of the hospitals.

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.