Humility Sr. Anne Victory and some of her sisters started the Cleveland-based Collaborative to End Human Trafficking in 2007 after attending a conference on immigration and trafficking. The collaborative works with eight other agencies, including the FBI, to offer in-services and workshops and to provide speakers and volunteers. The idea is to create a safety net for those being trafficked. The collaborative also works to raise awareness among professionals like nurses, social workers, educators and local law enforcement officers.

NCR preview - Newly released U.S. Census data confirms that the country continues to face a national poverty crisis “straining millions of families and stalling our nation’s prosperity and growth,” said Dominican Sr. Donna Markham, president and chief executive of Catholic Charities USA,  in a press briefing Sept. 17.

GSR Today - Friday, Oct. 23 came and went without much fanfare, at least in the courtroom. That was the day that Judge Dolly Gee had given the U.S. government to be in compliance with her court order of July 24, 2015, regarding the Department of Homeland Security’s practice of detaining minors from Central America. But outside the courtroom, plenty has been going on.

Distraction may foster evolution for some, but it also poses the threat of diverting the energy of the whole system. If we are caught up in the pressing needs that the majority identifies, we can’t put in the energy needed for growth. And yet, we can’t forgo the now for the next. Ultimately, the two need to be held in balance.

This story appears in the HIV/AIDS Ministry feature series. View the full series.

by Joachim Pham

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Sr. Mary Nguyen Thi Phuc of the Secular Institute of the Sacred Heart of Jesus designed a savings and credit program for women living with HIV/AIDS in Nha Trang, Vietnam. Most of the women were infected with HIV/AIDS by their husbands or boyfriends and have poor education and no vocational skills, so being able to get a start in something productive makes a difference in their lives. The money helps them start small businesses so they can support themselves and afford to send their children to school.

Since 1980, Mercy Sr. Marilyn Lacey has worked with displaced populations in the United States and in refugee camps overseas. Through her work, she had the opportunity to visit South Sudan in 1992, and the experience vastly altered the course of her life and work. In 2008, Lacey founded an organization called Mercy Beyond Borders to aid women and girls living in extreme poverty in South Sudan (and, eventually, Haiti). She spoke to Global Sisters Report about the culture of the war-torn region and the work Mercy Beyond Borders is doing.

This story appears in the Inter-Mission feature series. View the full series.

Most cancer survivors will admit that they never quite stop looking over their shoulders to see if a recurrence is creeping up on them. Having been caught by surprise once, nobody wants to be blind-sided again. My initial experience of ovarian cancer came in February 2008 when I was 52 years old, a Sister of Charity of Cincinnati practicing family medicine at the U.S.-Mexico border near El Paso, Texas.