Mercy Sr. Mary Schmuck works in parish social ministry, which focuses on her archdiocese's charitable outreach, faithful citizenship, and global solidarity. "So many people do not seem to know our precious treasure of Catholic social teaching, and some disagree with parts when they learn of it. We seem to have bought into a thesis that morality is only a personal or interpersonal matter; business knows best for all the rest."

Leaving on a jet plane - Global Sisters Report met Sr. Marie-Claire Ihorere of Rwanda when she was in “limbo” in Nairobi, waiting for a visa to Brazil. The Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of the Angels, whose name means “Don’t Cry” in her native language of Kinyarwanda, was waiting for the final bureaucratic steps before she could leave for her mission in a rural community deep in the Amazon jungle.

Thousands of consecrated women and men were asked to avoid “Martha’s disease” by spending time practicing Lectio Divina to listen to God’s will at a large gathering to celebrate World Day for Consecrated Life. Some 5,000 nuns, brothers and priests from 150 congregations and institutes based in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s southern largest commercial hub, gathered at the Pastoral Center to mark the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord Feb. 2.

Several Vatican congregations and leaders of the global representative groups of men and women religious are teaming up for a new global initiative to fight human trafficking, a scourge Pope Francis has called a modern "crime against humanity."

GSR Today - I love weddings, so naturally, I thought that planning my own wedding would be epically wonderful. The people who complain about wedding planning being stressful, I thought, just don’t love weddings the way I do – they don’t love hosting as much as I do, and they don’t genuinely care about details the way I do. I was so naïve back then.

Can we really say that sisters have lost their sign in the world just because they do not wear habits? And if so, is there also a sign of not wearing habits, of their invisibility? What, then, is the sign of this invisible but strong presence of women religious?

"The only gift is a portion of thyself."

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.