“In all of our ministries, in all of our encounters with people and situations, we strive to be signs of hope in a struggling world,” says Sister Jeanne Rollins, one of the longest serving members of the Sisters of Penance and Christian Charity. At various times in her life as a religious sister, she has been assigned to serve in the Diocese of Sacramento.

I remember the middle of May 2007 vividly. I was in my early thirties and many of my friends were having children. Baby shower invitations seemed to arrive one after another. I had been seeing specialists for years, enduring misdiagnoses, circular reasoning, and, most significantly, a gradual loss of hope. That May, I was again told what had become a familiar conclusion: I would not be able to have children without significant fertility medical interventions that would cost thousands of dollars and offer no guarantees.

At the time, I was not Catholic. My relationship with God was distant and uncertain. I remember asking — not even in words, but in a kind of ache — why. It felt as though I had done something wrong, and I was being punished.

On Saturday, August 1, over 140 lay ministry leaders from across the Diocese celebrated the completion of courses in Catechesis and Pastoral Accompaniment.

Auxiliary Bishop Rey Bersabal presided at the Mass, assisted by Deacon Arturo Arroyo and Deacon Jason Solano. In his homily, Bishop Rey praised the lay leaders for living out the spirit of synodality. Echoing his own call while addressing the 12th Plenary Assembly of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences (FABC) in Jakarta, Bishop Rey challenged them to be true "bridges and bridge-builders" in their communities.