The Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet join with our fellow Sisters of St. Joseph congregations in celebrating the 375th anniversary of our founding.
In 1650, six ordinary women, under the guidance of Jean Pierre Medaille, SJ, joined together in community under the patronage of St. Joseph in Le Puy-en-Velay, France. These six women had a common desire to grow in their love of God and serve the unmet needs of the people around them, whom they came to call their “dear neighbors.” From their humble beginnings in a small kitchen, the order grew to include communities all over the world.
As a part of our 375th Jubilee Anniversary Celebration, we’ve asked our sisters and charism partners to write blog posts reflecting on integral parts of our history and spirituality, illuminating how these symbols and traditions continue to shape our present and future.
The Habit
The habit is, without a doubt, the most recognizable, external sign of a vowed religious woman. The St. Louis Catholic Archives Collective writes that these iconic garments and women religious’ sameness of dress communicated their vocation in a way that transcended the boundaries of language and geographical distance.”
However, in the aftermath of the Second Vatican Council, communities of Catholic sisters re-examined the habit. The archives collective explains, “For the better part of two millennia, contemptus mundi (“contempt of the world”) was a defining feature of monastic life and nuns’ traditional habits signified their withdrawal from worldly concerns.”
For Catholic sisters engaged in active ministry, “contempt of the world” did not and does not reflect their religious identity. As a part of a call to return to foundational principles and practices, many congregations, like the Sisters of St. Joseph, made the decision to switch to more contemporary attire.
Founding of the Sisters of St. Joseph
When the “Little Design” of Father Jean Pierre Medaille, SJ began to take shape in the mid-1600s, there was only one form of religious life available to women: the cloister. Groups of women had tried to create apostolic congregations, focused on ministry and service to the people of God, but they had been shut down or shut behind the doors of a convent.
Building the foundations of what would become the Sisters of St. Joseph, Father Medaille carefully described the communities. In the Règlements, he wrote: “This association is established to provide for many young women or widows not called to the cloister or who have not the means to enter it, and who, nevertheless, wish to live chastely in the world.”
These women had no monastery but lived together in a “common life.” The Règlements instructed the women to leave their house only “to go to the churches, to visit the sick, hospitals, prisons, and to perform other exercises of charity.” This strict sounding rule left a loophole wide enough for the women to address any and every need. The women did not wear a habit but “their clothing, dress and standard of living will be appropriate to their social class and the background from which they came.” Many chose to wear widow’s black so that they could move about in public unaccompanied and minister to the poor.
Finally, in 1650, six women of the “Little Design” joined together in community under the patronage of St. Joseph in Le Puy-en-Velay, France. This religious community, without cloister or habit, devoted themselves to the needs of ordinary people, living among them and offering their lives in service to God and these dear neighbors without distinction.
Our Habit
Despite the origins of the order, by 1700, many Sisters of St. Joseph wore a habit. What changed? A single word.
In 1650, the “Little Design” community was formalized as the Sisters of St. Joseph by Bishop Henri de Maupas. His establishing speech to the sisters was recorded in the original Constitutions of 1694. It said that the bishop “gave them the rule and prescribed a [emphasis added] form of habit.” In another document, supposedly published in 1693, it says that Bishop de Maupas “gave them the rule and he prescribed the [emphasis added] kind of habit” they should wear.
Theologian and historian Sister Mary McGlone, CSJ writes, “With the change of one word, the whole idea of ‘dressing modestly’ could be changed to insist that the sisters wear a particular kind of habit which would distinguish them as women with a special status.”
Wearing the Habit
Each sister made her own habit. In the novitiate, novices would learn how to make the habit by sewing and reconstructing the parts of an unused habit. A sister’s habit had to meet detailed specifications to be up to standard.
Taken from the Manual of Customs:
“The habit of black woolen serge, nearly two yards wide when double, should not quite touch the ground. The sleeves, twelve inches wide when doubled, should reach to the tips of the fingers, and should be made with narrow rolled hem, and fitted to the waist by two plaits on the back of the shoulders.
“The waist of the habit is perfectly plain; hooked in front and covered with the front width of the skirt, which is longer than the others, and gathered into six even plaits, three and three, turned towards the center, which are held in place by a strong black tape or braid sewn on the inside and tied around the waist of the habit. It is then adjusted over the front of the waist and fastened at the upper end to the waist.
