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The Congregation of St. Joseph has been coming to Le Puy since 2004. As more and more lay people serve in various congregational ministries, the sisters are providing them with opportunities to understand and incorporate the SSJ spirituality into their work so that they may carry on the charism. During October 8-15, the group came to Le Puy to learn more about the Congregation’s foundations with on-site visits to the Kitchen, the Tree of the Martyrs, the church where Father Médaille preached, and the rectory where he stayed during his visits to Le Puy. The group also went to Bas- en-Basset and Lyon to see Mother St. John Fontbonne’s birthplace and the motherhouse she founded, respectively. Sr. Carol Crepeau, Mary Frances Ross and Brenda Leroux Babin, both associates, led this pilgrimage this year

By the power of the Holy Spirit, the hearts of a small group of women in Le Puy-en-Velay in 1650 were enflamed by God's call to reach out to people suffering from devastating poverty, pervasive violence, and stifling oppression. These women found their home in the Gospel and in the teachings of the itinerant Jesuit, Jean Pierre Médaille. Likewise, a small group of women—from Canada, India, Japan, and USA—came to Le Puy to get in touch with and claim once again the transformative power of this charism by exploring the streets of Le Puy-en-Velay and visiting and praying in the Kitchen, the Cathedral of Notre Dame du Puy, the Chapel of St. Michel d'Aiguilhe, the Eglise du Collège, and the Tree of the Martyrs. They spent a day concentrating on Mother St. John Fontbonne by visiting her birthplace in Bas-en-Basset, the Heritage Room where she set up the post-Revolutionary congregation in Lyon, and at her graveside. They also attended Mass at the Cathedral and had some fun attending the annual Renaissance Festival despite the rainy day. One day, Sr. Chizuru (Japan) and Associate Diane (St Louis, USA) went to the top of the hill behind the Centre and captured some beautiful photos of a Le Puy sunrise. Sr. Jane Delisle, CSJ is a Sister of St. Joseph from Orange, CA (USA). Jane has come to Le Puy-en-Velay many times to present this program. She has also conducted many pilgrimages with sisters and staff from the Orange Health Systems. The participants included Sr. Pat Carter, Diane Everitt, Sr. Motcham, Sr. Mary Jo Radey, Sr. SahayaMary, and Sr. Chizuru Yamada.

Diversity was certainly evident during the first week in September as 22 participants gathered at the Centre for the annual Mission Alive! Program. Participants were from Brazil, Burkina Faso, Canada, Denmark, UK-Japan, and the USA. Formerly called Mission Effectiveness, the program offers a pilgrimage for lay partners in mission and provides an immersion experience into the original spirit and global dimension of the charism and spiritual tradition of the Sisters of Saint Joseph. The week-long experience offered a series of presentations, interactive participation, prayer, and visits to historic sites in Le Puy-en-Velay. A day trip to Lyon was also included. Sr. Dolores Clerico is a Philadelphia Sister of Saint Joseph (USA) with ministry experience in the academic, parish, diocesan, and congregational arenas. She is a frequent speaker, workshop presenter, and retreat facilitator for sisters, associates, and partners in mission throughout the United States and annually at the International Centre. Sr. Simone Saugues (Institute-France) served as the English-French translator while Sr. Joana Mendes (Rochester- Brazil SSJ) served as English- Portuguese translator. The Centre was bursting at the seams to accommodate all the participants. We especially want to thank Sr. Marie- Paule Rascle at the St. Maurice convent for housing six of the Brazilian participants.

Eighteen pilgrims who have served the Orange Congregation (California, USA) for 30 years or more were treated to a visit to the foundations of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Le Puy September 3-9. They also visited Mother St. John Fontbonne’s birthplace in Bas-en-Basset and the Origin & Evolution Centre in Lyon. Sisters Mary Beth Ingham and Jane DeLisle led the group who were excited, inspired, and feeling blessed for the opportunity to participate on this pilgrimage.

The International Centre hosted its first synodality program with Sr. Dolores Palencia of Lyon/Mexico as presenter. Sr. Dolores has decades of experience in leadership as a provincial, as a congregational leader, and currently as Coordinator of Albergue Guadalupano, which receives thousands of refugees and asylum seekers. The group consisted of 14 sisters from Africa (Congo and Burkina Faso), the USA, France, and India. Several congregational leaders also attended. They explored ways to integrate synodality into all we are and do by drawing on the Resurrection narratives, our Primitive Texts, our shared history and spirituality, and our lived experiences. Sr. Dolores Palencia served as a Presidential Delegate to the 2022-2024 Synod on Synodalilty.

