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(NASA) In the early days of the pandemic, a sister in my congregation 500 miles away asked if I was lonely. She knew I was working from home, just like the other members of the Global Sisters Report team. I live with one other sister, and, being a good citizen, I was following the orders to stay home, only going out for a walk or to go to the drugstore or the grocery store. Not even in-person church services at that time, though that has changed now. But I was surprised at my reaction to her question. Lonely? I laughed. That morning before breakfast, I had conversations with sisters in Zimbabwe, New Zealand, South Africa, Kenya, Spain and several places in the United States. They don t call us the ....
Recent images of Catholic sisters underscore one hallmark trait of women religious: courage. One is of Sr. Ann Nu Thawng kneeling before armed forces in Myanmar, pleading with them not to shoot protesters. The military didn t open fire, and about 100 protesters took refuge in the convent of her Sisters of St. Francis Xavier community because of her bravery. Another is of Sr. Luma Khudher walking amid the rubble in Qaraqosh, Iraq, as she and the other Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine of Siena struggle to rebuild six years after that area near Mosul was liberated from the Islamic State group. They were eagerly awaiting Pope Francis March 5-8 visit to Iraq, hoping it would bring attention to the suffering in the region. ....
Ursuline Sr. Dianna Ortiz (Courtesy of the Ursuline Sisters of Mount St. Joseph) Sr. Dianna Ortiz, who not only survived kidnapping and torture but used the experience to become a voice for torture victims everywhere, died of cancer Feb. 19. She was 62. An Ursuline Sister of Mount St. Joseph, Kentucky, Ortiz was working as a missionary in Guatemala in 1989 when she was kidnapped by Guatemalan security forces because of her work with Indigenous people. She was taken to a secret detention center in the capital and tortured for 24 hours until she was able to escape. She returned to her family in the United States but was so traumatized, she had no memory of her life before the abduction and was unable to recall family members or her Ursuline sisters. She spent years pursuing justice, but no one was ever charged, and her memory never fully returned. ....
Nancy Bick Clark, an associate with the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati, Ohio, plays the harp during a Zoom commitment ceremony in March 2020 for new associate Jean Simpson. (Courtesy of the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati) Associates used to visiting the motherhouse of the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati, Ohio, found something unexpected in March 2020: They were locked out. Chanin Wilson, director of associates for the congregation, said the lockdown like those imposed at convents around the world because of the coronavirus pandemic had to be done to protect the sisters inside. But it was still difficult for the associates. ....