Maryknoll Sr. Janet Carroll, founding executive director of the U.S. Catholic China Bureau, was the recipient of the organization's 2017 Matteo Ricci Award, an honor bestowed upon people who best exemplify the bureau's mission to build a bridge of friendship and service between the Catholic Church in the United States and China.

The award, named for the 16th-century Jesuit missionary to China, was presented to Carroll at a banquet Aug. 12 during the China bureau's 27th biennial national conference at St. John's University.

"This glorious feast, celebrated today, August 15, is a testimony to the power of the laity and of our devotion to the mother of God."

What if I were a millennial today searching for a way to fulfill my calling, rather than the baby boomer I am, now settled in religious life? In all honesty, I probably wouldn't consider a traditional religious community today that wasn't actively, creatively engaged in renewing itself. 

This Sister of St. Joseph of the Apparition began her ministry as a simple gesture to bring soup to the dying. Her work has grown to partnerships with the U.N. and international HIV/AIDS organizations to bring life-saving treatments to people who have the disease.

Is there a link between God's truth and what can be done for our world by means of justice? Does that link suggest how we are to preach in today's troubled world? Looking at the details of truth as it relates to justice might be the link.

Some tear at the roots of violence by running schools, health clinics or social programs. Others do it in smaller ways, concentrating not on changing neighborhoods or even city blocks, but individual lives. "We're under no illusions," says Dominican Sr. Joanne Delehanty. "Our energy goes into being church and being good neighbors."

"The soil cannot produce endlessly. It must be nourished by careful cultivation, thoughtful crop rotation and, occasionally, total rest. Relentless production will exhaust it. Why should I expect my soul to be any different?"

LCWR 2017: Beyond some annual processes and business sessions, the three days in Orlando hosted profound conversations regarding grief and vulnerability, the presence of love, and communion.

LCWR 2017: It's high time for women religious to take ownership of the narrative that has dominated their vocation for the past half-century, said St. Joseph Sr. Mary Pellegrino. As president of the Leadership Conference for Women Religious, she made an emphatic call to almost 800 women religious Aug. 10 to begin shifting the focus from diminishment to communion. The address, which was both challenging and comforting, was part of LCWR's annual assembly, held Aug. 8-11 in Orlando.