From Home to Heart: Becoming the Dwelling Place
The Summer 2026 edition of Occasional Papers invites reflection on a moment of profound transition in the lives of many Catholic sisters. As familiar places such as motherhouses, convents, and gathering spaces change or are relinquished, this issue explores both the real experience of loss and the deeper spiritual invitation present within it.
At the heart of this time is a movement inward — a call to rediscover what it means to be “at home” in new ways, and to become ever more fully a dwelling place of God. Even as outward forms evolve, religious life continues to hold a vital contemplative presence in the world.
The articles in this issue are honest, grounded, and spiritually rich. Rather than offering easy answers, they gently engage questions such as: What does it mean to let go of what once held us? How do we grieve with faith and openness? In what ways are we being invited into a deeper interior life? And how might religious life continue to offer witness and presence in ways that are quieter, yet no less meaningful?
This issue also features two engaging interviews with well-known spiritual authors, offering further insight and inspiration. One interview highlights Ron Rolheiser, OMI, discussing his latest book, Insane for the Light, while another features Joyce Rupp, OSM, reflecting on her recent work, The Years of Ripening.
Other articles in this issue include:
No ‘Lasting City’: What Impermanence is Asking of Us Now
Theresa Rickard, OP reflects on impermanence as a global spiritual teacher demanding our attention
Seeds in the Dark: Trusting the Future of Religious Life
Jeannie Humphries, OSU explores how we can honor the past in religious life and remain open to what has yet to emerge
A Time to Weep, A Time to Love: Navigating Change in Apostolic Life
Liz Murphy, RSM shows how we might live lovingly into the challenging questions facing religious life without knowing the answers
When Less Becomes More: The Quiet Generativity of Religious Life
In a conversation, theologian Ron Rolheiser, OMI reflects on how religious institutes can remain spiritually generative through vulnerability and faithful self-giving
What Remains: The Deepening of Religious Life
Monica Sicilia, IHM shows how religious life today has the potential to lead us to profound discoveries
The Years of Ripening: Discovering the Essence of Religious Life Today
In a conversation, author Joyce Rupp, OMI speaks of the beauty of the spiritual journey of elderhood
Becoming Home: A Spirituality of Indwelling
Four LCWR members – Gayle Lwanga Crumbly, RGS; Joyce Lehman, CPPS; Therese Ann Quigney, SSFCR; and Genie Natividad, MM – share how they have discovered new meanings
of “home”
On the Dismantling and Rebuilding of Our Motherhouse
In a poem, Penny Bingham, OSB tenderly reflects on the grief and grace of dismantling a longtime motherhouse
A Love Letter to What is Emerging
In this reflective letter, Mary Ann Zollmann, BVM meditates on how religious life is opening space for a more expansive, communal expression of God’s love in the world.
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