Many mainstream cultures have a great need to take the blinders off and experience other cultures.

That is the underlying message of two Sisters of Sainte-Chretienne, Bernadette Gautreau and Jeannette Berger, who have been serving in northern Alberta since the 1950s.

VAUGHN, ONT. — Three missionaries serving in the Canadian North received the 2011 St. Joseph's Award on May 5.

Catholic Missions in Canada bestows the award annually. It recognizes and honours missionaries whose dedication as a light of the world and salt of the earth serve as role models for today's society.

When she professed her vows, the ceremony was like a divine wedding, said Sister Bethany Madonna, a member of the Sisters of Life in New York.

The church was filled with flowers and the voices of the nuns as they chanted the hymns, she said. “Heaven comes down to earth.”

The fresh-faced, habit-garbed sister leaned forward in her chair and said to Oprah, “Jesus is a hard husband to be married to because if something goes wrong in the relationship, I know it’s me.”

Oprah and her audience burst out laughing at Sister Mary Judith’s witty, yet profound statement about her relationship with Jesus.

A vocation to the priesthood is a life, not a career, said Father James Arwady.

“Once I got into seminary, God took over,” said the priest, who was ordained in 2010 and is associate pastor at St. Thomas a’ Becket Church in Canton, Mich.

Bishops have a responsibility to teach the Catholic faith and preserve it “as it has been received and passed on” and thus are bound to respond to the work of theologians if they perceive the faith is being portrayed in error, the chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Doctrine, said in a new resource for prelates.

Church leaders in Maharashtra, India, have added their voice to a movement opposed to several proposed nuclear projects in the state, including what would be the largest nuclear power generating plant in the world.

Pope Benedict has removed Australian Bishop William Morris of Toowoomba from office five years after he wrote a pastoral letter indicating he would be open to ordaining women and married men if Church rules changed to allow such a possibility.

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The Pontifical Council for the Laity has withdrawn the canonical recognition of the International Catholic Union of the Press as a Catholic organization because of operational irregularities.

In an unprecedented TV appearance, Pope Benedict answered questions posed by Christians and non-Christians about global conflicts, interreligious relations and human suffering.