"The weapons of war must be abolished before they abolish us.”

“Be the change you wish to see in the world.” Recently I’ve been playing around with this familiar quotation attributed to Gandhi. While there is apparently some dispute as to whether Gandhi actually said these words, they nevertheless hold a surplus of meaning for those seeking to effect systemic change and make peace in a world where oppression and violence abound. As a younger Catholic sister living religious life in the early 21st century, I have discovered a different surplus of meaning by substituting one word.

Notes from the Field - I distinctly remember the first time I referred to a place that was not the physical home of my childhood as my “home.” It was the end of winter break of my freshman year of college and I was talking to my mother about when she would be able to drive me back home.

GSR Today - A week back I had the pleasure of spending an afternoon and evening with the Dominican sisters in San Rafael, California. Over a dinner meal several of us talked about books and which authors had influenced our thinking in recent years. Someone asked me: “Which book, published in recent years or decades, most influenced my thinking?”

"Sophia Wisdom, wound with the turnings of time and space . . . ."

The opening song line, “Summertime, and the livin’ is easy,” runs through my mind this August. I wish the living were easy. But with the papal encyclical and the drum beat of climate change steadily speeding up, life is less than easy for those working in solidarity with our many suffering brothers and sisters around the planet — nor is it easy for those living on the frontlines of climate change.

In the face of encroaching farming that is causing deforestation of Vietnam’s central highlands and pushing out the ethnic minorities who have lived there for decades, sisters from the Mary Queen of Peace Congregation are striving to collect traditional crafts from these disadvantaged people as a way to conserve their traditions and cultures. Sr. Mary Nguyen Thi Thuan also runs a hostel for 130 children from 13 ethnic groups. They are able study at local schools and are given free accommodation and meals by the sisters, who also teach them how to play traditional musical instruments and dance to perform at festivals and public ceremonies.

See for Yourself - Much of the world considers the Christmas season to be “the most wonderful time of the year.” Yes, I, too, love the holidays from Thanksgiving through Epiphany featuring a magnificent convergence of religious, familial and social traditions. But I pick right now as wonderful.

Nuns on the Bus is hitting the road again, starting in St. Louis and ending up in Washington, D.C., in time for the pope's visit to our nation's capital. Sr. Simone Campbell is once again the driving force behind the newest iteration of the “Nuns on the Bus” phenomenon; she thinks whatever their modes of travel, both the pope and the Catholic sisters are united in their core themes: a faith-based promotion of economic justice and political consensus for the common good.

"When women are empowered, whole families benefit, and these benefits often have a ripple effect on future generations."