Patricia Siemen, OP, JD, is a Dominican Sister from Adrian, Michigan, and a civil attorney. Her passion is to protect the long-term ecological and spiritual health of humans and all members of the Earth community. She does this through her work as director of the Center for Earth Jurisprudence (CEJ), at Barry University School of Law, Orlando, Florida.
by Beth Griffin
Contributor
September 16, 2014
During a crush of events in New York September 19-28, religious congregations will join a throaty and growing chorus of voices raised in support of an anticipated 2015 global agreement on climate change mitigation. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon invited governments and private-sector representatives to the ambitious United Nations Climate Summit on Sept. 23 for an early opportunity to commit to substantial, replicable, concrete actions to reduce carbon emissions. A People's Climate March is planned for Sept. 21 and is expected to draw 200,000 to 700,000 participants to Manhattan's west side.
Loretto Sr. Jeannine Gramick is the co-founder, with Fr. Robert Nugent, of New Ways Ministry, a social justice center that educates and advocates for justice and equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) Catholics, and reconciliation within the larger church and civil communities. You can visit New Ways Ministry at https://www.newwaysministry.org.
by Jane Wakahiu
Contributor
September 16, 2014
Catholic sisters provide healing, care, hope, courage and education in Africa and improve the quality of life for those suffering hardships in rural communities. A visit to the Maria Adelaide Center threw into sharp relief the shared story of countless rural girls who are liberated from cultural practices that hold them captive bodily, psychologically and socially.
September 16, 2014
Nuns in central Vietnam are helping sick children and those affected by HIV/AIDS to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival. Known in Vietnam as Tet Trung Thu, the holiday marks the traditional end of the harvest season and is one of the year’s biggest festivals. The chlidren otherwise would have little to look forward to.
September 16, 2014
From A Nun's Life podcasts - Listen: What are some of the best things about being an Adrian Dominican sister? Hint, "it's a wide, global order." Take a few minutes to listen in.
September 15, 2014
GSR Today - If you hang out in certain corners of the Internet, last week was all about how anti-woman culture has become. But the one beacon of hope last week, at least for me, was this Global Sisters Report column by Sr. Eucharia Madueke. Madueke writes about gender equality in Southeast Nigeria, and it was a refreshing change of narrative.
September 15, 2014
New Jersey is home of the latest American saint, a Bayonne-born nun who is to be beatified in Newark next month. The beatification of Sr. Miriam Teresa Demjanovich, who died in 1927 at the age of 26, puts her one step away from formal canonization.
This story appears in the Nuns on the Bus feature series. View the full series.
by Simone Campbell
September 15, 2014
Nuns on the Bus kicks off its third nationwide tour on Wednesday. Global Sisters Report will be there in Iowa at the start and on the bus for five days. "This new journey is all about supporting the even bigger power of the community of U.S. voters when we all choose to engage."
September 15, 2014
From 1979 when Sr. Teresita Weind was invited by the pastor to join the parish staff, to preach, to minister, until 1991 when another pastor booted her from the parish for overstepping boundaries set by the archdiocese, she had been in the pulpit at least monthly. She had also led retreats, ministered to the sick and helped Carolan and others create and nurture a racially integrated faith community that continued to encompass both Oak Park and Austin, just as St. Catherine's and St. Lucy's parishes had done for a hundred years.