Chris Herlinger

Participants called the 65th U.N. Commission on the Status of Women a success, with an estimated 25,000 people worldwide joining two weeks of online meetings. But they also noted a sense of impatience with the pace of progress.

Sr. Eileen Reilly recently joined the Catholic Mobilizing Network, where her work against the death penalty is informed by her experience as a spiritual adviser to a serial killer before his execution in 2005.

GSR Today - The mood at this year's meetings of the U.N.'s Commission on the Status of Women is a bit somber, with much talk about the effects and setbacks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mercy Sr. Maryanne Loughry, a trained psychologist, has led psychosocial and well-being trainings throughout the world. But in the last year, she was also sought out to conduct webinars on coping with the pandemic.

Comboni Sr. Alicia Vacas Moro, a Spanish missionary whose ministry has focused on humanitarian needs in the Middle East, is one of 14 women receiving this year's International Women of Courage award from the U.S. Department of State.

A global digital divide must be overcome to end ongoing crippling inequalities, say participants in 10 days of meetings at the United Nations on digital technology's role in improving global social development.

Catholic sisters have been taking steps for decades to address homelessness and affordable housing issues around the world — and getting others to join them. As their grassroots efforts provide some temporary and long-range solutions, sisters who work at the U.N. vow to keep attention on the issues a year after a series of landmark meetings.

Catholic sisters and humanitarian officials are alarmed by inequalities in the worldwide rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine, saying they pose further threats to the already-struggling Global South.

The global organization representing approximately 600,000 sisters is poised to continue distributing funds in 2021 to help congregations in crisis, some of which have paused ministries during the pandemic for lack of income.

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.