It's National Midwifery Week in the United States, but for many international health organizations, midwives are the answer to the world's continuing maternal health crises. Since 2008, the U.N. has been actively trying to increase the number of midwives worldwide, believing they have the ability, not only to prevent two-thirds of maternal and newborn deaths, but also to provide the overwhelming majority of reproductive and maternal health services. And Catholic sisters are heeding the call.

"I am not a visionary. I claim to be a practical idealist. The religion of nonviolence is not meant merely for the rishis and saints. It is meant for the common people as well."

The Adorers of the Blood of Christ in Columbia, Pennsylvania, have been handed another legal defeat. Judge Jeffrey Schmehl dismissed the sisters' lawsuit that claimed the construction of a pipeline on their property was a violation of their religious freedom. In a statement sent to GSR, the Adorers said they were "disappointed" with Schmehl's ruling and plan to appeal.

Horizons - During Hurricane Harvey, my hometown experienced flooding like never before. My dad's neighborhood was under water. 

See for Yourself - If the four Franciscan values were friends sitting around in a circle, contemplation is the quiet one, poverty is the talker, minority is the one providing refreshments, and conversion is the eternal optimist.

"Although I should be simple as a dove, I must also be prudent as a Serpent; and since there is very little good can be accomplished or evil avoided without the aid of money, we must look after it in small as well as in great matters."

Colette Parker was excited about the start of the NFL season. But Parker, an associate with the Dominican Sisters of Peace in Ohio, won't be watching her beloved Chicago Bears this fall. Her personal boycott is not because she disagrees with players who are kneeling during the national anthem, though.

When Mother Joanna Jamieson went back to art school after more than 60 years in a Benedictine convent, she was likened by one British national newspaper to an "intergalactic time traveler" who hadn't heard a record by the Beatles or seen a James Bond film.

From A Nun's Life podcasts – Adorers of the Blood of Christ Sr. Bernadine Wessel talks about ministry in Korea and accepting differences. "It made me comfortable with everybody and every situation I was in."

"Even if we are experts in communion and signs of true love, we still need to learn and be open to forgiveness each day. If we don't forgive, we can't walk as sisters; I feel this is the most powerful sign to be a disciple of Jesus, forgiveness. But the opportunities are amazing. We, as religious communities, are the actual evidence and testimony for our world that it's possible to live without frontiers, and journey towards justice and inclusion."