From NCRonline.org - The theme of the recent 60th annual assembly of the College Theology Society was "God has begun a great work in us: The embodiment of love in contemporary consecrated life." The focus on Catholic religious life was partially in the light of the Vatican's continuing criticism of an umbrella group of U.S. Catholic sisters known as the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR).

While Auxiliary Bishop Eusebio L. Elizondo of Seattle was in El Salvador recently, an immigration-reform advocate shared his view on the topic that was the focus of the bishop's trip: the increase in unaccompanied minors making the often dangerous journey from Central America and Mexico into the United States.

Over the course of two years, I had the great pleasure of interviewing more than 40 Catholic sisters on environmental issues. Interviews with these “green sisters” radically changed my conception of religious life and broadened my own understandings of environmental issues, peace, justice and Catholic theology.

GSR Today - Back on May 7, Sr. Jan Cebula and Tracy Abeln, who are based at the Kansas City office of National Catholic Reporter, were guests on A Nun's Life Ministry's "In Good Faith" podcast. Take a listen as we describe GSR when it was only two weeks old.

"We have not inherited this earth from our parents to do with it what we will. We have borrowed it from our children and we must be careful to use it in their interests as well as our own."

The work of novitiate is that of soul searching.  It requires digging deep, meeting yourself and God head on, facing your true self, learning about what religious life is, nurturing a deeper prayer life, learning to live intentionally and with constant discernment, and prayerfully considering if the call to live in this way with a specific congregation in their manner of being is right for you. Suffice it to say, you don’t get weekends off.

"May there be a little light in our darkness, a little faith in our doubt, a little joy in our sorrow, a little life in our dying, a little hope in our sadness, a little courage in our fear and a little slow in our hurry."

Film review - In this striking and often beautiful film, Polish director Pawel Pawlikowski has given us much for reflection and much to savor. The independent drama, “Ida,” shot in black and white, follows the life and decisions of a young Polish novice living in a cloister in the early 1960s.

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.