Serving immigrants, Philadelphia's St. Joseph center adapts to emerging needs

Sisters of St. Joseph Welcome Center Executive Director Olivia Sharkey, left, and a staffer offer warm gloves and a hat to a neighbor suffering from the cold March air outside the center in Philadelphia's Kensington neighborhood. (GSR photo/Dan Stockman)

For 20 years, the Sisters of St. Joseph in Philadelphia have welcomed their neighbors, whether they are immigrants or people experiencing drug addiction and homelessness.

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Sr. Celestine Nelima of the Sisters of Mary of Kakamega, interacts with flood victims in the Khumwanda displacement camp in Busia, a town in western Kenya, on July 17. Religious sisters have supported homeless individuals by offering shelter, food, clothing, education, medical assistance, and spiritual guidance and counseling. (GSR photo/Doreen Ajiambo)

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'Refugees in their own land': Kenyans experience homelessness due to severe floods

Left without shelter or access to infrastructure following severe floods, Kenyans live in vulnerable conditions in camps for displaced people, where sisters regularly minister to them.

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The bus for the Nuns on the Bus & Friends tour, organized by faith-based political advocacy group Network Lobby for Catholic Social Justice, is seen at its Las Vegas stop Oct. 14. (Alecia Westmorland)

Nuns on the Bus tour lights up Las Vegas with multi-issue voting fervor

On the tour's Las Vegas stop, Nuns on the Bus & Friends hosted civil discussion for locals, where issues like affordable housing, guns, the environment and human rights came into focus.

Sisters of St. Joseph Welcome Center Executive Director Olivia Sharkey, left, and a staffer offer warm gloves and a hat to a neighbor suffering from the cold March air outside the center in Philadelphia's Kensington neighborhood. (GSR photo/Dan Stockman)

Serving immigrants, Philadelphia's St. Joseph center adapts to emerging needs

For 20 years, the Sisters of St. Joseph in Philadelphia have welcomed their neighbors, whether they are immigrants or people experiencing drug addiction and homelessness.

Members of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement gather in the Shahbagh neighborhood of Dhaka on July 8. The group led protests in July and August that killed more than 700 people. (Sumon Corraya)

In Bangladesh, sisters face challenges at their educational institutions

The principal and vice principal of one school, both sisters, were forced to resign under pressure from students and guardians. 

A prayer service inside St. Peter's Basilica starts the first session of the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon at the Vatican Oct. 7, 2019. (CNS/Vatican Media)

Amazon synod reverberates through the Catholic Church five years later

As the second and final session of the synod on synodality continues at the Vatican, the roots of that meeting trace back to the Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon region held a half-decade earlier.

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Amazon synod reverberates through the Catholic Church five years later

Q&A with Sr. Julia Walsh, author of new memoir chronicling life-threatening accident and spiritual discovery

For sisters in remote regions, a type of diaconate is part of ministry

Feature Series

Arlington Carmelites in controversy

Fort Worth bishop takes over a Carmelite monastery and accuses cloistered nun of adultery with a priest. Discalced Carmelite Nuns say the bishop does not have authority over them and call his actions a land grab.
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LCWR 2024

The 2024 general assembly of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious.
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GSR at 10 Years

Our anniversary coverage includes updates on stories and columns originally published in 2014, plus specially commissioned columns. We'll also periodically list some of our most memorable stories and columns from over the past decade
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Religious Life

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Graduates of the Hilton-Hekima Sisters Scholars Program toss their certificates in celebration after the May 2024 graduation. (Courtesy of Religious Sisters Communicators' Foundation Uganda)
Columns

Catholic sisters embrace the study of theology in full swing in Africa

The study of theology in Africa has been male-dominated, left only to those interested in the priesthood. But the Hilton-Hekima Sisters Scholars Program is changing that for religious and laypersons.

(Unsplash/Providence Doucet)
Columns

Enlightened by the Spirit: My reflection on vocations

Religious life is a treasure that we carry in earthen vessels and is nurtured by prayer and the word of God prayed together as a community.

A crossing sign with two people, one with a cane (Unsplash/K Mitch Hodge)
Columns

A different kind of journey

During these days of being elderly, there is sometimes sadness as we hang up the energy that fueled us for so many years, as we worked shoulder to shoulder to help gentle the life of this world. 

Four different fall leaves lined up on a wooden table (Unsplash/Markus Spiske)

Cultural and spiritual differences can challenge us, enrich our faith journeys

The Life - Our sister panelists consider: When have you engaged with people whose life experiences are vastly different from your own, and how did these interactions transform your long-held ideas about life?

Community News

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Nuns on the Bus: A call to vote

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MYANMAR: 350 boarding students have housing, nutrition thanks to donor funding from Salesian Missions

Oct. 16, 2024
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WORLD FOOD DAY: Salesian Missions highlights school feeding programs

Oct. 16, 2024
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Ministry

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Benedictine Mother Maria Ignazia Angelini, a theologian, speaks during the morning session in the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican Oct. 15. (CNS/Lola Gomez)
Columns

The potential of women's consecrated life as a sacrament equal to holy orders

"We want to be treated as equals not only theoretically, in dignity, but also in church ministry," writes Sr. Nameeta Renu. She suggests the understanding of holy orders as reserved for men could be expanded. 

Franciscan Catechist Sr. Laura Vicuña Pereira Manso, center, leads a prayer Oct. 4 after a panel on synodality and ministry of women at Pope Pius XI Hall in Rome. Manso said tending to duties that would normally be performed by a deacon are part of daily life for some women religious since there are few pastoral workers in the remote region of the Amazon where she serves. (GSR photo/Rhina Guidos)

For sisters in remote regions, a type of diaconate is part of ministry

Where neither deacons or priests can be found to tend to the local population in remote regions of the world, sisters keep Catholic customs alive by carrying out a form of the diaconate.

Franciscan Sister of the Eucharist Sr. Maria David Magbanua speaks with Abraham Rada as he comes to pick up his 2-year-old son Yonatan from the St. Rachel Center day care in Jerusalem after a day of work at a nearby minimarket. Rada, who arrived in Israel as a refugee from Eritrea in 2008, says the nuns at St. Rachel take care of Yonatan "like family." (Judith Sudilovsky)

St. Rachel Center provides child care for refugees, migrants in Jerusalem

Run by Sr. Maria David Magbanua, St. Rachel Center offers a safe alternative for parents from the refugee and migrant community, whose children are often looked after in overcrowded, unregulated day cares in Israel.

Devotees light candles at the St. Alphonsa Pilgrim Centre in Bharananganam in the Palai Diocese, southwestern India. (Thomas Scaria)

300 nuns spread out in Palai Diocese on 'home mission' to renew Catholics' faith

More than 300 nuns from 12 congregations are on a faith renewal mission among Catholic families to help the Palai Diocese in southwestern India celebrate its platinum jubilee.

GSR in the Classroom

Youth in a classroom raising their hands to answer questions

The project shines light on the mission and ministry of Catholic women religious around the world.

Each lesson connects articles about sisters or columns written by sisters to the good news found in scripture and church teaching. Action ideas and compelling prayer bring new learning alive. Teacher guides provide vital context and engaging activities to launch group discussions.