“The fronts of the under veil are made of the same material as the veil; the back shall be any black material. The veil is made with narrow rolled hem and should extend 6 inches below the waist and be 32 inches wide. The cornet is 19 inches long, 5 ½ inches wide when finished. These are folded over the top on two sides and pinned. The band is 12 inches long, 3 inches wide when finished. Tabs in the back are pinned in place.”
While the standard habit was made of black woolen surge, some sisters wore a variation of the habit in a lighter, white material.
Sisters who worked in hospitals, such as nurses, wore the white habit while engaged in their ministry. They wore an apron on top of the habit to keep it clean. On days these sisters did not work at the hospital, they wore the standard black.
Notably, all the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet in Perú wore white habits as well.
Hazardous Habits
While the habit served as a simple, external sign of a sister’s vocation, at times, it put sisters into physical danger.
One of the first Sisters of St. Joseph to travel to the United States, Sister St. Protais Déboille, kept a journal recording their 1836 trip. Upon the sisters’ arrival, Ursuline Sisters and Sisters of Charity advised them not to wear their habit in public because “people would think that some nuns had escape[d] from the convent.”
The St. Louis Catholic Archives Collective writes, “Catholics in nineteenth-century America faced considerable anti-Catholic prejudice from American Protestants. Women often bore the brunt of this prejudice, as Protestants often assumed women who entered a convent were either kidnapped or coerced.”
The habit became a beacon signaling the sisters’ foreignness, their deviation from the rest of American society and their dangerous independence. The archives collective continues, explaining, “The Sisters of St. Joseph and most women religious had to travel incognito in secular clothing while conducting their American missionary work to avoid insults and harassment that included death threats, convent burnings and bodily assaults.”
Not only did the connotation of the habit sometimes put sisters in harm’s way, but occasionally the material of the habit itself was dangerous.
When the sisters were sent to minister in Perú, their group was comprised of nurses and teachers. As was custom in the United States, the nurses brought their white habits with them. The teachers, however, brought their standard, black woolen surge habits. Quickly, they realized that black, woolen habits were untenable, especially in a Peruvian summer. The teachers decided to adopt the white habit of their nursing peers.
While our sisters arrived in Perú in 1962, this photo was taken in 1964. Here they all are in white!
Returning to Our Roots
In response to the Second Vatican Council, congregations across the world took on a spirit of renewal. The 1965 council document Perfectae caritatis called religious women and men to “…both a constant return to the sources of Christian life in general and to the primitive inspirations of the institutes, and their adaption to the changed conditions of our time.” The Sisters of St. Joseph began an intensive study of the Gospels and the spirit of our founders.
Figuring Out What Fits
When the Sisters of St. Joseph reviewed their beginnings, they discovered that the original six sisters had come together in a community without a cloister or habit. The challenge of renewal was to adapt their current practice to the spirit of their origins in the modern world.
They did not immediately abandon the habit. Guided by communal discernment, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet went through a period of sartorial experimentation.
In 1967, our sisters in St. Paul used several variations of a modified habit. Instead of the head band, cornet and guimpe, the sisters wore a simple veil around their hair. They had multiple combinations of suits, skirts and dresses to choose from. The sisters in St. Paul even created a video to demonstrate these new variations on the habit.
Other sisters tried out lay clothes. Sister Rosemary O’Malley, CSJ described watching the first sister to wear lay clothes in Ica, Perú: “The day when the first Ica sister dressed in lay clothes left for school, all of us were watching from the window to see what the students’ reaction would be. They all came running toward her and they shouted ‘Hermana! Hermana! What time do we have our test?’ Ha! That’s how important the habit is, they didn’t even notice the difference!”
Through all of this, some sisters continued to wear the habit. These sisters felt that their habit was deeply connected to their vocational identity. Having spent most of their lives in the habit, they felt no need to try the experimental dress.
In the end, the Sisters of St. Joseph decided: to each her own. Today, our sisters are welcome to wear the full habit, a modified habit, a simple veil or lay clothing.
The Spirit of Our Founders
“…the Sister of St. Joseph moves always towards profound love of God and love of neighbor without distinction from whom she does not separate herself…”
Consensus Statement of Sisters of St. Joseph by Father Jean-Pierre Medaille, SJ
During the Second Vatican Council, Mother Eucharista Galvin wrote to the sisters in Perú: “It is a promising trend that in much of the recent writing, the point is being stressed that externals such as the forms of prayers, type of habit are rather unimportant. The important thing is that we try to love as Christ loved and work upon it in practical, down-to-earth situations and not in theory.”
