Chennai, India - Many of the girls at this house under the care of Salesian Sisters are abandoned, are orphaned or have a single parent. Most of them lived on the streets. "We try to create a homely atmosphere here to restore human dignity in them," says Marialaya director Sr. Soosai Muthu Arul. "They also get necessary opportunities and facilities to grow healthy in mind and body."

It is difficult to ignore ever-mounting evidence that the clerical system governing the Catholic church is in a significant state of decay. Yet, I can't help believing that the Holy Spirit — who loves creating something new out of chaos — is summoning us to build a new church governance.

Horizons - Last Friday, I joined my co-workers in wearing orange to stand for a future free from gun violence. The next morning, I logged on to social media only to discover that Anika Browne, my own high school classmate, had been killed, a victim of gun and domestic violence.

The life, work and tragic death of Sr. Dorothy Stang is commemorated in books, documentaries, an opera, a U.S. congressional resolution and a United Nations Award in the Field of Human Rights. A study center — the Sr.

Jane Dwyer and Kathryn "Katy" Webster, both Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, quietly help support poor agricultural workers in the Amazon in their struggles for land and better living conditions, even amid escalating violence. The sisters continue the legacy of Sr. Dorothy Stang of the same congregation, who was murdered 14 years ago in rural Anapu.

The U.N.'s structure is outdated and unwieldy, and it faces financial challenges and remains in thrall to its most powerful members, like the United States, writes Sr. Margaret Scott in her recently published Gospel Women at the United Nations. 

In every mission on which we are sent as women religious, our own identity receives and gives something to make all of us more human, more "sister" to each other.

Notes from the Field - To me, intentional communal living can be an antidote to the isolation we are feeling across the generational spectrum as well as the very real effects of economic strain that are changing millennials' outlook on the housing market and the trajectory of our future generally.

A date in 2019 may easily go unnoticed, but I won't forget it. The date is June 12, the 90th birthday of Anne Frank, who was born in 1929. On her 13th birthday, she received the now-famous red-checked diary.

For the past five years, I have participated in the annual meetings of the United Nations' Commission on the Status of Women. I am inspired by the women who come forward to share their stories, but I wonder: Are we going forward in this struggle?