In the romantic comedy film, "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," a 30-something woman named Toula breaks out of the expectations of her Greek culture to pursue a career outside the family restaurant business. She even falls in love with Ian, a non-ethnic Greek. When Toula announces that she and Ian will marry, her father feels hurt, infuriated and betrayed. Wanting to be accepted by the family, Ian decides to be baptized in the Greek Orthodox Church.

See for Yourself - As we prepared on-stage for a Sunday afternoon orchestra concert to start in 17 minutes, my stand partner said, "Well, I went to church today so do you think God will make me play all the correct notes?" I said that with God part of this, it would have to come out OK.

There are hundreds of local languages across Africa, filled with sonorous tones that have exact words for the color of the earth after the rain or the time of day when the sun is just peaking over the horizon. To honor the diversity of these languages, Global Sisters Report reached out to non-English-speaking sisters for the first time with a writing workshop in Tanzania that was simultaneously translated into Swahili. Here is some of what they wrote.

Notes from the Field - At Big Laurel Learning Center, the month of January is typically a very slow month, but almost without our notice, it began to fill up with visits and connections, both people visiting us and us visiting others.

Sr. Lisha Chiramattel has been working among the Ho people, one of the most isolated tribes in eastern India, for the past 23 years. The Holy Spirit nun's work has brought remarkable changes in their lives, people who have been ignored by mainstream society because of their remoteness and "uncivilized" living conditions. The Catholic Health Association of India honored her in 2006 for her outstanding contribution in bringing health care to an unreachable region. Chiramattel shared with Global Sisters Report her struggles to bring life and hope to an unwanted group of people in Odisha state.

"Face to face we begin to be together as one."

Three Stats and a Map - This week we got an email from a contact at Christian Universities Online who shared a stunning and very interesting graphic they made, which highlights the roles of women in the world's five major religions (Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, and Buddhism).

Thousands stood on their feet with thunderous applause. The United Nations Climate Change Agreement negotiated by 195 nations had passed! I was amazed as both developed and developing nations agreed upon a foundational document to address the gravest challenge humanity faces. What a privilege it was to be an official observer with Franciscans International at the U.N. Conference of Parties (COP21) in Paris in December and sponsored by my Franciscan community of Rochester, Minnesota.

GSR Today - White allies are a common motif within Christianity, so when I was reading all the "White Privilege II" think pieces tumbling down my social media feeds last week, the predominant image in my head was one of a white missionary ministering to brown people.

“If there is a sense of reality, there must also be a sense of possibility.”