Religious Life Today
Background Information
Founding of the Congregation of St. Joseph in France in 1650
Coming to America in 1836—175 years ago
“Divide the city”
“Dear neighbor”
Called to engage in all works “of which woman is capable.” (Nowadays that includes just
about everything)
To “be of one heart and have one spirit.”
The early sisters found a new manner of living in the midst of the upheavals of the 17 th century.
They were leading-edge thinkers who were much ahead of the world by being grounded in
spirit with a passion for the possible. The increasingly complex world of today needs a small
design in a big world.
Sisters of St. Joseph have a genius for bringing many cultures together. They are creative
problem solvers who recognize the precariousness of our time and culture and respond to the
needs of the people.
Pre-Vatican II Pilgrimage of Renewal
1950—Pope Pius XII, First General Congress of the States of Perfection
He urged communities of women religious to adapt religious life to better serve the
people of God. He suggested we return to the spirit or charism of the founders of our religious
congregations.
Two years later the Pope suggested forming a new national organization fostering
collaboration as a way of furthering the work of the church in the United States. He urged us to
update aspects of religious live that interfered with the needs of contemporary life. Obstacles
included oppressive rules and regulations that stressed uniformity and detail, archaic clothing
and even class distinctions.
In 1956 Sr. Eucharist Galvin, a CSJ of the St. Paul Province played a significant role in
founding the Conference of Major Superiors of Women, which later changed the name to the
Leadership Council of Women Religious. Changer in religious life in the US was well underway
before the opening of the Second Vatican Council in 1962.
Vatican II, 1962-1965
The universal call to holiness (Lumen Gentium)—the measure of a person’s love of God and
love of neighbor determines the holiness of each individual, rather than the person’s state of
life or vocation. Holiness is based on love and also on immersion in the world for the sake of
mission. Holiness is to be achieved in the world, not apart from it.
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Catholics were accustomed to thinking of religious as withdrawn from the world, living in large
convents, wearing long black habits and veils, and working in church institutions such as schools
and hospitals.
Sisters began to involve themselves in social and political issues, wearing contemporary
clothing, and working at jobs outside of church institutions. Exploring the founding documents
of the community revealed that the Sisters of St. Joseph were established to be an active rather
than a cloistered community. Our charism was and is to engage actively in the corporal and
spiritual works of mercy, to live in small groups, and to work among our neighbors. This
resulted in an extraordinary release of energy to serve in a wide variety of new ministries.
Many CSJ’s began to explore career options that suited their personal strengths and inclinations
as well as their conviction to work for justice and equity in the broader society. They discovered
that living in groups of 12-50 did not support personal and spiritual growth. They began to live
in smaller houses in real neighborhoods, attend parish churches and got more in touch with the
daily lives of the people they worked among. They joined the women’s movement and other
protest groups to make the voice of the Sisters of St. Joseph heard in the public arena and in
the press.
Quoting from the book Eyes Open on a World: The Challenges of Change:
“Our lives and our struggles witness to the depth and outcome of our renewal processes
in prayer and spirituality. As a community and as individual members, we have embraced the
work of renewal with the independent, creative and populist energy we inherited from our
pioneer sisters. We have reaffirmed our commitment to the meaning of justice in all of life. Our
spirituality involves all aspects of justice, which calls us to be in right relationship with God, with
creation, with the peoples of the earth, and with one another.
In our personal journeys and the journey of our religious community, we walk with the
whole church and all peoples of the earth. The journey has been one of rediscovering roots,
understanding the signs of the times, and recommitting ourselves to an uncertain future. Even
as we have been searching for the meaning of our being together, each of us has undertaken
the journey as an individual pilgrimage. It is a spiritual pilgrimage flowing from commitment
and undertaken in fidelity and hope, evidenced not only by our ministries but also by our
prayer.”
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