VANCOUVER -- When you spend hours in prayer kneeling on sustainably sourced pews and looking out a floor-to-ceiling view of the Garibaldi Highlands, it’s hard not to care about your environment.

IRBIL, Iraq – When the Islamic State group rolled across Iraq's Ninevah Plain in 2014, tens of thousands of Christians fled for their lives to Kurdish-controlled areas of the country. They still wait in limbo in crowded camps, facing an undefined future. The only certainty they enjoy is knowing that whatever happens to them, a group of Dominican nuns will be at their side.