For the first time in its history, California has a Catholic sister as chaplain of the state’s senate. Mercy Sr. Michelle Gorman was named to the post on Dec. 22 by Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León.

Sr. Mary Rosita Shiosee is a striking example of Catholic faith prospering in the indigenous communities of this land, where church history has been marked by ups and downs. She was born, baptized and confirmed in Jemez Pueblo, 60 miles away as the crow files, and spent time as a girl in the village of Mesita in Laguna Pueblo. While visiting homebound people in Mesita, Shiosee looks out over the village's surrounding landscape. It is wild and barren now, but she remembers it as fertile ground, where the pueblo once tended fields of wheat, alfalfa, corn, chilies and other vegetables. "As children, early in the morning after the dew had settled on the dirt, we would go out and turn the dirt over. That's how we would water the plants."

GSR Today - It seemed at times as if 2014 was the Year of Ebola. It wasn’t, of course – it was also the year of the Synod on the Family, in which the divisions over the future of the Catholic church seemed to be laid bare, the year of the apostolic visitation, in which that question seemed to be answered, and myriad other topics – but Ebola stood out.

Almost a year ago, three U.S. Dominican Sisters journeyed to Iraq to visit the Iraqi Dominican community and the Iraqi people displaced by war and terrorism. Here are some of their thoughts before they set out.

It’s the second day of 2015, which means that after having stuffed our faces for a few weeks, everybody is talking about getting thin. It happens each January without fail. Do we still believe that smaller jeans will somehow lead to a fuller life? How urgently our souls need a different resolution! It’s time to imagine a new kind of “getting thin.”

“Stand up and go; your faith has made you well.”

Being pro-life means being against all unnecessary deaths, including those imposed as punishment by the United States judicial system. For Mercy Sr. Mary Healy and St. Joseph Sr. Helen Prejean, advocating for the elimination of the death penalty, even as its use appears on the wane, is a mission they take seriously and personally.

GSR Today - Oh sure, the mainstream media covered the obvious stories of 2014 concerning women religious – the Nuns on the Bus tour, the Vatican’s report on the apostolic visitation, that reality TV show called “The Sisterhood.” But those aren’t the stories that will stay with me as we turn the corner to 2015. Here are 10 women, or groups of women, who inspire New Year’s resolutions for all of us.

The English Tutoring Project, an initiative of the St. Louis Area Women Religious Collaborative Ministries, helps immigrant and refugee students in Catholic schools acquire English-language skills, in a suburb north of St. Louis, Missouri. Sr. Joyce Schramm, a Sister of Most Precious Blood of O'Fallon, tutors 18 students at Holy Trinity in kindergarten, first and third grades. In all, 106 students are served, representing 11 countries of origin.

Sr. Carol Breslin is a Medical Missionary of Mary, whose members pioneered medical services to girls and women affected by fistula. For many years, working with a number of partners, MMMs have brought relief to thousands of women affected by fistulae in East and West Africa. Members of the order work in 14 countries worldwide and have U.S. houses in Boston, New York and Chicago.