Chris Herlinger

The Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol has global implications and mirrors insurrections outside the United States, sisters with international duties and experience told Global Sisters Report.

The number of hungry people is soaring, and federal support of food banks may end soon. Sisters spoke to GSR about adapting ministries to increased need, fewer resources and diminished relationships.

During a Dec. 2 webinar, those involved in efforts to end human trafficking fear that the global pandemic and resulting lockdowns are increasing the numbers of people forced into trafficking.

Hundreds gathered Dec. 2, mostly online, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the martyrdom of four American churchwomen, vowing to continue their work for a better world. Biographer said they are "perfectly contemporary role models."

Sisters whose ministries focus on housing and homelessness say progress is possible, but it must always be mindful of local experiences and dynamics. And in every place, there are complexities and challenges, and housing alone is not a singular solution. 

Forty years after their brutal murders on Dec. 2, 1980, the lives and deaths of four American churchwomen murdered in El Salvador will be commemorated in a number of prayer services, vigils and online events.

The election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris is being welcomed by women religious at the United Nations, who say a new U.S. administration could help renew international efforts on such issues as climate change.

Like other social services agencies, Cabrini Immigrant Services had to adapt during the pandemic. The agency continued providing food to hundreds in the New York City area, even as the need nearly doubled.

"Everybody's thinking of this election in apocalyptic terms," but whatever the results, Americans need to find an antidote to division. And politicians won't solve all problems, several sisters told GSR.

GSR Today: The 2020 Nobel Peace Prize citation noted the explicit connection between food and peace, a view shared by the sister congregations and other church-based groups who work with the U.N.'s World Food Program.

Experts including sisters discussed people's increased vulnerability to exploitation by traffickers, during a symposium sponsored by the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See, held at the International Union of Superiors General in Rome.

In recognition of the annual Oct. 10 commemoration of World Homeless Day, advocates for those who experience homelessness say they must continue work on an issue that demanded renewed attention in 2020.

Pope Francis' new encyclical, Fratelli Tutti, is earning praise from the leadership of the International Union of Superiors General, who say the letter is a confirmation of the types of bridge-build ministries that sisters engage in throughout the world.

At hospital and convent, Sr. Mary Flood's life these days is about containing the coronavirus, drawing on her experiences as a doctor during the height of the 1980s AIDS crisis, as well as her past in virus research.

The International Union of Superiors General said the initiative stems from the need to highlight problems that are not getting adequate attention in a coordinated way at national and global levels.

To mark the United Nations' 75th anniversary, Global Sisters Report asked those who represent sister congregations at the U.N. to reflect on the U.N.'s accomplishments and shortcomings.

For more than 15 years, Benedictine Sr. Sue Fazzini has put a spotlight on the humanity of prisoners. She heads the drug and alcohol treatment program at the Pennsylvania State Correctional Institution Greene.

The passion that led Sr. Mary Scullion to co-found Project HOME in 1989 is now supplemented by years of experience and the ability to adapt to different circumstances — like the challenges of a pandemic.

Pakistanis are mourning the death of Sr. Ruth Lewis, whose half-century ministry affirmed the dignity of children with physical and intellectual disabilities. The Pakistani sister of the Franciscan Missionaries of Christ the King died July 20.

To mark World Humanitarian Day, GSR asked Catholic sisters and those they work with in four countries — Malawi, Kenya, India and El Salvador — about their humanitarian ministries in the face of the pandemic.