A Fall Season of A Journey Together

2022 -2023 Chapter of Affairs & Elections Logo for Congregation 

Since September of this year, the Sisters of St. Joseph have begun the process of holding our 2022-2023 Chapter of Affairs and Chapter of Elections, during which we discuss important Congregational issues, discern where the Spirit is leading the Congregation, enact legislation as needed, and elect leaders to serve us for the next four years. The theme for the Chapter year is “Journey Together Toward a Future Full of Hope.”

During these last three months, we have also experienced Hurricane Ian and Tropical Storm Nicole and the deaths of two sisters. In October, we hosted for the first time in three years (due to Covid), a Jubilee Mass at the Cathedral-Basilica of St. Augustine followed by a catered reception at the Motherhouse with more than 300 guests. The Jubilee celebration was for four sisters who celebrated 60 years and one who celebrated 70 years as a Sister of St. Joseph.

Fr. Tom Willis with Jubilarians (l to r) Sisters Charlotte Tremoulet, Bernard Joseph Palmer, Elizabeth Marie Stoup, Carol Wells and Elise Kennedy in the Cathedral-Basilica of St. Augustine.

Also in September we began serving the first cohort of five young single mothers in our new ministry of the St. Joseph Neighborhood Center, a collaborative effort with Catholic Charities and the Cathedral-Basilica Parish that will eventually be housed at St. Benedict the Moor School in Lincolnville. The five young women are in internship programs and learning career skills in health care, accounting and culinary arts.

View looking West from the SSJ parking lot on Cordova Street during Tropical Storm Nicole.

In this month where we celebrate our national holiday of Thanksgiving, we are grateful for many blessings in our lives. We are grateful for the safe haven of our Motherhouse with a generator to weather storms. We are grateful for the gifts that recently deceased Sisters Marlene Payette and Ann Raymond Wood were to our Congregation, along with all of our deceased Sisters during this month of All Souls. We are grateful to our five Sister Jubilarians and their perseverance to their religious vocations. We are thankful for those working to make the St. Joseph Neighborhood Center ministry a reality, and for all those who have made donations to the ministry.

Sisters from Our Lady of Lourdes Convent pray during exposition held during first session of Chapter of Affairs in November.

As Sisters of St. Joseph who have served the People of God in Florida since 1866, we especially give thanks for all of our Dear Neighbors throughout Florida whom we have lived and worked with to bring all people into union with God and with one another. We give thanks for all the beauty of God’s creation in this state and offer prayers for those still recovering from recent storms. Together, may we journey toward a future full of hope! Blessings be on you and your families this Thanksgiving.