Three Stats and a Map - Last week, headline after headline recounted violence against Christians, Muslims and Jews. On Tuesday, there was the triple homicide of three young Muslims in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. On Saturday, a gunman opened fire at a synagogue in Copenhagen, Denmark, killing a security guard. On Sunday, ISIS released a video they claim shows the beheading of 21 Egyptian Christians.

"We do belong to one another, and the mud that marks us each Ash Wednesday is a reminder of this belonging."

GSR Today - Ash Wednesday is one of my favorite days. I love being part of the lines of people, young and old, slowly snaking forward towards the altar to have the mud of ashes and water marked in a cross on our foreheads. As I walk along, I wonder what is so attractive about this day.

Movie critic Sr. Rose Pacatte covered her first red carpet event in January, scoring a spot in the media scrum at the Los Angeles premiere of Kevin Costner’s new movie, “Black or White.” On Saturday, Pacatte takes center stage at an even bigger Hollywood event – the annual Golden Raspberry awards, better known as The Razzies. For 35 years the tongue-in-cheek Razzies have “honored” the worst of Hollywood – bad acting, bad writing, bad directing, bad movies. Think of them as the opposite Oscars.

From A Nun's Life podcasts - Should vegetarians give up veggies on Fridays in Lent?

"Joy rejoices not so much at what is happening in the world but in resonance with the love and wholeness that is the fundamental reality of the world."

A hushed audience of more than 300 witnessed a musical tribute to the late Sister Dorothy Stang on the 10th anniversary of her murder in Brazil, Feb. 12, 2005. Gathered in the Cunningham Memorial Chapel of Notre Dame de Namur University for a concert version of Evan Mack’s 2011 opera “Angel of the Amazon,” they hear Dorothy (mezzo soprano Caitlin Mathes) in an anguished cry, “How can I raise the poor from the dust if they see me as a hand of the wicked?”

When Nuns Rule - Global Sisters Report introduces a new blogger for our online community, Jo Piazza, author of If Nuns Ruled the World. She is working on a second volume about sisters, focusing on Africa, and will share her stories in progress every other week. She welcomes your input, too. The first story is about Sr. Mary Owens,  IBVM, who has become a force in advocating on behalf of HIV orphans in Kenya.

"None of us is in a position to eliminate war, but it is our obligation to denounce it and expose it in all its hideousness. War leaves no victors, only victims."

The prophet Joel proclaimed that the young would see visions and the old would dream dreams. What happens when the dreams and the visions seem to be at odds? This is where congregations call upon consultants in organizational change. Our consultants for this and the previous Chapter have been most helpful in offering ways of proceeding.