Grace Sbrissa, a Sister of St. Joseph, never imagined she would have any career but teaching. But after being appointed as her community’s treasurer and earning a subsequent master’s degree in business administration to prepare for the role, Sbrissa soon found herself on a different path: financial planning.

From A Nun's Life podcasts - Sr. Jill Underdahl, CSJ, talks about the lifestyle changes that one undergoes when taking vows to become a nun, in this live broadcase from St. Paul, Minn., in March when A Nun's Life was on one of its Motherhouse Road Trips.

The Vatican's guardian of orthodoxy and the force behind Rome's investigation of American nuns has renewed his criticism of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, downplaying the group's size and importance and arguing that the Vatican is trying to help them recover their religious identity so they don't die out. "Above all we have to clarify that we are not misogynists, we don't want to gobble up a woman a day!" Cardinal Gerhard Müller told L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican's semiofficial newspaper, in the edition published on Monday.

After my religious profession in 1981, my superiors sent me to the most remote part of Mbaise community in Imo State in Nigeria to start a healthcare clinic. I was a 22-year-old Handmaid of the Holy Child Jesus with a high-school level of education and a two-year apprenticeship in public health from Sierra Leone in West Africa. Dealing with the villagers was a very enriching experience – to get pregnant women to seek early obstetrical care was difficult, and luring them to the clinic required some diplomacy.

Organizations responding to the immigration crisis on the United States’ southern border initially faced their biggest challenge in the overwhelming numbers of refugees coming across. Now, their challenge is a federal administration bent on sending them back: “We are very disheartened by the President’s aggressive actions towards immigrants,” said Holy Cross Sr. Suzanne Brennan, who directs Holy Cross Ministries in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) has called on the sisters in the ACWECA region to build a network of information through research and data collection that shows the gravity and scale of the problem of human trafficking. CCJP Secretary, Chris Chisoni said this when he gave a presentation on human trafficking at the just ended 16th ACWECA General Assembly in Lusaka, Zambia.

Hundreds of protesters took part in a rally and march in Washington Aug. 28 chanting: "Not one more! Not one more!" to urge President Barack Obama to stop the deportation of immigrant families, workers and children. Mercy Sr. Anne Curtis, joined by a group of women religious, stressed the sisters' long-term commitment in working with immigrant families and trying to secure a just immigration reform. "We're concerned about families that are separated and what happens to these women and children," she told CNS.

GSR Today - What a bumper crop of feel-good stories this week from the mainstream media that show the depth and breadth – and occasionally oddball joy – of life as a sister. And one of these stories simply cries out to be discussed during happy hour.

GSR Today - The open-ended ceasefire in Gaza and Israel provides an opportunity to negotiate an end to the violence, including the blockade of Gaza. The situation was looking very bleak. Civilians in Gaza have been bearing the brunt of it. News from the West Bank is indicating that the situation there is also deteriorating. Most of us probably wouldn’t want to go there. But Allegany Franciscan Sr. Kathie Uhler is doing just that.