Vocation Newseletter - Sisters of St Joseph of Peace

2013

Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace

Vocation Ministry News & Photos

VISIT OUR WEBSITE: www.csjp.org

An Invitation!

If you are a single woman discerning God’s call to religious life, I invite you to get acquainted with our religious community, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace. We commit ourselves to Christ’s Gospel of Peace by promoting peace in the family, the church and in the world. We respond to God’s people in need and promote social justice as a way to peace. Our life of prayer and ministry lived in community enables, sustains and challenges us in our mission.

Meet Our New Sisters (see story inside)

I am happy to assist you in your discernment process. I can also send you more information. Our website is an interesting place to learn about our CSJP community and its many activities: www.csjp.org Blessings of Peace, Sr. Jo-Anne Miller, CSJP Congregation Vocation Director P.O. Box 248 Bellevue, Washington 98009 U.S.A. 425-467-5402 jmiller@csjp-olp.org

“As Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace we rejoice in God’s daily invitation to seek justice, to love tenderly, and to make the good news visible with our lives.”

Community Seeking Justice and Peace

PEACE CSJP

Meet Our CSJP Vocation Team Come and See

where God might be calling you...

COME FOR A VISIT

Sr. Jo-Anne Miller, CSJP Congregation Vocation Director Western U.S. link jmiller@csjp-olp.org

Sr. Coralie Muzzy, CSJP Vocation Team Member Eastern U.S. link cmuzzy@csjp.org

a

“As a Vocation Team Member I’m happy to share the joys and challenges of religious life with inquirers and to introduce them to our spirited community.”

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“As Vocation Director, it gives me great joy to journey with inquirers and introduce them to our charism of peace through justice and to our wonderful community members!”

with the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace to consider a call to religious life as a vowed Sister Sr. Laurette Bergin, CSJP, Vocation Team Member United Kingdom link laurette1@live.co.uk

a “In Vocation Ministry I initially try to be respectful of the broader Christian calling of each person I accompany and then focus specifically on our Congregation and our dynamic charism of peace through justice.”

a WE INVITE YOU:

Single Catholic Women 21 - 40 years old who desire to dedicate their life to God and God’s people.

a To arrange for a visit contact one of our Vocation Team Members.

Come, risk the sacred journey!

Meet Our Young Sisters Sr. Susan Francois, CSJP Perpetually Professed Sister

Sr. Chero Chuma, CSJP

Perpetually Professed Sister “Currently, I am a full-time student at Seattle University, majoring in Theology and Religious Studies as well as Nursing.

I am also involved with the Kenyan community locally and globally.

With two other Kenyan women living in the United States, we host a weekly radio program in our native language (Kalenjiin) that is broadcast globally via the internet and on the radio in Kenya on KASS FM. The radio program engages on various issues of justice, especially those impacting women, children and those marginalized in Kenya.”

Chero is a native of Kenya, Africa.

For the next two years I will be working towards a research Masters of Arts in Theology at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, with a major in Ethics and a minor in Intercultural Studies. I have also been awarded a Bernadin scholarship and will have an internship in one of the programs of the Bernadin Center at CTU. This will bring an added dimension and inform my studies from real world efforts to seek peace and common ground.

I am also becoming more involved with Giving Voice, an organization of women religious under 50. Last year I joined the national core team of Giving Voice. We are busy planning our next national conference which will bring together 100 younger sisters from across the country in San Francisco next July (2013).

Susan, a native of Washington D.C., has been very active in peace and justice work for many years.

CHECK OUT Sister Susan’s blog: Musings of a Discerning Woman: http://actjustly.blogspot.com

Meet Our New Sisters

Sr. Katrina Alton, CSJP Sr. Sheena George, CSJP Novice

Sheena George became a Novice at a Celebration at our regional center in New Jersey in April 2013. She has joined our other two novices, Katrina and Juliana, at our Novitiate House in London, England Sheena, a native of a small village in southern India, is one of nine children from a loving Catholic family. In the past few months, Sheenahas volunteered at our Stella Maris Retreat House and is now volunteering at Holy Name Hospital.

Novice

As a Candidate I was able to continue my ministry with women on the margins of our society; Irish travellers, sex workers, and those with addiction and mental health issues. I also worked for peace and justice, and organise and engage in non-violent action against the arms trade, nuclear weapons, and the war in Afghanistan: trying to sow seeds of peace.

