New members of the Sisters of Saint Joseph come together for a Federation Novitiate Program. A time to study and integrate the mission, history, spirit and spirituality of the Sisters of Saint Joseph in preparation for vowed life.

See the 2009 - 2010 members of the Novitiate Program below.

2009 Novitiate

My name is Anita Valerie Kurowski, from Rochester, NY, and I am 27 years old. I come from a family of five- parents Paul and Maria, and younger sister and brother, Melinda and Joseph. My father is originally from Buffalo, NY and my mother is originally from Poland. After several years of moving each year, we eventually settled in a rural area on the eastern shore of Lake Ontario called Sandy Creek.

My parents and my paternal grandmother raised me not to see a distinction between "spiritual life" and "regular life." My mother showed me God’s loving and self-giving nature. My father helped me see that we will always have unanswered and unanswerable questions about God in our lives. My grandmother taught me to break open Scripture with others, to pray from my heart, and to offer praise to God in song. As we grew older, my sister and I shared together on a deep heart level about our search for God in all things.

After attending public school, and graduating, I went to Nazareth College, in Rochester, NY, where I earned a B. Mus. in Music Education PreK-12. Nazareth College was founded for women, by the Sisters of St. Joseph, but it is now a private, secular, co-ed institution. I first met the Sisters of St. Joseph through a week-long Nazareth College Campus Ministry service opportunity in the city of Rochester. The SSJ Volunteer Corps welcomed students to live in community with them, serve in various ministries, learn about Catholic Social Teaching, and pray and share together in order to discover the presence and action of God in our daily lives.

After repeating this experience a few times, as well as coming to help with other groups in the summer, I was invited to live in community with this group of Sisters, while still attending college. The Sisters hoped to develop and encourage the values of God-centered community life in today’s culture and society. By the time I left there, nearly three years later, I knew in my heart that some form of community life would be essential for me forever. During this time, I was also invited to participate in a monthly group for women that would learn about the skills of discernment. The group, facilitated by Mary Wehner, SSJ, was a powerful and unforgettable experience, and I began to use the skills that I learned there to explore a growing pull within me toward the Sisters of St. Joseph.

I returned to Rochester to begin Candidacy in October, 2007, and I was received as a Novice on December 12, 2008. Over time, I have learned that I love God’s creativity in all the world and I like to participate in it, in the ways that God calls me. I am also drawn to help others discover and develop their God-given potential. I am looking forward to the Federation Novitiate experience in hope that I will grow, even more, into an instrument of God.

My early childhood and religious education took place in Northeastern Ohio. It was at this time that I first experienced women religious; the Dominican Sisters of Akron Ohio who administered and taught in my grade school and high school. After high school I attended Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio, where I earned a B.A. in Chemistry. After college, instead of returning to the Dominicans I decided to pursue a career as a chemist. That decision landed me in Baltimore, Maryland where I would remain for many years and ultimately meet the Sisters of St. Joseph of Philadelphia. While working as a chemist I went on to earn a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Maryland. Although my career as a research chemist at various universities and government facilities was very successful, I had a feeling that there had to be more to life.

In response to my desire for a richer spiritual life I became active in my parish, the Catholic Community of South Baltimore; a tri-parish faith community on the Fort McHenry peninsula in Baltimore city which includes St. Mary Star of the Sea parish. I was involved in parish worship, parish leadership, and adult faith formation. It was during this time that I met the Sisters of St. Joseph of Philadelphia; serving with them on various committees and taking part in small faith sharing groups. In 2006 I became a SSJ Associate in Mission. It was also during this time that I earned a M.A. Theology from St. Mary’s Seminary & University in Baltimore.

As my theological knowledge grew and my spiritual life deepened I began to question my role as a research chemist. Although I held a position of responsibility with the commensurate title and salary, my career as a chemist had reached a point where I felt I could no longer continue. Once I left research I needed to decide, “Where to go from here?” It was during this time that I came to question if I was called to religious life. The call to religious life wasn’t new to me; it just wasn’t something I had seriously considered in a long while. After many nights of wrestling with God, and at the prompting of my spiritual director, I decided to contact the SSJ vocation director and try to make peace with the idea of religious life. As the discernment process progressed I felt as though many doors were opened to me; so much affirmation. Through this discernment I came to believe/accept that God is calling me to religious life.

