Linda Vester

The school made it very clear that women were entitled to positions of authority. That sense of entitlement allowed us to feel that we have a natural place in leadership in the world. That gave me a mental and emotional confidence.

As a journalist, it is so easy to get hardened when you see so many stories that are disturbing. Sometimes it’s just your survival mechanism that makes you hardened to some of it.

But there’s always a Mass. It’s not a formal Mass at all. We’re sitting around her dining room table with wine and Eucharist and holding hands. It’s very informal and small, but to me that’s a wonderful way to have Mass.

I didn’t want my parents to support me. I wanted to prove that I could do it by myself.

So now my road map has changed and I don’t have a really clear idea of what the next stops are.

But for the first time in many years, I get to sleep in my own bed every night. I haven’t done that, literally, in years. It seems like such a small thing, but it is so nice.

I think I’d like to stay anchoring because, number one, I’m learning a lot, and I love it when I’m learning. And number two, I also have the luxury of a stable life.

What upset me the most was not that I would die, but that I was letting down my parents. I felt very guilty for chasing this dream career of mine, at the expense of my parents.

And since I just turned 32, I’m thinking about getting married, having a family, and that’s very difficult to do on the road as a correspondent.

Finally, I get to have houseplants and they stay alive.

Sometimes stories are inherently important whether or not they have a direct relation to your life.

In my rational mind, I know… that is a very simplistic way of looking at it, but when there is violence of that kind, it challenges my faith. I still can’t say that I totally understand why – why that is allowed to happen.