Religious Life

I had never met anyone who had transferred institutes until God called me to transfer. I now realize how important accompaniment is through this journey of intense listening to God throughout this vocational process.

Listen: Sister Joan recounts an incident of struggle in her early life and the lifelong insights that emerged from it.

Mercy Sr. Ana María Pineda received an Encuentros Award from the U.S. bishops' Subcommittee on Hispanic Affairs. Bishop Oscar Cantú praised Pineda, a theologian, for her contributions to the Latino church in the U.S.

The Life - GSR's The Life panelists reflect on their experiences or observations of new spiritual life within religious life. 

Horizons - Formation Support for Vietnam helps men and women religious who wish to study abroad in the U.S. Women religious gain knowledge and professional skills that they bring back to more effectively serve the church in Vietnam.

"We cannot care for all the poor, so it's wonderful for the laity to make contributions," says Sr. Mary Hoang Yen, whose congregation is among those with an association that enables laypeople to join their mission.

The U.S. Catholic bishops voted Nov. 12 at their fall meeting to support the local advancement of the sainthood causes of two women: Benedictine Sister Annella Zervas and Gertrude Agnes Barber, a laywoman. The two women died 74 years apart —  Annella in 1926 after suffering horribly from a rare skin condition, and Barber in 2000, after becoming a national leader and advocate in her field. Postulators for both causes are currently gathering information locally about the two women with plans to prepare a "positio" for the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints at the Vatican. 

Derry-born Sister Clare Crockett was a promising actress with little interest in religion when she went on a Holy Week retreat in Spain in 2000 that changed her life. The then 18-year-old self-confessed "wild child" felt a profound call to religious life, and entered the convent of the Servant Sisters of the Home of the Mother.