In 2001, Phu Cuong Dominican Sr. Mary Cecilia Bui Thi Hong Hanh launched a savings program for domestic migrant women to cover their children's school fees. Hanh tried to encourage them to save money out of the monthly scholarships their children were awarded from the Binh Trieu Development Center that she runs on the outskirts of the city, offering free elementary education to children in first to fifth grades.

Calling for an end to human smuggling and trafficking, the Sisters of Divine Providence of San Antonio, Texas, are inviting people of faith to their prayer vigil Friday, July 28, following the fatal smuggling of undocumented immigrants in San Antonio.

"The happiest days are those that make us wise."

GSR Today - Millions were relieved that efforts in the U.S. Senate to repeal and replace the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act had failed. But, as Social Service Sr. Simone Campbell pointed out to opponents of the repeal effort, it is not over yet.

A letter signed by 7,150 women religious from all 50 states was delivered to the Senate on July 24, urging senators to vote against any bill that repeals the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act or cuts Medicaid. The effort was coordinated by NETWORK, a Catholic social justice lobby.

Recently, Mary Hunt, a good friend and co-director with Diann Neu of WATER (Women's Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual), emailed me. Mary is very committed to contemplation and asked me about swimming as a type of contemplative practice similar to Thich Nhat Hanh's walking mediation.

The Life - Good coffee. A walk in the bush. A catechism class for sixth-graders. But also prayer, parish visits and cherished time spent in community. In this latest installment of The Life, our global panel of sisters talk about how Sundays become days of physical and spiritual rejuvenation, of dreaming and visioning.

"Jesus touched the unclean, ate with sinners, worked on the Sabbath, and generally seemed to relish activities that were the symbolic equivalent of blowing dandelion seeds over every manicured lawn he came near."

Women who enter most apostolic congregations in the 21st century intentionally engage in a changing time. They add their energy to the chaotic mix, in service of God's people. But what we think is new is not new.

See for Yourself - The beautiful longhand with its display-card-quality perfect shaping of the letters belied her years of teaching the primary grades. I, for one, remember vividly the penmanship classes in grade school several times a week.