A seventh grader's curiosity about sisters

One thing I love about my work as Director of Communication is that no two days are ever the same. A couple of days ago I received a call from a seventh grader in Louisiana. Apparently her teacher has assigned a project about religious life. I was ready to steer her toward the Congregation of St. Joseph who have sisters in Louisiana when she began telling me all about them. I guess someone else in the class has selected that group. So she found our CSSJ U.S. Federation website and from there came across the Sisters of St. Joseph of Boston.

I was impressed by all the research this young girl had already done. Although she had a tough time pronouncing “Médaille,” she knew that the sisters based in Louisiana were formerly part of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Médaille and that they had become the Congregation of St. Joseph a couple of years ago.

She wanted pictures of us when we were in habits. She wasn’t familiar with the word “habit” and called it, “those weird clothes.” I explained how our first sisters didn’t wear habits. I told her how they wanted to go out and serve the poor in 17th century France but the only women who could be out on the streets unaccompanied by a man were widows. They wore black dresses because they had to look like other ordinary women who were out on the street in order to serve the people in need. I’m sure I gave her a lot more information than she bargained for – but no pictures of habits.



She also asked for pictures of our "headquarters" -- we call it the Motherhouse. What I was able to find was a picture of our sisters and associates at a Peace Vigil on Good Friday, 2008. There's a good view of the Motherhouse in the background.

She said she’d send pictures of her project when it’s completed.