The word "virtual" in relation to online activity has given the internet and social media a bad name when it comes to relationships. When talking about online interaction, we call it "virtual" in order to distinguish it from face-to-face interaction, which we call "real."

Notes from the Field - One of the main functions of my job is coordinating both Widening Horizons, the after-school program at our school, as well as class retreats for each of the grades. At the Student Life program, we want to help the students form their whole selves intellectually, physically and spiritually.

"The most precious gift we can offer anyone is our attention. When mindfulness embraces those we love, they will blossom like flowers."

In 2003, Dinknesh Amanuel was a strange sight at the Capuchin Theological Seminary at the main cathedral in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. In a sea of priests, she was the first female student at the seminary. Amanuel is a member of the Maids of the Poor, a secular institute in Ethiopia.

GSR Today - There's been a sort of revolution spreading across the country. It's one that has been badly needed for decades and one that I honestly thought would never happen.

"Bread for myself is a material question. Bread for my neighbor is a spiritual one."

"The structured injustice of war, violence, sexual exploitation of women and girls, and the rape of Mother Earth at times seems overwhelming. Yet we stand facing these injustices not in despair but in hope."

West Africa's flagship universal health care plan, held up as a model for developing countries, has an eight-month delay paying back health institutions, forcing one Catholic hospital to teeter on the edge of bankruptcy  and look for enterprise services to earn extra operating capital.

"Does the government interfere with your work?" the foreign visitor asked Hà. "I just heard one of the children call you 'Sister.' Does the government know that you're a religious sister, and still they let you work here?" As a Maryknoll missionary working in China, Ngoc Hà Pham, like every Maryknoll Sister, including myself, who has worked in China, has answered those questions repeatedly.

In a little less than a month I'll make my first profession. The date has been chosen, and the invitations have been sent. The liturgy is planned. And I'm not sure I'm ready.