Before the latest troubles with Boko Haram militants acting in Nigeria began making international headlines, there were 47 Catholic sisters from three congregations working in the diocese around Maidugri. Sixteen sisters remain. They insist on completing their ministry despite the danger and refuse to abandon their communities.
by GSR Staff
". . . We hold this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing power may be of God and not from us. We are afflicted in every way, but not constrained; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed . . . ."
GSR Today - Nun Justice, a coalition of 15 progressive Catholic organizations in the United States, is asking Catholics to pray for women religious at their LCWR upcoming national assembly, which is August 12-16 in Nashville. Nun Justice is asking Catholics to pray for guidance for those at the assembly and for Sr. Elizabeth Johnson, who will receive the group’s Outstanding Leadership Award.
Kathleen Bryant is Religious Sister of Charity from Los Angeles, California. She has been a member of her community since 1967 and has served as a teacher in California, Ireland and Africa, as the vocation director of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles for 21 years, and as a trained spiritual director. Currently she serves her community in a leadership capacity and gives a variety of spiritual workshops. Her work to bring awareness to the realities of human trafficking is one of her main areas of concentration.
GSR Today - 85 hours: that's what it took one GSR reporter to travel from Nigeria, where she was on assignment for GSR, back to her home in Israel.
by Tracy Kemme
Contributor
I’ve been thinking a lot about intimacy lately. Yes, of course sexual intimacy enters the realm of my desires and thoughts – I’m a 28-year-old woman. But I mean intimacy in the way that our culture often misses. We discussed this at a January workshop for novices by Lynn Levo, CSJ, about celibacy and sexuality. To someone only slightly familiar with the religious life, the theme of the workshop might seem comical.
GSR Today - Sr. Anita Jennissen, 81, a Franciscan Sister of Little Falls, is ministering to an increasing number of Central American refugees flooding into McAllen, Texas, where she is spiritual director at Sacred Heart Parish, about 10 miles from the Mexican border. Meanwhile residents of Syracuse, N.Y., are divided on whether they want a former Franciscan convent there to be used as shelter for child immigrants.
by N.J. Viehland
Mary Queen of Heaven Missionaries have been encountering sex workers in the field (bars and brothels) for years. The sisters reach out to women and offer them love and listening and, if they want, shelter and a way out of the business, which is driven by poverty. They are also working to prevent entry into prostitution by educating women in rural areas, and they recently have been talking about their work at other dioceses so that the efforts can expand.
by GSR Staff
"Peace is not a relationship of nations. It is a condition of mind brought about by a serenity of soul."
by Janet Gildea
Contributor
GSR Today - There is a direct connection between long-term volunteer service and religious life vocations. On that basis, the Catholic Volunteer Network has launched a three-year initiative to strengthen the vitality of women’s religious congregations. Here’s a snapshot of some data and reactions presented in Chicago last week at the kick-off symposium.
