Recently my attention has been drawn away (thankfully) from national political campaigns and (mercifully) from ISIS atrocities. Unexpectedly, while visiting Kenya, I was pulled toward an awareness of housing. I've never worked in housing ministry and I often take housing for granted, even as I always feel grateful to return to my own home after time away.

In 1989, while serving in Guatemala as a missionary in a Mayan community, Ursuline Sr. Dianna Ortiz was abducted and tortured by Guatemalan security forces. This trauma fueled her passion for human rights work. Ortiz now serves as the editor of Education for Justice, a project of the Center of Concern. She also founded the international Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition and served as its director for 10 years.

GSR Today - The St. Paul de Chartres Sisters have been in Vietnam since 1860 and now have sisters in about 16 of the 25 dioceses of the country. The ministry of the first French sisters was caring for orphans, and only four years later they began working with children who have hearing impairment.

The St. Louis Sisters who run the Jubilee Primary and Junior High School in Kumasi decided to start selling bottles of orange juice, made from orange trees on their property, to give their students a better alternative beverage than soda and also to support their ministry.

Benedictine Mother Dolores Hart, prioress of the Abbey of Regina Laudis monastery in Connecticut, came to New York City to meet with fans and talk about her new memoir. A one-time leading lady who co-starred with Elvis Presley in two films — "King Creole" and "Loving You" — Hart, 77, startled Hollywood five decades ago when she abandoned her burgeoning acting career and took vows as a sister.

"Clothe yourselves with humility in your dealings with one another."

GSR Today - There is a lot to dislike about the United States' immigration policies and how they're enforced. Now comes word that some people are being imprisoned almost indefinitely despite a policy that they must either be deported or set free.

Many years ago I toured St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City. I can recall climbing up to the top of the cupola and going outside on the balcony from which there is a marvelous view. As I stood there, I reflected on how impenetrable this wall was and couldn't help making the connection to how difficult it was to communicate with many of our bishops and cardinals about critical issues.

Domestic violence remains widespread in Vietnam's patriarchal society where men give themselves rights to make decisions on all things in their families and treat their spouses as inferiors. There is little government assistance for this problem, so Catholic sisters are usually the only ones offering services and relief to women and their children who are abused.

"Today the church is no more the church of the poor, but one can even say it is the church of institutions," said Presentation Sister Shalini Mulackal, president of Indian Theological Association.