Whether or not our sisters wear the habit, we have always and will always be motivated in all things by love, the central commandment of Jesus—a love that seeks to achieve unity of neighbor with neighbor and neighbor with God. Faithful to our heritage and to our gift of unifying love, we reach out to the dear neighbor, whoever they may be, whatever the need they might have.
As our congregation’s constitution states, we, along with our partners in mission, are called to “…use our gifts generously in embracing the command of Jesus: pray, heal, teach, love and forgive. In gentleness, peace and joy we strive to become more loving and effective instruments of Christ’s zeal, knowing he is faithful in accomplishing His mission through us.”
The Los Angeles Province Fall DESIGNS magazine will be in the mail soon! The theme this season is “The Power of the Present Moment.”
Many of our sisters and associates sent in beautiful reflections of their experience with how to get into the present moment. We were not able to fit all these pearls of wisdom in the magazine, so we are highlighting them here.
This one is from Sister Barbara Sullivan, CSJ:
I am not the person who should be writing a reflection on the Present Moment. For way too many years I lived in the “don’t run ahead of grace” mode. Now that I am 88 I am not running ahead of anything.
I am delighting in not having a full schedule for the day. Even with no plans the day fills with life.
I am noticing the gentle breeze outside my window.
When I was in Leadership in St. Louis we often had difficult decisions to make. One time we scheduled a meeting to decide a difficult decision. Five meetings later we still needed the missing piece. Kitty learned what we needed to know at a pizza party. Important things happen in present moments and you can’t schedule them. Sometimes there are several present moments before one reaches a conclusion.
I find the Present Moment tells me I can let go and trust that what I need will be given.
Please pray for the repose of the soul of Sister Margaret Bonville (Sister Margaret Thomas), who passed away on February 21, 2025, at her residence, Teresian House, Albany, New York.
Sister Margaret, the daughter of Horace and Mary (Sauve) Bonville, was born on October 13, 1925, in Cache Bay, Ontario, Canada. Margaret was one of four daughters and three sons. When Margaret was very young, the family came to Watervliet, New York. She attended Saint Brigid’s School in Watervliet and graduated from Catholic Central High School, in Troy, New York.
In September 1944, Margaret entered the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Carondelet at Saint Joseph’s Seminary in Troy, New York. In writing of her desire to enter the community, her pastor, Msgr. James Hanrahan, spoke of her development into a studious and devout gentlewoman. She pronounced her first vows on March 19, 1947, and made her final profession in August 1950. She completed a bachelor’s of science degree in elementary education at The College of Saint Rose in Albany and a master’s degree in special education from Mount St. Joseph Teachers College in Buffalo, New York. She also received certification in school administration.
Sister Margaret spent many years teaching in elementary schools in the Albany and Syracuse dioceses and served as principal at St. Anthony’s School in Endicott, New York. She brought her rich classroom experience to her ministry as one of the charter faculty members of the School for the Disabled in Albany. After leaving full-time classroom teaching, she continued serving in various support services for schools and parishes. In 1989, Sister Margaret returned to St. Joseph’s Provincial House where she participated in many activities serving the sisters. In 1999, she retired at the Provincial House and lived there until moving to Teresian House in 2023.
In addition to her parents, Sister Margaret was predeceased by her sisters Cele O’Connell and Maura Bonville and her brothers Joseph, John and James. Her memory is cherished by her sister, Marie Bonville; her niece, Marygrace Frank; her nephew, John Bonville; as well as by the Sisters of St. Joseph and the many caregivers at St. Joseph’s Provincial House and Teresian House who provided such loving care.
We will celebrate Sister Margaret’s life as she wished in her funeral liturgy on Tuesday, February 25 at 10:30 a.m. in St. Joseph’s Provincial House. Contributions in Sister Margaret’s memory may be made to the Office of Mission Development, St. Joseph’s Provincial House, 385 Watervliet-Shaker Road, Latham, NY 12110 or donate online.
The Los Angeles Province Fall DESIGNS magazine will be in the mail soon! The theme this season is “The Power of the Present Moment.”
Many of our sisters and associates sent in beautiful reflections of their experience with how to get into the present moment. We were not able to fit all these pearls of wisdom in the magazine, so we are highlighting them here.
This one is from Sister Barbara Ann Flynn, CSJ:
Living in the present moment offers a peace, calm and understanding that nothing can disturb. It allows me in difficult times to give another the benefit of the doubt. Before I speak I ask myself, “Is it kind, is it necessary?”
I choose a daily mantra from the gospel or responsorial psalm and use it during the day. I know “all things are passing…” and make humor part of my day.
