by Mary John Mananzan
Contributor
At the core of conflicts between different individuals or different groups is difference. There is something threatening or at least disconcerting about the unknown. We are somehow not at ease with the strange, with the unfamiliar. We lose our sense of security when faced with the other. But we must make a real effort to try to understand each other.
Mary John Mananzan is a Missionary Benedictine sister from the Philippines. A noted theologian and author, she has served as president of St. Scholastica's College, as prioress of the Missionary Benedictine Sisters in the Manila Priory, and as national chairperson of the Association of Major Religious Superiors of the Philippines. She is a political and feminist activist who helped develop an Asian feminist theology of liberation, and works with a number of organizations that deal with gender issues and women's concerns.
Sisters of Lortetto community in Marion County, Ky., are not calling outright victory that a natural gas pipeline no long will be traversing their land, which includes the oldest operating monestary in the U.S., Gethsemani, former home of Thomas Merton. Simply, energy companies destroy Earth.
by Joyce Meyer
International Liaison, Global Sisters Report
GSR Today - The month-long FIFA World Cup soccer championship is right around the corner. However, festive anticipation has been brought up short by protests by the poor who are witnessing massive government spending, and by sisters who are working to raise awareness about human trafficking that exploits people seeking employment.
by GSR Staff
“I find it interesting that the meanest life, the poorest existence, is attributed to God's will, but as human beings become more affluent . . ."
Mixed message on maternal mortality - A May report from the Institute for Health Metrics at the University of Washington shows that, globally, fewer women are dying from pregnancy-related causes, but some countries actually saw increases in their maternal death rates.
I remembered an ancient saying not long ago that smacked far too much of the present than it did of the past. "There are only two mistakes on the way to truth," Buddha taught. "One is not going far enough and the other is not starting." I knew right away that we're either on the verge of another mistake – or not. It all depends.
Have you ever said, “That word doesn’t work anymore,” when you were trying to explain something? You had to fish around for a word, a phrase that might capture what you wanted to say because you realized that the old way of talking about things didn’t quite match your experience. Such a moment brings home to me the power of words, of language.
by Joyce Meyer
International Liaison, Global Sisters Report
Sr. Imelda Poole, IBVM, is president of Religious in Europe Networking Against Trafficking and Exploitation (RENATE), a group of religious congregations working against human trafficking in Europe. A native of Great Britain, Poole has worked in Albania for nine years, where she leads Mary Ward Loreto, a non-profit development organization serving vulnerable communities.
by Camille D'Arienzo
NCR Contributor
Franciscan Sr. Mary Lou Lafferty spent many years in education before realizing that her talents could also help inmates and their families. She assumed the rold of prison ministry coordinator for Catholic Charities in the Camden, N.J., diocese last September.