I have worked alongside adults with learning disabilities,refugees, and the homeless, as well as directing retreats for young people. Katrina, originally from Belfast, in the north of Ireland, became a Catholic in 2001.

Sheena says, “I am so happy and excited to continue my journey with the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace as a Candidate. It is hard to describe the support and love I felt from each one of you as I have made this journey towards CSJP. I am excited to begin the next stage of this journey.�

Welcome, Sheena, and may your journey with us be filled with joy and peace!

Sheena is welcomed as a novice by Congregation Leader Sister Margaret Byrne and Formation Director Sister Sheila Lemieux.

Sr. Juliana Ngozi Iwugwa Novice

Right from the start I have been so much attracted to the Charism and Spirituality of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace, and felt at home at my first encounter with CSJP sisters. I was convinced that this is the right Congregation for me to be able to live my call from God. As a Candidate I did my Live-in experience in one of the CSJP communities here in Rearsby, UK. This is a community for hospitality, open to everybody for groups, retreats, and for individuals for quiet reflection, prayer and relaxations. More especially it is a welcoming home for all our CSJP sisters.

Katrina and I are now in the novitiate in London. I am originally from Nigeria, Africa.

Sr. Sukyi Hur, CSJP

Temporary Professed Sister After my Profession I appreciate very much the opportunity to practice my Professional background and healing Ministry in Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine. I see both of these complimentary therapies as a great way of enabling inner peace and harmony with individuals. I am happy to offer treatment to many of our Sisters in community and others who have found these treatments to be helpful and healing.

Sukyi, native of Pusan, South Korea is a Doctor of Oriental Medicine and Acupuncture.

Sr. Dorothy Verna, CSJP Temporary Professed Sister

I have moved to Seattle and am living in our House of Welcome with other Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace. l am currently studying at Seattle University in the the Master of Arts in Pastoral Studies program .

Dorothy is from Montclair, New Jersey and is a geriatric nurse practitioner.

What are the steps in joining the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace?

INQUIRY AND GETTING ACQUAINTED: First steps in discerning a call to religious life include praying, asking questions, seeking advice, meeting with a spiritual director, exploring a variety of communities, learning about qualifications. Through this process the inquirer is discerning if religious life is the best way for her to live out her life in a healthy, happy and holy way. She is also seeking to find a community where she feels ‘at home’ and where she identifies with the community’s charism and spirit.

If the inquirer is attracted to the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace and desires to become a vowed Sister, she contacts the Congregation Vocation Director. She then meets regularly, if possible, with the Vocation Director or a Regional Vocation Team member located in the East coast USA, West coast USA or the United Kingdom. She is invited to vocation retreat days, visits community gatherings of the Sisters, ministries of the Congregation and other ways to become acquainted with our charism, spirit, and community members. She also learns about the qualifications to become a vowed Sister.

APPLICATION FOR CANDIDACY: After mutual discernment with the Vocation Director/Regional Vocation Team member, the woman makes formal application to become a Candidate. This process includes receiving the following from the applicant: application form, autobiography, medical/ dental exams, letters of recommendation, immigration documents, background and credit checks.

A psychological assessment takes place sometime during Candidacy. The Formation Director and Congregation Leadership meet with the applicant for discernment of readiness for Candidacy CANDIDACY: When accepted to Candidacy, the Candidate lives in a CSJP community household with other Sisters. The Candidate continues her work/career or participates in a volunteer ministry.

(Financial arrangements between the Candidate and the Congregation are agreed upon.) The Candidate Director assists her in the on-going discernment and introduction to religious life and community living. Candidacy usually lasts about one year. All personal debts need to be paid off by the end of candidacy. At the end of Candidacy, the Formation Director and the Candidate Director, with the Candidate, discern if Novitiate is the next appropriate step. A recommendation to begin Novitiate is made to the Leadership Team.

NOVITIATE: The novitiate, a two year period of prayer, study and ministry formation, takes place in a setting with other novices of the Congregation and the Novice Director. The novice is no longer employed at her previous job and is supported by the Congregation. After mutual discernment and acceptance, the novice celebrates profession of first vows: poverty, celibacy and obedience.

TEMPORARY PROFESSION: The newly professed sister lives in community and begins a new ministry or continues her previous ministry. Perpetual profession of vows takes place three to six years after temporary profession.