Over these last couple years God also revealed to me in very tangible ways the great need for unity and reconciliation in our world today. Baltimore city and the Catholic Community of South Baltimore can be very turbulent places. On more than one occasion I found myself standing shoulder to shoulder with Sisters of St. Joseph, working to bring healing and wholeness to our neighborhood. During this time I came to the realization that SSJ is one of my names of grace. I subsequently applied and was accepted as a candidate with the Sisters of St. Joseph of Philadelphia in summer of 2008. For Candidacy II I moved in with the Sisters at St. John the Evangelist, Severna Park Maryland in January 2009. During this time I taught Chemistry at Stevenson University in Baltimore and eighth grade science at Sisters Academy of Baltimore. Once my teaching commitments in Baltimore had ended I moved to Mount St. Joseph Convent in Chestnut Hill and was initiated into the Novitiate on July 7, 2009. As I now take part in the 2009-2010 Federation Novitiate I look forward to deepening my relationship with Jesus and growing in my understanding of what it truly means to be a Sister of St. Joseph.

My name is Sr. Andrea. I’m 25 years old and am from Germany. I grew up in a very good family, but without grandparents. I only know my grandmother, but she died when I was 5 years old. This was really hard for me and my brother but my parents tried to comfort us.

When I was three years old, I fell very ill with a high fever and convulsive fits. The doctors examined me very carefully, but they never found the reason for the symptoms. In the end, my mother was told: "Your daughter will be handicapped and won’t live longer than her 11th year of age." Of course, my mother was shocked, but she never gave up hope. After one month in the hospital I returned home. They gave me medicine which I took for many years.

Throughout the years my faith was growing slowly, but I had to take some strong medicine, which made me very tired. Therefore, I couldn’t concentrate in school. When I was 8 years old I changed from the normal school to a school for physically and mentally handicapped children. There I learned the regular school stuff, only more slowly than the kids in the normal school. Here I learned to accept the children and other people who are different. I also lost my fear of them, and after a short time I got a lot of friends.

After the 6th grade I changed schools again. I returned to a normal school. This happened after a last visit to my doctor. When I was 11 years old I didn’t need any more medicine, and when my doctor looked at me, he said: "This is a miracle. Andrea is healthy again. She was so ill, and I thought that she was never going to recover. But now!!!"

When I was 16 years old I went to a Catholic private school. During the next 2 years some of the Franciscan sisters became my friends. They told me about their life and vocation. I was very impressed by their way of living life with confidence in God’s immense love. This made me think about my own vocation and God’s intentions with my life. I finished school in a very good manner, and later managed to qualify as a cook.

At this time (2001) my family started to drive twice a year to Albania. One of the sisters at the school was going to Albania, and we promised her that we would visit the sisters and bring them all the things they need for the poor people and for themselves. I prayed a lot and tried to get to know other congregations. This was not so difficult because when we drove to Albania we visited a lot of different congregations. We prayed, ate and talked with them, and I could feel that God was also calling me to him. I developed a good relationship with some of the sisters. In Bosnia we always visited some Franciscan Missionary sisters. There I felt that God had called me.

In 2003 I visited the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Chambery in Denmark for the first time. My mother had told me about them, and so I asked her if it was possible to visit the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Chambery. Soon after that we visited them.

There I met an older sister whose comment confirmed my decision. She talked about her own vocation story and said to me: “Start to learn Danish, and then it will be easier for you when you come to Denmark.” I was quite surprised that this sister had felt my desire to enter a congregation. After that weekend I knew for sure – I wanted to go to Denmark and enter the Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Chambery!

First I went back finished my education in Germany, and in the summer of 2005 my brother and mother accompanied me to the sisters in Denmark. At this time I started as a candidate and studied the Danish language. It was not very easy but I managed. Nearly two years later I went to another community and started my postulancy. At the same time I began to learn English and got new experiences of community life because I lived together with two German and 2 Indian sisters.

In 2008 I finally started my novitiate which was a great gift for me. I liked my first year very much and I feel I grew a lot during this year - especially in my relationship with God and community.