Nuns on the Bus Blog - Report from Day Four, Saturday, Sept. 20: Our stop at the Catherine McCauley Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was a microcosm of what we have experienced all across the state. People who deeply care about others, their communities, our country and the future of our democracy. People working for change. People engaged. Together.

Nuns on the Bus Blog - We’ve been gathering around tables as we move from town to town, engaging one another in conversations about what concerns us, what is important for our democracy and how we might move forward together. On Friday, Day Three, Nuns on the Bus hosted two of what they are calling "Town Halls for the 100%" - one at the Americans for Democratic Action in Waterloo and another at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Dubuque. Over and over again as we travel, we hear the concern about who is being left out, left behind in our country.

". . . .Too many are suffering today at the brutal hands of warmongers and terrorists. Let us stand with them in solidarity. Peace and security are essential foundations for social progress and sustainable development . . . ."

GSR Today - Some stories about women religious make the evening news, as one did this week. Some, like the Nuns on the Bus kick-off Wednesday, end up being covered by dozens of news organizations. Some never earn such high profile. But thanks to a new book written by a college professor in Oklahoma, we now know more about the life of the saintly founder of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament.

There is so much human-induced suffering happening in the world these days. Just open a newspaper, check your news feed on your favorite social network, or turn on a cable news channel, and you will no doubt know what I mean. Armed conflict, sectarian violence, racial injustice, raging poverty, forced migration, environmental damage caused by greenhouse gas emissions . . . the list seems to never end. In fact, it seems to get longer by the day, hour, minute and second.

Although Sr. Miriam Teresa Demjanovich was personally unassuming, the spiritual impact she had on other Sisters of Charity of St. Elizabeth was so unmistakable that they began the effort to have her canonized soon after her May 8, 1927, death in Paterson.

Her cause will advance Oct. 4, when she will be declared Blessed Miriam Teresa at a beatification Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark. She will be the first American to be beatified in the United States.

As I walked across the lush green campus of St. Mary’s College in South Bend, Ind., at a seminar on Catholic religious life in 2014, I thought of the campus across the street, the University of Notre Dame, where I received a master’s degree in 1969. For me, these two sites and times served as bookends describing the life of women religious that I have known.

Nuns on the Bus Blog - “Vote people first! Vote people first!” shouted the folks gathered at Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement as our bus pulled up Wednesday. Stepping off the bus to cheers was both humbling and energizing. The moment captured what we’re really about. Joining together, encouraging one another, to do what we really care about: putting people first.

Nuns on the Bus Blog - Heading east on U.S. Highway 20 near Sac City, Iowa: As we travel along, seeing the corn and soy bean fields, farms, small towns, and larger ones rolling by, bumping along with the tires humming, I suppose it’s natural that road images start coming to mind. Journeys take us to unexpected places. At times it’s smooth sailing. We hit rough spots. Sometimes the road narrows or takes a detour. We may even get lost. Surprises can turn into unexpected joy.

A coalition of progressive Catholic organizations has delivered nearly 18,000 petitions to Pope Francis, asking him to remove the orders for the largest leadership group of American women religious to reform. Nun Justice Project, a coalition of 15 progressive Catholic organizations in the United States, hand delivered more than 17,500 petitions to the pontiff via the Swiss Guard. Also in the package were Spanish translations of Sr. Elizabeth Johnson’s books, Consider Jesus and Quest for the Living God.