Ministry

When three Loreto Sisters from Ireland arrived in Rumbek, South Sudan, in 2006, only 13 girls were in secondary education in the capital of Lakes State. The sisters opened the first secondary school for girls in 2008 with 35 students. Eighteen years later over 500 girls have graduated from Loreto Rumbek and many are now completing a post-secondary education.

"The church has always been in spaces with people in extremely fragile situations, always," said Sister Idília Carneiro, the new superior general of the Sisters Hospitallers, and as global rates of mental illness continue to rise, she insisted that Catholics have an obligation to expand their ministries in addressing the crisis.

In 1989, the Holy Cross Sisters started the Holy Cross Health Education Center in the northeastern part of Bangladesh, where currently about 550 patients receive treatment and consultation every month.

Education needs to create a learning environment where all pupils, regardless of their abilities, feel welcomed and supported. A community-based rehabilitation program puts this into practice in Akure, Nigeria.

Hospitality as part of my charism is my way and the sisters' way of living out the gospel. It is my way of being in the world. This is for me the easy part. What becomes more difficult is to let myself be welcomed.

For nearly two decades, the "Korean sisters" of Bangladesh, as they're affectionately known, have set up medical camps in remote areas, and provided a homestay for girls in need.

Women in Zambia spoke to GSR about how the Sisters of the Holy Cross helped improve their futures. The women benefited from the sisters' support and dedication to education, via Holy Cross Girls Secondary School in Mongu.

It would be appropriate to treat women and men equally in terms of dignity and respect. That is our desire — to see a just and inclusive society, writes Sr. Robancy A. Helen.