The Federation is a dynamic
union of all the Sisters of Saint Joseph in the United States.
As we move toward our goal of "being and acting more as one,"
we become a sign of our mission
of unity and expand our ability to witness to God's active inclusive
love.

Purpose and Vision

On September 1, 2011, I began my duties as the new Executive Director for the Federation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of the United States. I am thrilled to have such an exciting position at such an important time for the Federation. As we ride the wave of our incredible 2011 event, "Zeal for Healing the Neighborhood of God's Sacred Universe," I find my own zeal heightened as I embark on this important and challenging new position.

As a Federation, we continue to seek ways that we can be and act as one. We are at a point in history where new technological tools increase the possibilities for us to communicate with each other. We will be updating our website more regularly and using it as a tool to inform the membership and the public about our interesting activities. For example, it came to my attention that three of our member Congregations conducted "Peace Camps" this summer. Soon the new front-page of our website will tell such stories of our important work across the country. These stories will also be linked to individual Congregation's websites for more details about their programs. Many of us have Face Book pages and soon the Federation will too. This offers us the opportunity to share ideas and events with Federation members across the globe. We were so fortunate to have many representatives of our global family attend our event this summer and now we have a new way to stay in touch.

Some of our meetings are now being held through video-conferencing which allows 12 of us to be face-to-face for meetings. This will hopefully allow committees to meet more regularly and to decrease the cost for those meetings. I travel quite a bit for the Federation and already I notice that I stumble upon interesting facts that I hope you will find interesting too. I am starting a blog where I will share a brief description of some interesting person, program or fact that I learn on that trip. I do not believe that I can adequately convey the character or important works that I see at each Congregation on the blog but I think I can share something that caught my attention that may be of interest to you. The link to this blog is on our website front-page.

Kathy McCluskey preparing computer files for transfer to new director As I take on this position, I am aware that I stand on the shoulders of the women who have held the position before me. I hope to build on the good work that they have done. I am especially gratefully to Kathy McCluskey, the previous Executive Director who has spent countless hours preparing me for this transition. The files have now been transferred, the information shared and I feel well prepared to take on these duties.

Another new development has been the movement of our novitiate from Orange, California to Chicago, Illinois. Please visit our website to meet the two novices who inaugurated our new home on August 21, 2011. Soon you will be able to take a virtual tour of the house on that page also. One of my first duties will be to travel to Switzerland for the Global Coordinating Group and then on to France to meet some of our French sisters and then attend the International Center Board in LePuy. I will keep you updated on my travels through the blog so stay-tuned for what I hope will be a great picture tour of Geneva and western France.