Our sister now has a newly discovered half brother with whom she shares the same father. A Gospel story reminds us that we share the same father, our God, with all people throughout the world.

"Sustainability also links us to ancient traditions of earth and agriculture, food and ritual. It takes the flat out of the moment and makes time dense, at the very tables of our ordinary life."

Mary Immaculate Sr. Licia Puthuparambil, a member of the Canon Law Council of the International Union of Superiors General, lends her expertise to its mission to provide canonical guidance to leaders of religious institutes of women in Africa, Asia and elsewhere.

Small Christian communities provide an environment in which members read and wrestle with the meaning of Scripture, church teaching and faith in order to find the truth of what God speaks to them. The wrestling is important, because Catholics don't generally question enough to make Scripture or church teaching their own.

"We are encountering hatred and an evil that cannot be measured by our own understanding. We must, therefore, put all of our trust in God like never before and build on a faith that cannot be shattered. Hatred is powerful, but God is greater!"

I am reliving a past that slaves died to overcome, a bitter reality that brought pain into the lives of my parents and their parents. This horrific and malicious illness of racism still holds this country captive.

Updated - President Donald Trump may believe the statements he made in the wake of racial violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, were "very nice," but many communities of women religious had their own words to say.

As soon as St. Therese of the Child Jesus Sisters moved onto the church grounds in a rural region outside of Beijing, abandoned babies with severe disabilities started showing up on the doorstep. The sisters' care for them today encompasses three centers for children and young adults that offer therapy, education, and a chance to tell their stories.

"What profit have we from all the toil which we toil at under the sun? One generation departs and another generation comes, but the world forever stays. The sun rises and the sun sets; then it presses on to the place where it rises. Shifting south, then north, back and forth shifts the wind, constantly shifting its course."