“I flame above the beauty of the fields to signify the earth – the matter from which humanity was made. . . . "
I traveled to Myanmar in June, 2014, in order to present a human rights workshop requested by my congregation, the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, as part of a desire to learn new skills and develop new visions for their ministries. My lack of knowledge was diminished by pre-reading of history and politics; other reservations kept my anxiety high until I met the sisters. The sisters in Myanmar had anxieties as well.
GSR Today - Last week, Twitter reports started buzzing from Australia – angry, profanity-filled back-and-forths from people debating nuns’ habits. What is going on?
More than 2,200 people packed the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark Oct. 4 to celebrate the first beatification liturgy in the United States. Sr. Miriam Teresa Demjanovich, a Sister of Charity of St. Elizabeth from Bayonne, was given the title "blessed" in a joyful ceremony conducted in three languages – English, Latin and Slovak.
Nuns on the Bus visit West Virginia and North Carolina - Halfway through the tour, Nuns on the Bus has been in seven different states since starting Sept. 17 in Iowa, meeting voters and listening to the concerns of people who believe in social justice and citizen engagement.
I live at the corner of the United States and Mexico, just at the point where the Rio Grande makes a sharp turn to the southeast and becomes the border between our two countries. To my disappointment, the riverbed is empty again after an oh-so-brief summer season of irrigation. We enjoyed water in the great river from late May until early August. The drought of the past six years has severely lowered the water levels in the reservoirs along the Rio Grande, causing the authorities to cut back the allocations to farmers and municipalities, hence the dry riverbed that will soon become littered with tumbleweeds and trash.
Catholic physicians today find themselves contradicting "much that has made its way into the medical profession and yet is destroying the profession of medicine," said a Dominican sister who is a physician. Dominican Sr. Mary Diana Dreger, who is board certified in internal medicine, made the comments in an address to the 600 participants attending the 83rd annual Catholic Medical Association education conference in Orlando. She spoke Sept. 27 about "The Catholic Physician: A Sign of (Non) Contradiction."
Sister of Mercy Marlene Perrotte is all too familiar with violence causing thousands of Central Americans to flee their countries: in the ‘80s when guerilla groups like the Sendero Luminoso were terrorizing Peru, she was there serving as a Maryknoll associate. She’s also worked with the Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, providing legal services to unaccompanied minors on the Mexico-U.S. border. Today, she’s working with the American Immigration Lawyers Association to provide legal aid for the hundreds of Central American women and children being detained in Artesia, N.M.
From A Nun's Life podcasts - In this audio clip, we respond to a listener who asks, "If I try to live God’s will, is that enough to please God? Or does it not count unless I do it with joy?"
Every single person is Gift, and the fullness of being so is in living all of our life without annulling any part of what has made us who we are. This means acknowledging all the facets of our life and all that will continue the unfolding of our true selves. It is our ongoing story, which is our history, culture, background, personality, and experiences. The sense of self is never without a context. While recognizing that there is much more on this topic, I wish to highlight just two keys of awareness that I have found essential for my continuing journey as a person and minister in a globalized world, as well as a religious in an intercultural and international community.