by GSR Staff
GSR Today - Welcome to the third year of our monthly series called The Life. Our 2019-20 panel of 20 sisters from around the world will share their reflections on the unique, challenging lives of Catholic women religious.
by Susan Rose Francois
NCR Contributor
Horizons - Christian resistance follows in the footsteps of Jesus. As we say in my own community's Constitutions: "Christ is our peace, the source of our power. United with him we engage in the struggle against the reality of evil and continue the work of establishing God's reign of justice and peace." Sometimes this takes risk, such as taken by those Catholics who faced arrest to stand against injustice and to resist inhumane policies July 18 in Washington.
Catholic News Service
The joint conference of the national organizations for black Catholic clergy, women religious, seminarians and deacons finally made its first stop in Baltimore, a city noted for several firsts on the road to equality in the faith.
by Lucía Aurora Herrerías Guerra
Contributor
Last December, I wrote that my cellphone had gone silent. Well, it was not quiet for long! The Lord began to call very soon. Almost immediately, I would say! His many calls come from a diversity of people and places.
NCR preview: Pope Francis declared last month that Fr. Augustus Tolton lived a life of virtue; Tolton's cause has joined a number of U.S.-based causes — including that of Sr. Thea Bowman — that deal with racial issues in the country. Postulators see timely significance in the causes of these men and women.
When the world commemorates the United Nations' World Day against Trafficking in Persons on July 30, it will focus on crimes the global body says exploit "women, children and men for numerous purposes including forced labor and sex."
by Carol Schuck Scheiber
A Cleveland foundation started by sisters says it's on to a new way to "disrupt the cycle of poverty" by funding leaders with big ideas that still need incubation. Innovation Mission is a pilot project of the Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland, whose roots are in the Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine. The 18-month-long effort, officially completed in June but with projects that are still emerging, gave $20,000 of seed funding, publicity, structure, creative-thinking workshops and coaching to five people with anti-poverty ideas touching on housing, education, jobs and other aspects.
Jantana Wongsankakorn, an Ursuline Sister of Thailand, worked in the financial sector for 10 years. Inspired by the simplicity of religious life, she joined the congregation in Bangkok. After biblical studies in India, Mandarin courses in Taiwan and a tertianship in Rome, she ministered as a catechist and a member of the national chaplain team, and then as a missionary in Cambodia. Currently, she is a member of an Asian Pacific chaplain team and teaches mathematics at the Ursuline school in Bangkok.
Katy van Wyk is a Dominican Sister of St. Catherine of Siena of King William's Town, South Africa; she lives in Johannesburg. After teaching, she served in leadership as team member and assistant leader, later continuing in mission effectiveness for Dominican schools. Currently, she conducts retreats, volunteers as a community art counselor with underprivileged children, and facilitates empowerment workshops for young women at risk of teenage pregnancy, drug or alcohol abuse, and physical/sexual abuse.
Barbara Valuckas, a School Sister of Notre Dame currently based in Connecticut, has a communications background. She taught in schools and via educational television in the Diocese of Brooklyn, New York. Both before and after serving in province leadership as councilor and provincial leader, she has been ministering as a facilitator and consultant for parishes in the United States and with religious congregations internationally.
