Chaldean religious find peace and hope in Chicago - “We are who we are today because of our love for Christ," Fr. Fawaz Kako says. "In the midst of our chaos, he creates order.” Kako is is part of the ethnic Chaldean community of Catholics who have moved to the United States from the Middle East, where Christians have been a minority and persecuted for centuries. Chicago has two Chaldean Catholic parishes, where he, Fr. Sanharib Youkhana and Sr. Margaret Homa carry out their work ministering to about 7,000 people.

GSR Today - It is the U.S. federal holiday honoring the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who dedicated his life and ministry to fighting for the marginalized and poor people. So this week’s blog starts with the marginalized – in this case, unaccompanied minors attempting to immigrate to the United States – and ends with the poor, and a new way to identify them.

Book review - Born a Philadelphia heiress, St. Katharine Drexel divested herself of wealth and privilege to found the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, which has a particular mission of serving African-Americans and Native Americans. The two books complement each other and it is a happy coincidence that both would be published around the same time. Each author brings particular strengths to her task.

From A Nun's Life podcasts - How can I move ahead in life when I feel stuck in the past, like Lot's Wife? In this Random Nun Clip, we take a question from a listener who feels like Lot's Wife, looking back fondly at the past and then getting stuck like a pillar of salt, unable to move ahead.

Bethlehem is the most advanced Palestinian city in terms of dealing with the physically and mentally disabled and the most needy of the population, said Argentine Sr. Maria Pia, who greeted a group of the bishops at Hogar Nino Dios. The home is run by her order, the Sisters of the Religious Family of the Incarnate Word.

GSR Today - Could a little indie movie about a young woman’s life-changing journey before she becomes a nun win an Academy Award this year? It came one step closer on Thursday. Read on.

I will admit to a smile whenever I see that one of my Horizons columns has been posted online, although the reason for my smile may not be the one you expect. I smile because of the tagline for the column on the Global Sisters Report website: “Young sisters speak.” Only in religious life would a 42-year-old woman be counted among the “young.”

Unlike in mainland China, in Hong Kong Christian churches operate freely – and many Christian leaders were outspoken participants in the so-called Umbrella Movement this fall. Yet, access to religious materials in Hong Kong, let alone mainland China, aren’t what they could be. And that’s where Maryknoll Sr. Anastasia Lindawati comes in. Based in Hong Kong, Lindawati (who is ethnically Chinese, although she was born in Indonesia) has become a “cyber teacher” of sorts.

There are many kinds of pioneers, and the Sisters of St. Ann demonstrate this superb diversity. Since their founding in Quebec, Canada, by Blessed Marie Anne Blondin in 1850, their original spirit continues vigorously today. Four sisters and a lay woman made the two-month ocean voyage down the Atlantic coast, became some of the first women to cross Panama by train before the canal, then sailed north along the Pacific coast, where the bishop of Portland wanted them to serve in his diocese.

“Prayer. The world’s greatest wireless connection.” Those words on a sweatshirt greeted me as I opened a gift from my sister. I immediately thought this conveys one aspect of how we understand exercising contemplative power. Think about it. When we are on the Internet, we have instant access to almost anyone on this planet. Through an intricate web of electromagnetic waves, we can start a revolution – be part of a flash mob – generate interest so that an idea or an action ‘goes viral.’ Without seeing the waves radiating outward, we know we are connected.