From A Nun's Life podcasts - Is God keeping score — why do sinners seem more successful than I am?

Analysis - The Catholic church has much to learn from the recent encounter between the Leadership Conference of Women Religious and the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which recently concluded an investigation into the sisters’ theology, procedures and program choices.

In late July, while John Kerry sat across a table in Paris from Mohammed Zarif, chief Iranian negotiator for the Iranian-U.S. nuclear treaty, I and six other Americans from the Global Peace Initiative of Women sat across tables from some of the major religious figures in Iran. We were in Qom, the Vatican of Shia Islam.

“The God of peace is never glorified by human violence.”

By focusing on the large cohort of sisters in their 70s and 80s, are we not forgetting the dynamic energy of those sisters in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s? As we look to the emerging future, are these not the sisters, especially those ages 20 through 55, who will develop this future over the next 20 years? If these sisters are relegated to the future, how can they create that future?

GSR Today - An exciting part of my work with GSR is the surprises that pop up now and again. For example, recently I met Sister Rosewitha, a Franciscan Sister from Germany, who told me that her congregation had started out in 1241 as a Beguine community in a small town of Dillingen, situated on the Danube River. Having just read Laura Swan’s book The Wisdom of the Beguines I was thrilled.

A federal judge ordered the release of children and their parents from immigration detention centers "without unnecessary delay" and gave immigration officials two months to comply, according to court documents filed late Friday, Aug. 21.

"The love and care of tending makes all the difference."

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.