For what could be the first time in the 176-year history of the Diocese of Little Rock, a diocesan tribunal submitted formal documentation to the Vatican on an alleged healing miracle of a former Arkansas college student.

"Our community strives every day to live more sustainably. We want to make choices that will use our earth's resources wisely and care for the earth."

Catholic sisters were among the over 400 participants — including priests, activists and laypeople — who protested the "inhumane treatment" and detention of children and families at U.S. immigration centers, during a demonstration Wednesday in Newark, New Jersey.

Helmlinger, a Sister of St. Joseph of Orange, California, "sees the collaborative nature and the role of the laity," says Dominican Sisters of Peace associate Conni Dubick, who extended the invitation for the Ohio Pennsylvania Associate Leadership group, or OPAL.

Horizons: A little over a week from now, I will make my final vows as a Sister of Saint Joseph. This past year has been one of intensive discernment of what it means to say yes to forever.

From A Nun's Life podcasts - In this Random Nun Clip, Franciscan Sr. Eileen Ripsin discusses being in contemplation all day — including when she's running, out in the wonder of creation.

To make the transition to a sustainable future, humanity must pay attention to cities and the attendant challenges of affordable housing, energy-saving and transportation, say sisters who attended a recent three-day United Nations conference on sustainable urban areas.

Nearly 10,000 people living in eight villages in northwestern India have found new meaning in their lives after the intervention of the Missionary Sisters, Servants of the Holy Spirit in 2012. Through water projects, micro-loans, farming diversity and other means, the nuns not only checked migration to cities but also fought several social evils that subjugated women, such as child marriage.

In 2005, I was on mission to mentor teachers at a high school in in Kalima, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The very first time I met with the sixth level students, I cried for some of them, because they were unable to read or write.

How much of the talk about the future of religious life is really about the future of our religious traditions, not the life itself? Vowed members will continue to be as important to the lifeblood of the traditions as non-vowed members are coming to be.