Kaitlin Barker

Seminaries and theological schools historically have trained two kinds of people: pastors and academic theologians. But more and more these institutions are realizing they need to develop and nurture students to serve outside those lines. Helene Slessarev-Jamir, a professor of urban ministries at Claremont Theological School, has a vision for her students to become “practitioners that inter-relate religion with whatever work they’re already doing; be it nonprofit, environmental, or global hunger issues,” she says.

Twenty years ago, on June 4, 1989, tanks rolled into Beijing’s Tiananmen Square to suppress an estimated 100,000 peaceful protesters.

The Teresian Carmelites of Millbury, Massachusetts, soon hope to add a wind farm to their life of prayer and service.

"I know you know what you're doing," Janice Sevre-Duszynska told Father Roy Bourgeois when he agreed to co-preside and give the homily at her ordination Mass, "but do you know what you're doing?" About a month ago I shared Janice's story of ordination, spotlighting her struggle for justice in the Catholic church and the long road she'd walked for years leading up to August 9, 2008, the day of her ordination Mass.

I woke up this morning, my throat dry from singing and yelling in the streets last night. I woke up with an unbridled joy, and though I'd only fallen asleep five hours earlier, I was more awake than I've felt in a long time. My first urge was to run back to the street, to continue dancing with strangers, hugging the person closest to me.