The mysteries of the rosary help me. I pray each mystery for various groups of people. For example, Jesus is condemned, I pray for those unjustly condemned.
Being in the present moment brings me closer to God, it develops faith, hope, inclusive love, and forms a spirit of discipline and discipleship. It helps me live a life of prayer and presence.
Many Asian countries celebrate the Lunar New Year at the beginning of February, but since Japan abandoned the lunar calendar in 1872 and adopted the solar calendar, we celebrate the New Year on January 1. However, we do something special on the Lunar New Year’s Eve.
In the Tsu community, we held a “Setsubun—throwing beans to drive away evil spirits” event. On this day, soybeans are scattered outside each household to drive away evil spirits while loudly saying “Fuku wa uchi, oni wa soto” (good luck is inside, demon is outside), and the person playing the role of the demon wears an ogre mask and runs away.
Demons are symbolic of disease and misfortune, and the wish is to drive them away and welcome the new year. After that, we are supposed to eat as many soybeans as the number of our age, but it is difficult to eat them all at once when there are so many…
This custom originated in the ancient Chinese theory of Yin-Yang (cosmic dual forces) and the Five Elements. The custom was brought to Japan more than 1,300 years ago and has continued to the present day.
It is significant that many of our cultural customs are rooted in ancient China and are still practiced now. Japan seems to be rapidly westernizing (Americanizing) after its defeat in World War II and seven years of occupation by GHQ. Still, it is not easy to change the traditional customs and ways of thinking that have been deeply ingrained in our lives for more than 1200 years. We must carefully consider whether we need to change them.
As Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, let us walk together, getting to know each other more, being interested in each other’s backgrounds and respecting each other’s differences!
During our Fuel the Body, Fuel the Soul meeting on February 13th, Sister Lisa Lazio, CSJ spoke with participants about the power of intentionality. For fueling the body, Sister Renee Adamany provided her recipe for homemade hummus. Find the hummus recipe and a recording of Sister Lisa’s presentation below!
Fuel the Body, Fuel the Soul is a monthly series held on Zoom. Each session features an introduction to a healthy recipe presented by a sister, a presentation focusing on a spiritual topic and discussion and prayer with a community of women from around the country. There is no cost to attend. Join us for our next meeting!
Drain one can of chickpeas, saving the juice in a separate bowl. Blend the chickpeas, half the juice, garlic cloves, lemon juice and sesame tahini together in a food processor. Spoon hummus into a serving bowl and gently mix in sun-dried tomatoes. Enjoy!
What Role Does Intentionality Play in My Life’s Vocation?
by Sister Lisa Lazio, CSJ
It has been shown through any number of scientific experiments that the power of our intentions significantly influences our ability to accomplish what we think we want to achieve. Along with our intentions is our ability to live consciously. Together, these two phenomena affect our ability to choose to say yes to fully living our lives, over and over again. None of these are one-time occurrences. Each works best when done on a cyclical basis as often as an individual is capable of doing them. Four questions that sum these up are:
What is motivating me to consider this choice?
What is my fullest intention and where does it come from?
Do I daily consciously reflect how I am living out my intention?
How often do I prepare to re-choose, to re-commit to my yes?
When I first seriously considered my own life choice, I remember I had three intentions. I can’t tell you how they came to me, but they have remained with me for over 60 years. The first was to love God as fully as I could. The second was to get to heaven (I had marvelous ideas about what my heaven would be like!) The third was to have a good time.
I made my vocational choice with much trepidation. One day I felt sure, the next I was filled with doubt. In the end, I opted for a religious vocation. But my questions were relentless. Would the community accept me? Would I have the chutzpah to live it to the fullest? Would I find happiness? And would I feel good about myself through all the trials and tribulations that were associated with becoming a member of a religious community? How would I know if it was the right choice for me? I enjoyed dating and thought I would love to have a family of my own. What would my response be if someone I had seriously cared about, invite me to spend my life with them? How did I hold such opposite ideas in my mind? And how would I ever make a choice?
Many people would dismiss my questions with the phrase “If it is God’s will for you, you’ll know.” That didn’t help me much. I didn’t understand how I would know. And I wanted certainty—because then I didn’t have to bear the responsibility on my shoulders about whether or not it was right choice for me. And in one sense, that way I didn’t have to choose.
The idea of living consciously was something I have witnessed deepen and grow as I developed into an adult. At first, I wasn’t interested in taking time to think about my life—I just wanted to live it. Times and ways that other people took to figure out their lives didn’t much interest me. I think that was because I thought those times were only supposed to focus on where you were not living up to your potential.
