In Benin City, Nigeria, the Medical Missionaries of Mary are building a tech community with the 3M ICT Hub, a skills training center that aims to bridge the digital divide for young Nigerians.
The Mother Theresa Hospice, a refuge for the sick and dying, is on the outskirts of Kabulonga, a suburb adjacent to Kalingalinga, a Lusaka slum. Missionaries of Charity run the facility and care for almost 300 people a day.
In excerpts from his new book, GSR reporter Chris Herlinger profiles two women displaced in the war, and Sr. Lucia Murashko, one of the Basilian sisters who continue to aid refugees in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine.
"We want to be treated as equals not only theoretically, in dignity, but also in church ministry," writes Sr. Nameeta Renu. She suggests the understanding of holy orders as reserved for men could be expanded.
Where neither deacons or priests can be found to tend to the local population in remote regions of the world, sisters keep Catholic customs alive by carrying out a form of the diaconate.
Run by Sr. Maria David Magbanua, St. Rachel Center offers a safe alternative for parents from the refugee and migrant community, whose children are often looked after in overcrowded, unregulated day cares in Israel.
More than 300 nuns from 12 congregations are on a faith renewal mission among Catholic families to help the Palai Diocese in southwestern India celebrate its platinum jubilee.
