Over the decades my spirituality and prayer life have deepened to be a contemplative life of "walking willing."

"Walking willing" to all sorts of unusual places including lobbying on Capitol Hill - and even places like the Colbert Report!

It has been a challenging life of joy and struggle nurtured in community and alive in the Spirit!

Over the years I have learned from my community's history the intersection of faith and politics.

We were founded in 1923 in Budapest, Hungary, in response to Pope Leo XIII's call to work for just wages and safe working conditions in the midst of the industrial revolution there.

Our foundress, Sister Margaret Slachta, was the first woman in the Hungarian Parliament when she headed our community.

She spoke passionately about how the Holy Spirit led her to the quest for justice in the light of Jesus's message in the Gospel.

My community's orientation to both charity and justice shaped my young spirit from the day I entered and does so to this day.

All of my Sisters have encouraged me to open my heart to touch real people's lives, hear their stories, and share encouragement along the way.

Recently, I was talking with a television producer about my coming interview.

We talked a bit about the struggle to create community and to be grounded in this speeding world. She surprised herself by choking up and getting tears in her eyes.

It touched me deeply that she would let herself be vulnerable with me in that setting. Something I said mattered to her and let her know that she is not alone in this life. I hugged her and feel more connected to her for her wordless eloquence. Continue reading.

Simone Campbell SSC is a religious sister, executive director of NETWORK, A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby, and author of A Nun on the bus: How all of us can create hope, change, and community.

Source: Huffington Post

Image: Theological Horizons

For those who don't know, the Republic of Kiribati is a remote island nation straddling the equator in the Pacific Ocean.

It's also where a small group of Good Samaritan Sisters have been ministering since 1991. I was there to witness the perpetual profession of Kakare Biita as a Sister of the Good Samaritan. She is the second I-Kiribati woman to do so.

Kakare's profession ceremony was held in Abaokoro, a village in North Tarawa where one of our Good Samaritan communities is based.

The other is in Temaiku, South Tarawa, a more densely populated area. Getting to Abaokoro isn't a straightforward journey.

After crossing the Tarawa lagoon by boat, in the equatorial heat we walked up the 200-metre gravel pathway to the sisters' community house.

As I walked up that pathway, lined with over 2,000 small stones packed closely together, I was struck by the importance and power of storytelling.

Patricia Comerford, one of our Australian sisters who lived in Kiribati, slowly and painstakingly, in the hot, humid conditions of Kiribati, built this pathway, lining it with local stones and plants.

The story of her patience and fidelity to the community she loves, as well as her love of the earth, continues to be told and retold among the I-Kiribati sisters, who now live out their own story at Abaokoro. Continue reading.

Clare Condon, the Congregational Leader of the Sisters of the Good Samaritan of the Order of St Benedict, is the recipient of the 2013 Human Rights Medal.

Source: The Good Oil

Image: Sisters of the Good Samaritan