Vowed Catholic Religious Honor Trans Day of Visibility
[View the Full Statement Here] The undersigned religious communities represent over 6,000 vowed Catholic religious and partners in mission in over 18 states. As vowed Catholic religious and our partners in mission, we wholeheartedly affirm that transgender,...
National Black Sisters Conference Statement
The New Year is barely a month old. We have just celebrated the national holiday honoring the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the warrior of peace, and the world sadly commemorated International Holocaust Remembrance Day. In a few days, we will celebrate Black History Month as we honor the achievements and contributions of African Americans in the struggle for freedom.
Pilgrimage Reflection from Mexico City
By: Lisa Cathelyn At the beginning of September, I participated in an intercontinental pilgrimage to Mexico City with Discerning Deacons. I encourage you to read the Synthesis Report and more about what’s next for Discerning Deacons here: It has been a privilege to...
The Federation Decries Homophobic and Transphobic Shooting in Colorado Springs
The U.S. Federation of the Sisters of St. Joseph decries the homophobic and transphobic mass shooting at Club Q, an LGBTQ+ nightclub in Colorado Springs on November 19. We grieve for the five individuals who were killed and the 18 people injured in a space known for sanctuary and celebration, and on the cusp of the Transgender Day of Remembrance on November 20.
A Prayer for Radically Transforming Community
These prayer paintings have developed steadily over the last few months, and are a visual meditation on our collective yearnings for new ways of being. As a result, daily encounters at my placement site, church, neighborhood, and intentional community as a St. Joseph Worker is as much a part of these paintings as the physical materials of water, pigment, and paper. Content from the Federation gathering also joins the painting, questions like how do we radically see one another with deep compassion and live into a feminist abolitionist framework grounded in our Catholic roots?
CSSJ Event 2022 Reflection: Day 3
Ubuntu! Sunday morning’s prayer gathered us in the truth of our life in community: I am because we are. The great I AM reminded us that She Who Is accompanies us on our liberative journey by night and day (Exodus 13: 21-22). In song we invited along our just patron (Matthew 2:18-25) and compañero: Walk with us Joseph, show us the way, into the Heart of our calling, before sharing at our tables about what calling was beginning to burn in our hearts.
U.S. Federation of Sisters of St. Joseph Call for Change in the Cash Bail System
The U.S. Federation of the Sisters of St. Joseph joins with The Bail Project to dismantle racism and eliminate the use of cash bail in the United States criminal legal system. We vow to use our Gospel mission of unifying love for the healing and transformation of the world to disrupt the cash bail system and seek holistic, gender-responsive reentry services for people impacted by incarceration.
CSSJ Event 2022 Reflection: Day 2
As a writer — throughout the second day of the 2022 Federation Event — I was immediately struck by the power of storytelling. We started the day with the amazing keynote from Olga Marina Segura, What Can Black Lives Matter and the Movement for Abolition Teach Catholics About Liberation?
CSSJ Event 2022 Reflection: Friday Night
Yes” — after listening to Sr. Lynn Levo’s (Carondelet-Albany) presentation, “Radical Unioning Love: Words Are Not Enough”, this was the response in my heart, “Yes”. How did I arrive at such a simple, yet, powerful response which embodies my experience and being called into “the MORE”?
CSSJ Event 2022 Reflection: Friday’s Heritage Tour
As our pilgrim group — 112 sisters, associates, agrégées, and partners in mission — gathered on July 8 for the 2022 Federation Heritage Tour, we received a warm welcome from Sr. Mary M. McGlone (Carondelet-St. Louis). Sr. Mary, author of Anything of Which a Woman is Capable, and Called Forth by the Dear Neighbor, a two-volume history of Sisters of St. Joseph in the United States, opened our tour with a historical perspective. She spoke of the first six sisters who traveled from Lyon, France in 1836, and shared details about their journey: leave-taking from Lyon, a 49-day ocean voyage from Le Havre, France to New Orleans, and, finally, the trip up the Mississippi River to St. Louis.
