“Much of our world now is a fabrication, a fiction, a manufactured and manipulated time-lapsed piece of film making where a rose no longer unfolds, but bursts. Speed is the buzz, the blur, the drug. Life out of focus becomes a way of seeing.”

From A Nun's Life podcasts - How do you respond to a communal prayer with which you do not agree?

Long before the publication of Laudato Sí and Pope Francis’ call for an "ecological conversion," Catholic women’s communities had already recognized that their “communities have an important role to play in ecological education” and have “strived to promote a new way of thinking about human beings, life, society, and our relationship with nature.” These initiatives have taken many and diverse forms, including establishing environmental centers. I am currently participating in a sabbatical program at one: An Tairseach Dominican Ecology Center, in Wicklow, Ireland.

"Contemplation invites you to surrender the words that interpret our faith, our experience of God. It is a wordless prayer. It is a form of non-discursive meditation."

GSR Today - I like to think I’ve got a handle on what people are talking about on Twitter. I mean, I’m not one of those social media types who has multiple devices in order to keep obsessive tabs on everyone and everything — but at the very least, know what is trending on the site and why. Last week, however, I all but missed an interesting meme that was making the Twitter rounds thanks to Elle UK.

Author and activist Terry Tempest Williams has written, “Much of our world now is a fabrication, a fiction, a manufactured and manipulated time-lapsed piece of film making where a rose no longer unfolds, but bursts. Speed is the buzz, the blur, the drug. Life out of focus becomes a way of seeing.” Her solution: “Go underground like a seed so that something new may come forth.” Twelve women ranging in age from 52 to 83, myself included and in the 60s cohort of the group, decided to take Williams up on her challenge.

NCR Preview - The discussions at the ongoing Synod of Bishops have shown a clear difference in mindsets between the prelates considering issues of family life and ordinary Catholics looking to the gathering in hopes for changes in church pastoral practice, one of the non-voting participants in the event has said. U.S. Sacred Heart of Mary Sr. Maureen Kelleher said there is a clear cultural divide between bishops' and laypersons' points of view.

"Those who go before us light our way. We remember them with each step we take."

GSR Today - A documentary on the work of an Irish missionary sister supporting people with HIV/AIDS has been nominated for the Kenyan version of the Academy Awards. "Nurtured with Love" details the work at the Love and Hope Centre in Nakuru, Kenya, run by the Franciscan Missionary Sisters for Africa.

In the history of the United States, human trafficking runs long, pre-dating the Declaration of Independence. As efforts to end slavery, sexual exploitation and other forms of abuse have evolved, Catholic sisters were among the very first faith-based groups to take on human trafficking, specifically of women for sex, in modern times. Global Sisters Report looks specifically at the efforts of Benedictines in South Dakota, whose education and other ministry centers on the I-29 corridor and the particular vulnerability of Native American young women living there. Their work mirrors that of many other sisters' communities and coalitions.