We are far from achieving the original Catholic mission in Cameroon, which was to encourage religious congregations to open enough schools and clinics to serve the needs of indigenous peoples. But the expansion strategy for social change and sustained development, nurtured by women religious in Cameroon, is an essential tool to reach the vulnerable segment of the population.

GSR Today - Christians are being attacked in more countries as Boko Haram grows, spreading from its base in Nigeria; clergy use Twitter to point out all lives matter; and snow is not as dramatic and dangerous as media in the United States "blows" it up to be.

Sabbaticals provide a necessary respite and boost for exhausted sisters, but many sisters are reluctant to take time off, even if they do acknowledge they are worn down. A spiritual renewal center in Uganda is trying to help sisters and superiors understand that working until burnout can do more harm than good.

" . . . the movements of most of the people who live in cities have lost their connection with the earth . . . ."

GSR Today - What does the Super Bowl have to do with women religious? Guaranteed there will be more than a few sisters among fans gathered around TVs on Sunday. But one in particular will be enjoying the game all the way to the bank.

In 2010, I moved to Philadelphia to serve as a full-time volunteer, leaving a full-time job behind to serve as a parish outreach minister in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia. The tree in front of our volunteer house was a point of reference. It was a marker, rising above the row homes and trash-strewn streets of the neighborhood. As it came into focus, it guided others to us, while also serving as a sign of what had been and a signal of what could be.

Review - Women's ministerial vocations have differed throughout the centuries, but they have existed in every era and in every locale. Benedictine Sr. Laura Swan, former prioress of St. Placid Priory in the state of Washington, adds to her prodigious body of work with this comprehensive investigation into the lives of thousands of celibate women who lived outside the cloister as Beguines.

"Depart from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it."

LCWR president-elect Sr. Marcia Allen talks to Global Sisters Report about growing up in western Kansas, living through the overnight changes wrought by Vatican II for women religious, and her thoughts on the evolution of leadership. With degrees in French, history and administration, Allen also earned a doctorate in applied spiritual ministry. “What I really wanted to do was get an organized perspective of the development of spirituality,” she said, “because, as a matter of fact, the people of the world are yearning for spiritual depth rather than religious traditions.”