As a young woman religious, you get used to telling your vocation story. Recently, I was invited to explore vocation in a broader sense and, on a deeper level, to consider how the call to leadership is being issued in the church today. By and large, leadership is a topic overlooked in regard to young adults in the church today. I can’t count how many times I have been at meetings where it’s been conjectured about what church will be passed on to the next generation. Questions and murky answers fly back and forth as if I and any other young adults are not seated there.

This story appears in the Ebola feature series. View the full series.

The number of Ebola cases has leveled or dropped in Guinea and Liberia, according to the World Health Organization, but have increased dramatically in Sierra Leone. Catholic Relief Services is working on educating citizens there to change this trend. Holy Rosary sisters, who operate a counseling and peace center in Bo for vulnerable girls, reported last month that 70 percent of people in the country believed that Ebola had something political about it.

This story appears in the See for Yourself feature series. View the full series.

by Nancy Linenkugel

Contributor

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See for Yourself - Against my nature to enjoy shopping but within my nature for adventure, I tag along when Brenda asks me to go to an antique show. Of course we have to be one of the first cars in the parking lot – and we are. Why? If you park close, it’s not so far to carry your purchases back to the car multiple times. Ah, yes, purchases . . . .

GSR Today - It can be difficult keeping track of all the humanitarian crises in the world, and even harder to keep track of the response to those crises. One way is to follow the organizations that always seem to be where there is the most need: Organizations like the International Rescue Committee.

Three Stats and a Map - In April, more than 200 Nigerian girls were abducted by the Islamist militant group Boko Haram. In the immediate aftermath, Nigeria had the world’s undivided attention and in October, a rumor began circulating that the girls would be returned as part of a cease-fire agreement between Boko Haram and the Nigerian government.

Franciscan Missionaries of Mary reflect on living with Indigenous peoples of Argentina in a time of economic, political and cultural change - The issues seemed bigger in the past – the school, the land issue. Today people have better political connections but smaller horizons. As a result, the sisters feel at times they are being sidelined. Things from the outside – urbanization, a change in diet, the desire for work over a nomadic life, the embrace of consumer society – were not of the people's own making, but rather feel imposed.

by Joyce Meyer

International Liaison, Global Sisters Report

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GSR Today - The church’s missionary role is beckoning sisters from the Global South to go wherever they are called or needed. However, for missions to be successful, spiritual, human and professional formation is imperative to make the impact sustainable. Poverty can stifle the missionary impulse, but sisters in Africa are finding new ways to engage in fund raising to make their work sustainable.

Ten years after film’s premiere, Sr. Jeannine Gramick’s “journey of faith” continues - The film chronicles Gramick’s journey from quiet nun to groundbreaking advocate and minister to the Catholic gay and lesbian community, and it explores her response to her silencing by then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. It returns to the festival circuit as part of Believe Out Loud’s Level Ground film festival, Nov. 14-16 in New York City. GSR sat down with director Barbara Rick to talk about the 10th anniversary edition.