The idea of a long-dead monk having a 100th birthday party is intriguing but not fully surprising when the monk in question is Thomas Merton (1915-1968), arguably America’s most famous monk. There are many such “parties” going on this year, in forms such as retreats, theological symposia, publications, films, academic conferences, liturgical celebrations, art exhibits and public talks. An Internet search reveals events happening on every continent except Africa.

GSR Today - I am not the person to come to for spiritual or theological advice. Many hundreds of thousands of words have already been written, by much more qualified people than I, about Pope Francis’s encyclical on the environment, Laudato Si'. But I spent some time recently in northern Michigan, which is a beautiful place.

Notes from the Field - A casa hogar is a children’s home. These types of institutions are incredibly common in Honduras and Central America, at large. They come in all shapes, sizes and types. Here in San Pedro Sula, most casa hogares are associated with a church or school. At Escuela María Mazzarello, the casa hogar has been in existence for 15 years, but in the past five years it has seriously begun to evolve. 

I have laughed more in the past two years than almost any other time in my life. Coincidentally, it has also been two years since I entered my religious community. When I first began spending time with sisters, one thing surprised me: how much they laughed. Sure, they possessed a number of other attractive qualities, like prayerfulness, courage, hospitality, humility, compassion and a commitment to justice. I had sort of expected these qualities.

"A true ecological approach always becomes a social approach; it must integrate questions of justice in debates on the environment, so as to hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor."

The recent court ruling against the Little Sisters of the Poor, a congregation of Roman Catholic women religious, marked the latest, but likely not the last, dustup in the debate over the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) contraception mandate. 

Commentary - A popular current topic regarding religious life in the U.S. is the “middle space.” In fact, LCWR dedicated its Winter 2015 volume of The Occasional Papers to this particular theme. The middle space – which can also be called the “in-between space” or “the borderland” – signifies adaptability, ingenuity and mobility in the midst of uncertainty. In the early history of immigrant women religious in the U.S. (1727-1917), I clearly see the border crossing spirit regarding adaptability. Many religious communities’ chronicles show that the first group of sisters came to the U.S. to launch their apostolic work, becoming immigrants serving immigrants. How can the border-crossing spirit be applied to today’s society?

In Vietnam where parents abandon children when a spouse dies or they otherwise cannot afford to care for them, the Austrian-based SOS Children's Villages network offers a way for the children to have a stable life. There are 17 such "orphan villages" in this country of about 9.5 million people, where women who have committed themselves to remaining single provide maternal care. Often they are Catholic and have the help of women religious in educating their children.

See for Yourself - “Aren’t you listening? She can’t keep her life together. You don’t have to have a lot of possessions or be wealthy or have the fancy things. Just take care of what you have. So my friend is one big fat frustration to me because I truly don’t understand why she can’t even.”

"The sun, the earth, love, friends, our very breath are part of the bouquet."