The church has a vital role in helping the world move forward toward unity through the Gospel values of peace and justice, but such movement will not happen unless there is a conscious awakening to the expanding universe and the evolution of biological life, an awakening to the cosmos as our home. Can the church revitalize the Gospel life as one that embraces change, complexity, chaos, future and new creation?

"Peace is not just the absence of conflict; peace is the creation of an environment where all can flourish . . . ."

GSR Today - Sr. Teresa Maya has been elected to lead the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio. And late last year the Sisters of Humility in Davenport, Iowa, joined the Twitter world and started a new blog called A Nun’s Pocket.

"What, do you wish to know your Lord's meaning in this thing? Know it well, love was his meaning."

GSR Today - What does it mean to live in this world but not of it? “Indeed we call blessed those who have persevered.” These words of encouragement in James' epistle are also useful for those of us today trying to navigate two conflicting cultures, trying to follow the theological mandate to oppose the oppressive systems that benefit us.

The U.S. District Court is a modern edifice less than a block away from the iconic Liberty Bell. Throughout the month of June, the Hon. Judge Joel Slomsky heard a case in a courtroom on the nearby district court’s 15th floor. In the absence of a jury it will fall to this judge to decide the fate of David Paul Hammer who is undergoing a retrial for the murder he committed (allegedly by accident) in a Pennsylvania prison 18 years ago.

Among Vietnam’s 54 distinct groups with their own language and cultural heritage, 53 of them are ethnic minorities making up less than 15 percent of the national population; however, they account for almost 50 percent of the poor. They are isolated and have limited assets, low levels of education and poor health conditions. Seeing a great need in the Central Highlands, three young nuns of the Lovers of the Holy Cross of Phan Thiet established their community at Bien Ho village near Pleiku City last year.

GSR Today - On July 17 and 18 the Catholic Volunteer Network will explore connections between full-time service and religious life by hosting the “From Service to Sisterhood Symposium” in Chicago.

Sr. Jean Fallon spent more than 20 years as a missionary working in parish ministries in Japan, where she became intimately acquainted with the needs of a people devastated by the atomic bomb. Since then, she has co-authored two books on peace and the aftermath of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and she has been a tireless advocate for the abolition of nuclear weapons. She is part of the Maryknoll delegation to the United Nations.

From NCRonline.org - An in-depth profile of Franciscan Sr. Ilia Delio, who has written for Global Sisters Report and is, as Jamie Manson writes in this Grace on the Margins column, "The rare theologian with doctoral degrees in both science and religious studies. But at her heart, she is a teacher. She longs for you to see what she sees: the vast interconnectedness of human beings, God, and the universe."