The Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate recently did a study about the effects of debt on educational debt and vocations to religious life. One young woman is trying a creative online solution for her student loans. This story and other happier tales, including some basketball-loving sisters, made headlines this week.
Beth Griffin is an award-winning freelance journalist based in Rye, New York. She is the New York correspondent for Catholic News Service. Beth was educated by the Sisters of Charity of New York and the Jesuits. She worked in communications and media relations for Catholic Relief Services and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
In late March, anti-Christian and anti-American graffiti was scrawled on the walls of the Deir Rafat convent, also known as Our Lady Queen of Palestine. The tires of cars at the monastery also were slashed.
In the end, the declining numbers trumped the best efforts of enthusiastic alumnae and parents, committed staff and a religious congregation to save a New York school founded by an immigrant saint, but the 115-year legacy of Mother Cabrini High School will live on.
The all-girls college preparatory school in the Washington Heights section of northern Manhattan will close at the end of the 2013-14 academic year.
A couple of weeks ago it was a crooning sister in Italy. This week a sister singing a different tune grabbed the lion’s share of mainstream headlines. But first, here’s a new look at a mid-century masterpiece.
Catholic News Service
Bringing the face of Jesus to the poor is an experience a group of Lebanese 10th graders will long remember about this Lent.
As Mission of Life Sr. Lina Maria Dib prepared the students for their first outreach, she led them in prayer and told them: "A lot of the situations you see will be unusual for you. But we are going to share our smile. And when you come back you are going to feel happy inside."
by Camille D'Arienzo
NCR Contributor
Providence Sr. Susanne Gallagher
Profession: Staff member at Special Religious Development (SPRED)
Lives in: Chicago
With fears that the situation in South Sudan is disappearing from the front pages of newspapers, the United Nations released a press statement yesterday appearing on U.N. News Centre about the desperate need for relief in the most remote areas of the country still affected by violence.
Aljazeera published a story this week, “Frontline Nuns,” profiling religious aid workers from Solidarity with South Sudan who are serving in areas of war while facing realities of their own safety. Br. Bill Firman, Solidarity’s executive director, also wrote to NCR this week with a letter titled, “Troubled Times.”
If we’ve said it once we’ve said it a thousand times: It’s not nice to tow a sister’s truck while she’s delivering meals to the homeless. That story and others in the mainstream media caught our eye this week.
