Diocese of Raleigh
Locally, sisters serving in the Diocese of Raleigh minister in a variety of ways. Sisters are teachers or administrators in schools from elementary through university level. Education has been a longstanding ministry in many religious institutes in the United States since the beginning of major immigration to America from other parts of the world. Sisters also serve in parish ministry as religious educators and pastoral assistants engaged in a wide variety of parish-based programs and activities.
Sisters are ministering in human services as social workers, assisting those who are poor, marginalized or disenfranchised. They minister in homeless shelters, halfway houses, soup kitchens and other services as needed. Their focus is to go to the “margins” to find ways to help those who have “fallen through the cracks” and do not know where to go or what to do.
While spiritual guidance is an essential element among all sisters, many sisters are engaged in ministries of spiritual direction, retreat work and other spiritual enterprises. Aligned with spiritual guidance, some sisters are licensed counselors serving in schools, colleges and parishes or in private practice.
At the university level, sisters are engaged in campus ministry and coordinate programs and activities for students. Campus ministry often involves many types of ministry including counseling, retreat work, spiritual guidance, basic human services, and religious education. Sisters ministering at the university level are also teachers, counselors, advisors and life coaches.
Around the World
Sisters around the world, on every inhabited continent, continue to work tirelessly to promote Catholic Social Teaching. From this perspective, they serve as:
- Attorneys
- Medical doctors, nurses, physician assistants
- NGO (non-government organizations representatives to the United Nations)
- Lobbyists for Justice concerns in Washington, DC, and in other countries
- University professors
- Architects
- Artists, poets, writers, musicians, speakers
- Facilitators, planners and community organizers
- Hospital, nursing home administrators and caregivers
- Executive directors of Catholic institutions
Sisters, wherever they are, continue to find ways to alleviate suffering and to promote human dignity. As such, their ministries continue to expand to address emerging needs of Earth and its inhabitants.