GSR Today - It’s hard to imagine bees bringing people together, but that’s what’s happening in the Casamance region of Senegal, thanks to a Catholic Relief Services project. The area had been wracked by violence, killing up to 6,000 civilians and displacing 60,000 more.

I am delighted about Pope Francis’ first papal encyclical, “Laudato Sí, on Care for Our Common Home,” our mother Earth. What kind of Earth will we leave behind? I feel this as a very strong invitation from Pope Francis to go beyond our immediate needs, our comfort at the expense of generations yet unborn, and consider the future of our human race and planet.

Truth and its elusiveness are the dominant themes of the play, “Sense of an Ending,” by Ken Urban, playing now through Sept. 6 at 59E59 Theaters in New York City. The plot explores the Roman Catholic church’s involvement in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, including the involvement of two Benedictine sisters, who were ultimately convicted of war crimes against the Tutsis. Urban, who was raised Catholic, said, “It feels like the right time to tell this story. It's not about race in America, but it's a story of race in the world.”

GSR Today - Last Thursday I returned to San Rafael, spending time with the Lourdes community, older sisters who spend most of their time on the Dominican sisters’ grounds. I also spoke before the community and a gathering of some of their friends, offering an assessment of religious life today.

The first call came after five days. Pope Francis called the newsstand where he would buy his daily paper in Buenos Aires to cancel his subscription. It seemed he was going to be away longer than expected. I remember reading that first news report in March 2013; it was almost as surreal as the turn of events that had taken place over the preceding weeks. For the first time in 600 years, a pope resigned and for the first time ever, a Jesuit was elected to the papacy. Now it is history, tempered by time, but still no less remarkable.

Notes from the Field - I often have to remind myself what a privileged position I am in to have been able to volunteer for the past two years. While getting a steady paying, career-building job would have been the conventional thing to do after graduation, it was not an absolute necessity.

On June 17, a man entered the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church and joined a Bible study for about an hour before he began firing a handgun, killing nine people and wounding another. Sr. Roberta Fulton, who was at the joint meeting July 27 to 29 of the National Black Sisters' Conference, the National Association of Black Catholic Deacons, the National Black Catholic Seminarians Association and the National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus, said one reason the shootings resonated so deeply for blacks is the importance of the church in everyday life. "In the African-American community, the church is the place we go for just about everything we need," said Fulton, a Sister of St. Mary of Namur.

Last Saturday I returned from visiting friends in Philadelphia where city officials just announced massive new security measures for Pope Francis' late September visit. A new fence is being constructed that will surround large swaths of central city venues where the Pope will appear. No automobiles are permitted, causing major inconvenience to residents and restaurant workers alike. Public transit tickets are only available by lottery and attendees are being warned to expect long walks and electronic screenings. All city schools and government offices will be closed.

"The power of true dialog is its potential for transforming each of the partners as they come to deeper and deeper understandings of the other."