I don’t remember anyone ever telling us that we were really supposed to consider how we had experienced God or God’s love through life’s circumstances. Or that we were to focus on where we had grown and succeeded. It took me a long time to grasp that that was where I had to grow to know and love myself, and through that I discovered a personal relationship with the God of my heart. I felt like I had really become my own person—and could be mindful of where I had failed—but I also began to see where I had perceived myself acting in love. And more than anything, I felt free enough to make a choice for myself—a choice that I felt would bring you happiness and fulfillment.
In all honesty, it really does boil down to what is my intention for my life? What am I drawn to? What will help me fulfill my dreams and bring me happiness? Added together, these questions are essential for formulating your intention for your life. A bit of background such as what brought me to this idea—did I choose this freely, how do those closest to me react to my choice, who has influenced my decision—all need to be considered carefully.
In today’s world any of us can be distracted from our true intention to our vocation and our commitment to it. And in truth, there have been times when we wanted more than anything to turn and walk away. I always promised myself that if I found myself feeling that way, I would talk my decision and questions over with someone whom I trusted before I would actually do anything. And it was through those graced conversations that I am where I am today.
I do know that the decision regarding your life choice is never made only once. It often needs to be chosen again and again. When two people really love one another, they will often refer to the fact that they had to grow into that love—often choosing to say “Yes” when they weren’t sure they felt like it. Intention and living consciously, as well as choosing to say yes, are essential to making any lifelong commitment.
Intention
What am I choosing to do? Even more importantly, why am I choosing to do this? What are potential outcomes of this decision?
Living Consciously
What are the signs that I am pleased with what I am becoming? How do others see me? Is there anything missing? Is there anything I need to ask for help with? Can I be that honest with myself? Do I need to talk my choices over with someone who can help me see the whole picture?
Choosing to Say Yes
Any yes is good. It may be for a lifetime. It may be for 50 years. It may be for 5 days. Sometimes, we need to understand ourselves and our circumstances well enough to recognize that Yes’s are not large or small. They are a commitment. As we grow into the persons we’re meant to be, the Yes’s become stronger and so does the relationship.
As a member of the CSJ Associate Formation Team, I offered this reflection to our associate candidates to nurture their journeys and deepen their connections to this charism that is already alive and active in their lives. Much like Jean Pierre Medaille helped the first six sisters articulate and live their shared mission, this reflection is meant to give language to the experiences you’ve already had and the ways you’re already living out God’s unifying love.
Speaking of unifying love, last week it came up that some of our associates and associate candidates use the phrase “In Unifying Love” to close out our emails—as I reflect on those words, I thought it was the perfect theme for this reflection! I want to offer you three brief ways that unifying love lives through us as CSJ Associates: carrying an appreciation for difference and diversity, being part of a presence that transcends space and time, and continually nurturing a heart that compels us to be with and for those on the margins of society.
First, an appreciation for difference and diversity. Any student of mine who has taken my ecclesiology class at St. Mary’s Academy will tell you that my common refrain throughout the semester is “unity does not mean uniformity!”
To be a CSJ associate means that we work for unity while appreciating that everyone we encounter is made of the same God we are—yes, even the people we can’t stand! To be an agent of unifying love is to remember that the first person who Jesus gave communion to was not Peter but Judas. God’s unifying love is for everyone, and we play a small part in helping to bring it about in the world!
Second, to be in unifying love is to be part of a presence that transcends space and time. One of the beautiful moments from our virtual gathering was when Estela Garcia, an associate from Arizona, shared that “where one of us is, all of us are.”
It does not matter if we are doing active ministry at one of the CSJ sponsored institutions or letting love live through us in a ministry of prayer and presence: to be a CSJ associate is to live knowing that we are all woven together because our vocation is first and foremost a way of being.
Lastly, to be a CSJ associate is to continually nurture a heart that compels us to be for and with those on the margins of society. The first Sisters of St. Joseph would divide the city, going to those who needed them most, and ask them what they needed. Our way of being is the same. Our spirituality is a wonderful hybrid of Ignatian and Salesian spirituality, and in the Salesian world, there is a beautiful phrase to describe the relationship between us and God: heart speaking to heart.
I offer that for sisters and associates, our hearts must also be attuned to the cries of the hearts of those who society pushes to the edges, and that we go to them, asking what they need and working to bring it to them or them to it. For us, the cries of their heart are the cries of God’s heart, and our lives are a living example of letting Love live and love through us.
