More than 100 younger sisters will gather in Chicago over Memorial Day weekend to compare notes, renew old ties and continue preparing for the future of religious life. The Collaborative Leadership Development Program works to develop the next generation of leaders among women religious.

Global Sisters Report spoke with Charity Sr. Virginia Searing, who reflected on decades of work in Guatemala and at the Barbara Ford Peace Center, a nonprofit she co-founded that focuses on human and spiritual development. Searing works to aid the mental health of victims of the Guatemalan civil war.

In the West African countries of Gabon and Togo I have watched Sisters Rita, Julienne, Lucie, Clarisse, Gaby and Elisabeth get up each morning with one goal: to offer children an alternative life and to protect the most vulnerable. 

"The divine life is essentially creative and actualizes itself in inexhaustible abundance."

Contention over the relocation of Ireland's new national maternity hospital to a site owned by the Religious Sisters of Charity in Dublin has raised questions about the clinical independence of the new facility and thrust the congregation into the public spotlight, rekindling attention to past controversies.

I had presumed the story of the stone that covered the tomb of Jesus was familiar to most people until I encountered someone recently who claimed to be a staunch Catholic but remembered only faintly the phrase, "Who will roll away the stone for us?" The incident encouraged me to share a reflection on the Marcan version of the Passion narrative concerning the women disciples of Jesus, who went to his tomb at the first day of the week only to discover the body was no longer interred, but that Jesus had been raised from the dead.

In today's market, small colleges and universities have to be nimble. In July, Immaculata University, founded by the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, is taking a step that is both historically significant and perhaps important to the school's long-term prospects: bringing in a president who was instrumental in helping another Catholic university find a firmer financial footing. She also happens to be the school's first president who is not a Catholic sister or priest.

"Harmony ... all beings live and grow in communion ... all tribes of beings grow in love ... everything is nourished by the wilderness of God.
Abundance ... abundance of food, of species that crawl, fly, walk or swim." 

Appreciation - Friends and colleagues illuminate the character of Adrian Dominican Sr. Nadine Foley, who died May 13. A formidable figure of late-20th-century religious life, she renewed the ancient truths, honored God's design, and governed all things well.

See for Yourself - The voice on the recorded help service said, "If you're experiencing email issues, we're aware of the situation and are working on it. If you have another issue, stay on the line."