Our Story

In 1985,
S. Neomi Hayes and S. Yolanda Tarango, both Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, founded Visitation Hospitality House of San Antonio to respond to the needs of economically poor women and their children. The purpose was to provide a safe and supportive environment for women and children who were homeless. Since that time, the service has grown into Visitation Transitional Housing Program, a comprehensive program, offering hospitality and educational opportunities designed to assist women to become financially and psychologically independent. The program is co-directed by S. Yolanda Tarango and S. Cindy Stacy.

In 1994
S. Dorothy Ettling and S. Neomi Hayes began Interconnections, a collaborative network, fostering personal and social transformation through education and research in the community.
Its initiation was grounded in two principles:
1) As human beings in an interconnected reality, addressing the ills perpetuated by poverty and violence in our world requires both personal and social transformation;
2) As people rooted in diverse faith traditions, spiritual values are a source of significance and motivation for working for change; therefore it is important to share the meaning of the feminine expression of the Divine in each of our traditions.

In 2001
Interconnections began a collaborative effort in partnership with the University of the Incarnate Word to build Women's Global Connection, a virtual gathering place for sharing women's wisdom, experience and spirituality.

Interconnections Advisory Group

All of this offers an incredible foundation upon which to build the Women's Global Connection!!

Women's Global Connection is promoted and governed by Visitation House Ministries of San Antonio, Texas, a non-profit charitable organization in the state of Texas, sponsored by the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word of San Antonio.

Women's Global Connection Coordinating Circle

We hope you will want to join our virtual community and we look forward to meeting you online!

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Lucy Greer Burton
Meeting people from around the world has been a great adventure. I love people and their many colorful stories, having grown up in the oil boom of West Texas. My life was transformed by organic gardening and yoga, which introduced me to the healing plants for food and medicine and encouraged inner self-mastery. For many years I worked for colleges developing distance learning and community education for rural areas. I now have a home-based business focused on global wellness, as well as, assist the projects of Interconnections and the Women's Global Connection.

Annette Craven
As first generation graduate of any degrees beyond 8th grade, the journey to achieving the Ph.D. was filled with multiple opportunities to expand my horizons, open my mind, encounter challenges, and grow in spirit, body, and mind. My mother took advantage of my independent nature at an early age and provided the impetus and motivation to start my journey and is responsible for my sometimes foolish belief that all things can be accomplished with the right strategy and a great deal of meditation and prayer. I bring this attitude to the WGC, as a contributor, a mentor, a colleague, a friend, and a woman. I look forward to a long and memorable experience.

Dorothy Ettling
A grounding force in my life is an acceptance of the interconnectedness of all of creation. This force is sustained by my belief in the Divine present in each of us as created beings. Throughout history, this Divinity has been recognized, honored, and manifested in diverse forms in various religious and spiritual traditions. We are privileged, today, to live in a time that offers the technological opportunity to connect with one another and through that connection, to acknowledge, appreciate and learn from this diversity of expression. Women's Global Connection offers a place for sharing insights, hopes and concerns as we labor, each in our own locality, to create a more humane and peaceful world. It is a simple initiative that replicates what women have done for centuries. Gathering at wells, river banks, at baking ovens and in circles, women have always created together and celebrated together as they worked to sustain themselves, their families and their communities. May we, together, work to sustain our Global community.

Susan Hall

Neomi Hayes
As a member of a religious community, the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, I have had many opportunities for personal, spiritual growth. In 1984, when our community chose an option for the economically poor, I felt called to pursue a new ministry. I have spent the last 18 years of my life working with women, who are survivors of homelessness and domestic violence. Living with families of women and children, who are homeless, taught me many lessons about women's strength, capacities and tenacity in trying to provide for themselves and their children. It also gave me an understanding of the reality of poverty as a lack of access to opportunities that many middle-income families take for granted, i.e. safe and affordable housing, transportation, quality child care, legal assistance and other educational and employment opportunities for personal growth and family sustainability. I hope that the Women's Global Connection will be a means of bringing the voices of all women, around the globe, to the fore, especially those who are economically poor.

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Becke Hettich
Becke Hettich is Assistant Professor of English at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, TX, where she teaches rhetoric and linguistics. I spent a decade in Alaska where I co-founded the Alaska Women's Network, now an online forum for state and national women's concerns. My interests include women's health, elder growth, and healing ritual.

Binbin Jiang
Dr. Binbin Jiang obtained her B.A. from Dalian Foreign Languages Institute in People's Republic of China, her M.A. in TESOL from Fresno Pacific University in Fresno, California, and her doctorate from University of California, Davis and California State University, Fresno. With sixteen years of EFL/ESL teaching experience, I currently direct the International Language Institute at the University of the Incarnate Word and teach TESOL courses. I have authored and co-authored book chapters and journal articles in the areas of action research, language transfer, and academic language development. In addition to being an advocate for ESL/EFL professionals and students, I enjoy being a member of the WGC. I feel that this is the place where I find myself connected with women colleagues and friends with different backgrounds and beliefs. It is also a place where I find spiritual renewal, joy, and peace. I am looking forward to being connected with more and more women from all over the world to share, learn, and grow together.

Helena Monahan
I am currently serving my first year as General Coordinator of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas. Our Congregation recently adopted directives, challenging us to "promote human dignity with an emphasis on women as invaluable contributors to society, as shapers of family values, as essential agents of change who can facilitate the dialogue and compassion so necessary in our world today." I think Women's Global Connection has the power to meet this challenge. I hold the PhD from St. Louis University and the JD from the University of Houston. I have spent most of my life teaching, a profession that can empower students, especially women. I am interested in futures research, including "outside-in thinking" and scenario planning-two skills which I find quite valuable in facing the challenges of contemporary society and learning to solve problems in the global community.

Marina Reyes-Wandless
Coming from the multilingual society of the Philippines, I am always fascinated by people's different ways of saying and seeing experiences and events. As a teacher and pastoral counselor, I have seen the resilience and wisdom of women in different situations. Today, as I teach college students at the Bicultural-Bilingual Studies Division of the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), I wish to continue learning about myself and about the wisdom of women through the Women's Global Connection!