After International Women's Day in March, and with Earth Day approaching April 22, it is timely to shine a spotlight encircling activist Mercy Sr. Mary Pendergast, author and activist Margaret Swedish and Halifax Charity Sr. Maureen Wild, an international retreat presenter and ardent foe of the tar sands operations in Alberta, Canada, who is working on a book-writing project with Celina Harpe, a Cree-Chipewyan elder in northeastern Alberta.

In a country where rural areas are faltering economically, leaving for the big city is both an allure and a challenge, and women often have the starkest of choices to make, as options for them are often the narrowest. "For the women, it is either working as a domestic worker or in the garment industry," said Salesian Sr. Rita Zema, who works in the Chittagong Diocese as an advocate and ombudsman for indigenous people who have left rural areas and migrated into urban cities like Chittagong or the capital of Dhaka.

In 1985, the Adorers of the Blood of Christ in Ruma, Illinois, formed a committee to study the farm crisis, which led to a number of environmental stewardship initiatives. Today, the Ruma motherhouse is home to a beekeeping effort, a nature program for local children and a vegetable garden, among other things. In celebration of Earth Day, Srs. Mary Alan Wurth and Janis Yaekel shared with Global Sisters Report the story of the Adorers' relationship with Earth.

"With the propriety of a mansion planting, the pink and red flowers join in a communal bloom, gladdening the heart and singing for joy!"

Lending their voices, support and prayers, dozens of sisters from various congregations gathered with hundreds of immigrants and advocates in front of the U.S. Supreme Court building April 18 as justices heard oral arguments regarding Obama Administration immigration policies.

Robert Frost wrote "Fire and Ice" about ways the world might end, but I find myself thinking more in terms of slow and fast: the slow warming of the planet or the speed of nuclear doom. Even a "small" war between India and Pakistan, say a dozen or so hydrogen bombs, would create stratospheric ash, blocking the sun and resulting in worldwide famine and chaos; slower than immolation, but faster than climate change.

From A Nun's Life podcasts - What does it mean to show "neighborly love" through ministry as Franciscan Sisters of the Sacred Heart? Find out in this clip from a recent Motherhouse Road Trip.

A Kenyan member of the Missionaries of Charity killed in an attack on a nursing home in Yemen was remembered during a memorial Mass as defending her Catholic faith at the time of her death.

GSR Today - Two years after Boko Haram dramatically kidnapped 276 girls for their own uses, the exploitation of children in the region of Nigeria, Chad and Niger has grown, causing a mass displacement of 2.3 million people.

Founded in 2004 after four years of discussion and planning, the Racine Dominicans' Eco-Justice Center is one of 50 such places created by religious orders around the country, by sisters who see the ecological crisis as the most critical issue of our time.