The San Martin mine in the Valle de Siria region of south central Honduras, 90 miles north of the capital city of Tegucigalpa, has been closed since 2009. But its impact on local communities, people living in the area say, continues to this day. "The San Martin mine is a clear example of the environmental damage and the consequences for human health from mining," said anti-mining activist Pedro Landa.

GSR Today - Chances are you heard the news about Pope Francis having lunch with Syrian refugees. You might have wondered what the big deal was. A nice gesture, to be sure, but merely a drop of joy in an ocean of pain.

LCWR 2016 - At this year's assembly, LCWR took a first step in addressing issues of race and religious life. A presentation Friday morning, by historian Shannen Dee Williams, Sr. Anita Baird, Daughters of the Heart of Mary, and Dawn Tomaszewski, Sister of Providence, was meant to set the stage for this year's conference resolution, which committed LCWR members to "examine the root causes of injustice, particularly racism, and our own complicity as congregations. . . ."

LCWR 2016 - After two days spent deeply discerning the movement of the Spirit in regard to future of religious life, on Friday, August 12, the membership of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious took a step back to reflect on the 2016 assembly and to celebrate some of its leaders. Later the assembly concluded with a banquet at which the official transfer of leadership occurred and the Outstanding Leadership Award was presented.

"The indwelling presence of the Divine is forever accessible to us. We need only wake up to the mystery of Love always present, always capable of transforming us and our world. It rises up from within as an impulse toward wholeness capable of permeating all of life."

LCWR 2016 - In her keynote address Thursday, Franciscan Sr. Pat Farrell shared her personal experience with contemplation and leadership. What she has learned, she told the LCWR membership definitively, is that contemplation and leadership are one and the same.

"What was considered traditional ways of doing things did not hold up under the exigencies of the moment. Traditions were reinvented. Charisms survived; purpose survived, but all of the customs and homey expectations of the east were left behind."

I didn't know I needed glasses until I was a junior in high school. The girl who sat next to me in choir got new frames, and I asked if I could try them on. I expected the world to blur, as it did when I put on my mom's glasses. To my shock, this particular day during fifth bell, something different happened.

See for Yourself - It was one of the hottest days of the year. I don't know if it was the hottest afternoon on record for the summer, but it had to be close. I would have been in my cool residence, but an outdoor orchestra concert routed me from that cool comfort to a concert venue on the performance stage at a downtown urban park.

LCWR 2016 - During the first full day of the 2016 Leadership Conference of Women Religious assembly, August 10, participants were challenged to explore the future of religious life and reinvent the annual gathering in the face of rapidly declining membership. LCWR President Marcia Allen minced no words in describing the demographic reality confronting women religious in the U.S. In her address to the approximately 800 attendees in Atlanta, she wove a series of vignettes focused on the theme of this year’s assembly: "Embracing the Mystery - Living Transformation."