by Pam Hackenmiller
GSR Today - A year after we launched Global Sisters Report, we conducted a survey of our readers to find out more about you and how we could improve. It's been two and a half years since then, and it's time we checked in with you again. What do you like about GSR? How can we continue to get better as we head toward our fourth anniversary?
Eleven nuns take the stage wearing traditional black-and white habits but are anything but old school as they belt out songs to the ringing of electric guitar and a rock 'n' roll beat.
"I believe everyone has a unique vocation, and I enjoy helping people find what that is," says Sr. Sharon Dillon of the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Third Order of St. Francis. Dillon spoke with Global Sisters Report about her vision for the organization became executive director of in June, and how her past ministries inform her work.
by Cyrilla Chakalakal
Contributor
I was horrified when I was asked to pose for a picture with my hand around a boy with oozing sores. But the moment I touched him, something snapped within me. My aversion melted away. It was the beginning of 22 years with the street children of Mumbai.
by GSR Staff
"During ages such as these, in this time of terrorism and disasters, my sense is that the Spirit is inviting all of us to become masters of reverence. We must tread upon all ground with mindfulness and gratitude; we must move with care and kindness. Each encounter of grounds made holy — whether by the horrors of history, the hurt of humanity or by God's creative work—is an opportunity to pass through with consciousness and love."
Sr. Cyrilla Chakalakal, superior general of the Franciscan Sisters of St. Mary of the Holy Angels, is the fourth Indian to head the congregation and served as its provincial for 12 years. She is a member of the Satya Shodak, a group of female theologians and grassroots theologians, and the Indian Women Theologians Forum.
The once-oppressed have now joined the oppressors in Myanmar. Continuing centuries of suffering and violence in the country's history, the current plight involves Myanmar's army rampaging across the state of Rakhine, killing hundreds and displacing thousands; the country's leader, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, "is chief apologist for this cleansing."
by Margaret Gonsalves
Contributor
"How dare she dream!" These authoritarian words were firmly imprinted in my mind. I was paralyzed and shocked. To which voice do I listen? The voice of my superiors, or the inner voice?
On the campus of the Comboni Missionaries in Juba, South Sudan, a monthly Recollection service helps religious cope with the stress of serving in a country enduring a civil war. Sisters, brothers and priests from different congregations come to the service for time to be together, prayer, community and quiet moments of solitude.
