Eilis McCulloh, HM is a Sister of the Humility of Mary. She currently serves as the Grassroots Education and Organizing Specialist at NETWORK Lobby and is a student at The University of Akron School of Law. She has extensively ministered alongside the refugee and immigrant communities.

Dinknesh Amanuel is a member of the Maids of the Poor, a secular institute in Ethiopia. She was the first female student at the Capuchin Theological Seminary in Addis Ababa, earning degrees in philosophy and theology. She later studied patristics (the study of the early church fathers and their writings) in Italy and now teaches on the subject and also serves as the executive secretary for the Conference of Major Religious Superiors (CMRS), the umbrella network of men and women religious in Ethiopia.

This story appears in the Web of Life feature series. View the full series.

by Tracy L. Barnett

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In the tiny country where a slice through the Earth connects its two greatest oceans, Maryknoll Sr. Melinda Roper and her fellow sisters have staked a claim to protect a bit of Panama's lush biodiversity — and are working to rekindle a spiritual connection to the planetary ties that bind us all.

Susan Kidd is a member of the Congregation of Notre Dame and is currently the campus minister of the University of Prince Edward Island in Canada. She previously taught and chaired the Religion Department at a Catholic co-ed high school in Toronto and was involved in parish and community renewal. She worked for two years in youth ministry in Cameroon, West Africa. She is a contributor to the first round of the GSR series "The Life."

Florence Nwaonuma is a member of the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. She has served as national president of the Nigeria Conference of Women Religious and for two terms as superior general of the Religious Institute of the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Nigeria. She has been deeply involved in the fight against human trafficking for 10 years. After a sabbatical in the U.S., she returned to Nigeria in May. She holds masters' degrees in public administration and social work and practiced law.

Maryknoll Sr. Helen Graham, a native of Brooklyn, New York, has lived in the Philippines for 50 years. At the Institute of Formation and Religious Studies in Quezon City she teaches Sacred Scripture and mentors students from across Asia, Africa and even Latin America. Graham was instrumental during Ferdinand Marcos' martial law years in bringing the stories of those who were imprisoned and tortured to the world. She was a founding member of the Task Force Detainees of the Philippines in 1974, wrote for Amnesty International and spoke to U.S. officials who were visiting the Philippines. 

Eden Panganiban is a member of the Missionary Sisters Servants of the Holy Spirit, an international missionary congregation. Her early work included teaching and a two-year mission experience in Brazil. She has been in leadership positions since 1989, including two terms in congregational leadership in Rome (1996-2008) and as provincial of the Philippines-North Province (2010-2016).