As my city remembers the fifth anniversary of the killing of Michael Brown, a black teenager, by a white police officer, as the nation marks 400 years since the start of African slavery, there are disturbing signs that the racial divide in St. Louis and Ferguson, Missouri, continues to escalate.

Global Sisters Report spoke with Sr. Lucy Kalappura, who says she was dismissed by her congregation for using media outlets to seek justice for a nun who accused Bishop Franco Mulakkal of rape. Kalappura describes the struggles with her superiors and church leaders that led to her dismissal.

The Indian government has declined to renew the visa of an elderly Spanish nun who had ministered to the country's poor people for five decades.

Sr. Margaret O'Dwyer, who represents the Company of the Daughters of Charity at the U.N., said the survey "can help influence where NGOs, governments, the private sector, or the U.N. might focus efforts in the future.

The vote was the culmination of nearly a year of work drafting and shaping the statement and came at the end of a session during the group's annual assembly exploring the ways racism, migration and climate change are interconnected. 

Simply Spirit: I owe my learning to the women and men with whom I have walked and am walking. Their solidarity helps me to first accept and then join together to alleviate the wounds of our world.

Sr. Norma Pimentel, executive director of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley, sees hundreds of migrants daily at her center, often their first stop after being released from border authorities. Pimentel and her staff welcome them and help prepare them for their rest of their journey. For her work, she received LCWR's Outstanding Leadership Award on Aug. 16.

"We are outraged and heartbroken when our political leaders appeal to our basest instincts and stoke the fires of fear that threaten to tear the fabric of our nation apart," the sisters said. "We cannot, we will not, let the voices of hatred and fear carry the day.