Elise D. García, prioress of the Adrian Dominican Sisters, served as LCWR president 2019 to 2022. She was one of a four-member delegation of the U.S. Dominican Sisters Conference engaged in public advocacy at the COP21 Paris Climate Conference in 2015.
by N.J. Viehland
Benedictine Sr. Edita Eslopor and fellow Typhoon Haiyan survivors gained Cardinal Luis Tagle’s support for their effort to press the Philippines government for more efficient and humanitarian response to the crisis left by the devastating typhoon that hit the central Philippines in November.
Monica Clark was West Coast correspondent for National Catholic Reporter for several years following her retirement as editor of The Catholic Voice in Oakland, California. Currently, she is a freelance journalist. She is a member of the Oakland Diocese's committee of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development and sings with the Berkeley Community Chorus and Orchestra.
Camille D’Arienzo, RSM, is a writer, public speaker, community development liaison and member of the Mid-Atlantic Community of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas. She has been interviewing members of the Catholic church about how their faith has affected them for her column in NCR since 2011.
Sophia Park Ph.D., is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies and Philosophy at Holy Names University and a member of the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary. She authored a book, A Hermeneutic on Dislocation as Experience: Creating a Hybrid Identity, Constructing a Borderland (Peter Lang: New York, 2012) and has written numerous articles and chapters in books, focusing on biblical spirituality, cross-cultural spiritual direction and religious life from a global feminist perspective.
Nancy Sylvester is founder and director of the Institute for Communal Contemplation and Dialogue. She served in leadership of her own religious community, the Sister Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Monroe, Michigan, as well as in the presidency of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious. Prior to that she was National Coordinator of Network, the national Catholic social justice lobby. ICCD is beginning its third decade with new resources and programs.
Joachim Pham has been a National Catholic Reporter correspondent since December 2013 and regularly contributes to Global Sisters Report. He is based in Vietnam.
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.