The Los Angeles Province Fall DESIGNS magazine will be in the mail soon! The theme this season is “The Power of the Present Moment.”
Many of our sisters and associates sent in beautiful reflections of their experience with how to get into the present moment. We were not able to fit all these pearls of wisdom in the magazine, so we are highlighting them here.
This one is from Sister Mary Murphy, CSJ:
Being in the Present Moment – What a Challenge!
Brother Lawrence’s core practice was “being aware of the presence of God” (That’s all he ever did). St. John Vianney, the Cure of Ars, said “When we cannot pray make each breath a prayer.” In the “Way of a Pilgrim”, the Russian peasant gave us “The Jesus Prayer” as a constant repetition.
I was taken by an article in the Summer 2023 LCWR Occasional Papers on An Interview with Christine Valters Paintner. She stated, “I often think about mystics who dedicated themselves to doing small things with great love like Brother Lawrence.”
She goes on to say, “When I commit to sitting in silence, when I commit to a life that is slower, … the more life reveals itself to me and the more God reveals the next invitation in my life. …. We are never guaranteed anything other than that moment-by-moment learning to trust in what’s unfolding and learning to tend to those little signs that come to us… All of this contributes to changing the world. Those small acts make a difference – even though we will probably never know how.
Another thing… is how to make space to welcome in some of the younger activists in the world who need that contemplative refreshment to fuel, sustain, and inspire them.….
You have a culture of wise elders and I think this could be a time for the wise elders to step forward even more to share the value of their inner lives and do so with the confidence that this is what is needed in the world today and for the future.
Please pray for the repose of the soul of Sister Patricia Ann “Paddy” Lorenz, who passed away on February 8, 2025, at Mercy South Emergency Room in St. Louis. She was 94 years of age.
Sister Patricia Lorenz was born on March 6, 1930, in St. Louis to parents Harold Cecil and Aldora (Buchner) Lorenz. She entered the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet in 1950 and was received into the novitiate in 1951 as Sister Mary Saint Paul. She earned a Bachelor of Science in radiologic technology from Saint Louis University in 1957, a Doctor of Philosophy in Microbiology from the University of Kansas in 1969, and an Associate in Applied Science in health information technology from Metropolitan Community College, Penn Valley in 1991.
After a year of teaching grade school at St. Thomas of Aquin in St. Louis, Sister Patricia served as a radiologic technologist at St. Joseph Hospital in Kansas City. She was a radiology student at St. Louis University from 1955 to 1957. Upon completion, she then served at St. Joseph Community Hospital in Hancock, Michigan, as the x-ray supervisor and instructor of basic science. From 1960 to 1964, she was an instructor and supervisor of the radiology department at St. Joseph Hospital in Kansas City. While working on her doctorate, Sister Patricia taught part-time at Avila College (now University) in Kansas City from 1967 to 1971.
For the next 38 years, Sister Patricia taught at Metropolitan Community College, Penn Valley. In addition to teaching, she served as the chair of the biology department (1978-1980) and as the chairperson of Life Sciences (1986-2000). She was then a biology adjunct instructor until her retirement in 2009.
Sister Patricia also served her Sisters of St. Joseph community as a provincial councilor from 1992 to 1996. In addition, she served over 35 years on the boards of St. Joseph Medical Center and Carondelet Health in Kansas City.
During her retirement, Sister Patricia continued to volunteer and serve on the board of Heartland Center for Behavioral Change in Kansas City. Since 2022, she resided at Nazareth Living Center in St. Louis, where she continued her ministry of prayer and presence.
A Memorial Mass will be held on Thursday, February 20 at 10:30 a.m. at Nazareth Living Center Chapel, 2 Nazareth Lane, St. Louis, MO 63129. Watch the Memorial Mass via livestream.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, St. Louis Province, 6400 Minnesota Ave., St. Louis, MO 63111-2899 or donate online.
About us
The Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet are a congregation of Catholic sisters. We, and those who share our charism and mission, are motivated in all things by our profound love of God and our dear neighbors. We seek to build communities and bridge divides between people. Since our first sisters gathered in 1650, our members have been called to “do all things of which women are capable.” The first sisters of our congregation arrived in St. Louis, Missouri in 1836, and we now have additional locations in St. Paul, Albany, Los Angeles, Hawaii, Japan and Peru. Today, we commit to respond boldly to injustice and dare to be prophetic.
Contact
Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet Congregational Offices
10777 Sunset Office Drive, Ste. 10 St. Louis, MO 63127