They prayed together. They sang together. They ate together. They told jokes. Seven sisters from the Institute St. Joseph (of Le Puy) spent the last weekend of August at the Centre to celebrate their 80th birthday. They had a meal of paella on Saturday night and cannelle for a déjeuner celebration on Sunday along with an apéritif and scrumptious appetizers. The crowning touch was a chocolate gnosh cake from one of the best local bakeries of Le Puy, and a sparkling wine digestive. The Centre has long been a place for programs, retreats, and pilgrimages. Lately, it has also become a place for celebration. This one was particularly inspiring to see friends gather together after many years of life, love, ministry, and community.

Eleven Indian sisters from the Chambéry Congregation professed their final vows at the Cathedral of Saint Francis de Sales in Chambéry on Trinity Sunday, June 15. Their vows were received by Superior General Sr. Dolores Lahr in a Mass that was celebrated by local Archbishop Thibault Verny. The week before, the sisters visited Le Puy to see the 1650 foundations of the Congregation. The sisters were accompanied by Sr. Jayarani Michael and Sr. Annie Palimattam.

The Philadelphia Sisters of St. Joseph have been coming to Le Puy for several years. As more and more lay people serve in various congregational ministries, the sisters are providing them with opportunities to understand and incorporate the SSJ spirituality into their work so that they may carry on the charism. During May 20-26, the group came to Le Puy to learn more about the foundation with on-site visits to the Kitchen, the Tree of the Martyrs, the church where Father Médaille preached, and the rectory where he stayed on his visits to Le Puy. The group also went to Bas-en-Basset and Lyon to see Mother St. John Fontbonne’s birthplace and the motherhouse she founded, respectively. Ryan Murphy has just been appointed coordinator of Mission Integration for the Congregation. He was in-training with Sr. Dolores Clerico (in white) to conduct this pilgrimage in the future. The group is pictured here during one of their last nights in Le Puy at a restaurant for a special French “mystery” meal.

Centre staff members were invited by the Fraternité Institut des Sœurs de Saint Joseph (France) to participate in a day-long conference of reflection and prayer with sisters and associates to discuss the hopes, challenges, and dreams for the future of the Fraternité. We each gave a five-minute talk in French to the group about our congregations followed by some more specific questions. Sr. Eluiza de Andrade (right) and Olga Bonfiglio (center) met up with Sr. Marie-Paule Rascle (left) during the conference, which was held in Valance, 110 kilometers east of Le Puy-en-Velay. The May 18 conference was attended by about 50 people.

Two members of the Centre International Board finished their terms in April. Sr. Odile Gaillard (left) of the Institute St. Joseph has served as treasurer since 2011. Sr. Barbara Bozak presents Sr. Odile with a plant. Sr. Vianney Thanniath (right) has been on the Board since 2020. Both sisters were honored and thanked for their service at the April Board meeting. The Board regularly meets in April and October at the Centre.

Mount St. Mary’s University of Los Angeles was well-represented this year with students, faculty, and staff making pilgrimages to Le Puy, Bas-en-Basset, Monistrol, Lyon, and Annecy in order to learn more about the history and spirituality of the Sisters of St. Joseph in the actual places where history was made. The students stayed at the Centre March 9-13 while faculty and staff came to Le Puy May 29–June 1. Leaders from neighboring Los Angeles SSJ high schools also participated in the May pilgrimage. Shannon Green, director of the CSJ Institute at the university, and Tavala Luxon, director of Residence Life, accompanied the students while President Ann McElaney-Johnson and Shannon accompanied the faculty and staff.

The Global Coordinating Group (GCG) met with Bishop Yves Baumgarten of Le Puy who was unable to attend the 20th anniversary celebration. The bishop attended the sisters’ meeting and was introduced to each of the members. He then had lunch with the sisters. The GCG is comprised of superiors and members of congregational leadership teams or federations. It meets every other year at the Centre and during the intervening years on zoom.

The 20th anniversary of the International Centre was highly successful. Everyone enjoyed themselves and many recalled the memories of the planning and opening of the Centre. Many thanks to all those who have made the Centre possible!!!

