Dear Sisters, We began the month of August by participating in the Elijah Interfaith Summer School on religious leadership. Meeting the different participants attending the summer school gave both the Novices and the Sisters opportunities to learn, to question our own understandings of religious leadership, and to become more aware of the opportunities for religious leadership today in religious and non- religious societies. It left us thinking about what speaks to our world today, and what needs some response in that context, so as to ensure a life with dignity as well as with respect for all values — secular and religious – that contribute to a non-violent society. For the Novices who come from different countries, it was the first experience of interfaith encounters like this, sharing face to face with persons with different religious insights, and specially becoming more aware of secularism, where religion is viewed with scepticism or even dismissed as not needed in one’s daily life. All of us in the Novitiate community come from countries where religion plays a role …