by Margaret Jane Kling, CSJP

We are excited to announce that Images of Refuge by Sister Margaret Jane Kling was published in March by Kenmare Press, the CSJP imprint. This collection of letters and other documents records the period that she served in El Salvador during the civil war, first with Sister Andrea Nenzel and then with Sister Eleanor Gilmore, as volunteers with the Jesuit Refugee Service.

By Frank McCann, Congregation Peace through Justice Facilitator

Through the Laudato Si’ Action Platform, Pope Francis is challenging the Church to come together to recognize the ecological crisis that we are in and to put creation in its integral place in our lives of faith.

By Melody Maravillas, Congregation Chief Financial Officer

My family always had opposing views about money. Working with the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace has allowed me to marry both philosophies. Budgeting and operating economically bring out my father’s values. Charitable giving and impact investments allow me to live out my mother’s. I have never felt such clarity and purpose in what I do.

Pause features poems, reflections and short excerpts on the same subject by various writers. This issue's compositions are dedicated to Earth.

By Kelly Marsicano, Communications Coordinator, Peace Ministries

Strengthening and sustaining the ministries of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace has been the mission of Peace Ministries, Inc. since its inception eight years ago. Now, the seeds that were planted have begun to blossom.

by Seema Kakar

I came to the United States of America from Afghanistan at the end of 2013. While I was getting my degree, my family received threats from the Taliban because I was living in the United States, and the Taliban could not accept me studying in the U.S.A. In August 2021, the Taliban took over Afghanistan, and my family there was in imminent danger.

by Stephanie Peirolo, CSJP-A

“Every human is creative. Creative courage allows us to push through self-doubt and creative fragility so we can design bravely against oppression.”

The Chapter Call is a distillation of the Congregation’s participation and response to the presentations, discussions, prayer, and sharing through the various Chapter processes in 2020-2022. Unanimously affirmed at Chapter, the Chapter Call provides a guiding principle for the many decisions that will challenge the Congregation in coming years.

by Angela McCarthy, CSJP

But Jesus did give us seven words: “Love one another as I love you.” And those seven words, I believe are what motivate the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace both in their ministry and prayer life. For, truthfully, ministry and prayer form one unit perceived from different angles.

For centuries women religious have quietly, even invisibly, been demonstrating, one heart at a time, what a revolution of the heart looks like. Now, with an aging population and smaller numbers, no longer able to be as personally active in their sponsored ministries, they have discovered other ways to make a difference, including collaboration with lay partners, impact investing and direct giving.

Poetry, reflections, and a commemoration of Sister Susan Dewitt, CSJP.

by Jan Linley

Sister Suzanne Golas grew up in New Jersey spending summers at the beach where a lifelong love affair with the sea began. So, it’s no wonder that when her term as Congregation Leader ended in 1996, she had the bold and prescient idea of starting Waterspirit, a program that would wed ecology and spirituality, helping people not only understand the connection between the two but teaching the importance of care of creation.

by Frank McCann, CSJP-A

We are reminded daily about the growing threat of climate change, but we hear much less often about the radical revolution required in our global food system. What we eat affects our planet’s health.

by Bryan Johns, CSJP-A

We pull up in our trusty 1999 Honda Odyssey van, in the redlined no-parking zone, curbside and we unload. First the tables and chairs. The coffee and water. Next is the canopy that never seems to get any easier to setup, no matter how many times we do it.

by Rita Loren

In Christianity, the heart symbolizes the center or core of our being, from which prayer and moral actions originate. The Bible has taught me that the greatest human struggles happen within our hearts, struggles resolved through faith rather than intellectual facts. The greatest battles involving our fears, loves, ideas, hopes and trust – are all seated in our heart.

by Liz Dodd, CSJP Candidate

“My grandmother was very specific: you will know your vocation by the joy it brings you,” said Dorothy Day’s granddaughter, Kate Hennessy, as she sat across from me in my office on a drizzly afternoon in March. How could she know that, just a week before, I had caught a first glimpse of my own vocation, over coffee in the cafe crypt of a London church with Katrina, the Sister of St. Joseph of Peace I’d nervously reached out to over Twitter?

by Stephanie Peirolo, CSJP-A

My granddaughter, who is almost two years old, recently discovered the concept of emptiness. She peers into the laundry bin and looks up at me and correctly pronounces it “empty.” She knows that nothing has a name.

by Susan Rose Francois, CSJP

Human beings and human community are sadly also prone to breaking the connections between and among us. Racism—predicated upon the lie that some persons are of more/less value than others because of their skin tone or ethnic background— is a persistent tragedy of destructive disconnection.

Waterspirit is a center of ecology and spirituality that informs, inspires, and enables all people to deepen their consciousness of the sacredness and interdependence of all creation with a focus on water as critical in sustaining life. It was founded in 1996 by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace.

In 1978, the Irish Section of Pax Christi, the international Catholic peace movement, asked the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace to consider coming to Dublin, Ireland to work for peace and justice. The sisters’ aims aligned with the goals of Pax Christi, and the invitation was accepted. Peace House was opened in 1980 and served the community for nearly 20 years.