Novices and women religious, especially those who have been assigned to a country where they don’t know the language, can be particularly vulnerable to abuses of power and conscience by superiors, and sexual abuse by their formators, said an article in “La Civilta Cattolica.”

The Congregation of the Sisters of St. Felix of Cantalice in Livonia, Michigan are coping with the loss of 13 sisters to COVID-19 since April.

In a recent symposium sponsored by the American and British embassies to the Holy See, women religious were recognized for being "on the front lines" in combatting the pandemic with faith, generosity, and compassion.

Born in Togo in 1967, Sister Marie Stella Kouak attended nursing school in Belgium and returned in 1998 to work at a pediatric hospital in Dapaong run by her congregation, now known as the Sister Hospitallers of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

The coronavirus has had a devastating impact on retired Catholic sisters, write two members of the School Sisters of St. Francis. Women religious are seeking to honor their past while continuing their legacy of service.

In the mid-20th century, several women religious were writing and publishing ambitious poetry.