Canadians and Americans participated in this year’s Mission Alive! program. This program usually attracts several Brazilians, but they were unable to attend because of the terrible May floods in the Rio Grande do Sul area (southern Brazil). This very serious group of leaders in health care ministries sought to understand and process the charism of the Sisters of St. Joseph in order to continue the Sisters’ legacy in their organizations. They will undoubtedly succeed! Sr. Dolores Clerico, director of the program is a Philadelphia Sister of Saint Joseph (USA) with ministry experience in the academic, parish, diocesan, and congregational arenas. She is a frequent speaker, workshop presenter, and retreat facilitator for sisters, associates, and partners in mission throughout the United States. She was the first program director at the Centre, which she has done since 2007.

Twenty pilgrims from the St. Augustine Congregation in Florida (USA) spent several days in Le Puy, the last leg of their pilgrimage in France. They also visited Lourdes, Lisieux, Paris, and Lyon. The group was led by Sr. Rita Baum, who was previously a staff member at the Centre for three years. Most of the members of the group were associates of the Congregation. The group visited the Sisters' Chapel near the Kitchen where they also had Mass. The chapel was especially meaningful to the group because the sisters who went to Florida from Le Puy to educate the newly-freed American slaves took their vows in this chapel. They were also sent on mission from this chapel. It was a meaningful and touching moment of history for them.

“The Lace Is Not Yet Finished” program) attracted a diversity of sisters and lay people from different countries (Denmark, India, Japan, USA). Here they are at Notre Dame de Fourvière for part of their day-long visit to Lyon. They also visited historical sites in Le Puy, sometimes climbing the hill to the old city two or three times a day. They certainly were a hearty group! One afternoon Sr. Simone Saugues of the Institute St. Joseph came to the Centre. She spoke to the group about the history of the sisters in Le Puy and captivated the participants for three hours! They much appreciated her stories, insights, and explanations as well as her wit. They knew they were in the presence of a legend. Sr. Simone has worked with the Centre as a translator and guide since the Centre’s beginning. Sr. Jane Delisle, CSJ (center), director of “The Lace” since 2010, is from Orange, California (US).

Sisters in Formation in the Chambéry Congregation came to Le Puy for four days to make a pilgrimage to the founding city of the Sisters of St. Joseph. Their prayers at meal times demonstrated interculturality through language as well as through the world-wide reach of the Sisters of St. Joseph in English, French, Hindi, Portuguese, Swahili, and Telugo. Sr. Dominga Zolet (left) organized and directed the group with Sr. Helena dos Passos (center), both of Brazil.

We were taken aback when Sr. Marie Heckman of the Institute Sisters of St. Joseph called us to reserve two weeks in August for young African and French sisters who were preparing for their final vows. They would also bring their own cook! How could we refuse such an offer! The sisters came from France, Ivory Coast, and Senegal. Fr. Aristide Jules-Dossou, a Jesuit priest from Benin, accompanied the sisters as well as Sr. Marie Therese Vallete and Sr. Dijondo Toussainte also provided presentations and readings during meal times. The two weeks included a week-long retreat with visits to SSJ historical sites. Everyone was very serious about this visit and faith-filled.

A group of sisters from the Institute St. Joseph (Le Puy) held a three-day gathering July 4-6 at the Centre for community meetings. They celebrated the 60th jubilees of Sœurs Marie-Frédérique Billon, Nicole Faurite, Yvonne Vallon, Eliane Massu and the 80th birthdays of Sisters Collette Philibert, Jacqueline Vole, Marie- Paule Rascle and Christiane-Thérèse Valette. Mass was celebrated by long-time friend and former pastor of Les Carmes Church, Fr. Paul Chamaly. Since the sisters arrived on the American national holiday (July 4) and before the French national holiday (July 14), we celebrated with an American-style “picnic” lunch of hot dogs, potato salad, corn-on-the-cob, green beans, and watermelon.

Participants in Mary Rowell’s program “Stepping into the Past, Living in the Present, Journeying toward the Future” spent the week as an international community in this second year of offering the program. Canadians, Americans, Africans, Indians, and Mexicans delved into the history and spirituality of the Sisters of St. Joseph and visited the Kitchen and SSJ historical sites. Sr. Mary Rowell, CSJ, is a Sister of St. Joseph in Canada and is vocation and first formation director for her Congregation. She currently works in retreat and environmental ministries at Villa St. Joseph in Cobourg, Ontario. In that capacity, Mary provides presentations and retreats across Canada and the United States, many of which focus on the CSSJ charism for all members of the “Joseph Family”. Mary also facilitates general chapters for various Congregations. We look forward to working with Mary next year!