Blogging for Justice

Introductions

Since the first Sister of St. Joseph sailed down the Mississippi River and stepped onto firm ground in the village of Carondolet, near the great city of St. Louis, this religious community of women, its associates, consociates, ohana and familia have honored the CSJ charism to "love God and the dear neighbor without distinction." From their earliest efforts to establish a school/hospital/chapel in St. Paul, in an overworked log cabin described in detail in the order's biography, Eyes Open On a World -

"One room served for oratory, refectory, community room, parlor and dormitory. At night we put our mattresses, two on the table . . . and two on the floor. We opened school in the old church near us . . . when a cholera epidemic broke out in St. Paul in 1853, the sisters found themselves nursing the cholera victims in the log cabin church hastily converted into a makeshift hospital." (10) to their more recent actions: "political caucuses and demonstrations, including vigils for slain civil rights workers and protests against the Vietnam War and the Gulf War, as well as Honeywell's production of cluster bombs." (177), the Sisters of St. Joseph have demonstrated their belief that "working for justice is not an optional pursuit, but is integral to the gospel." (175)

This commitment to justice is what guides the work of the Justice Commission Office and its eight Working Groups and three Task Groups. For more information about these groups (which wrestle with issues that rangle from environmental degradation to systemic racism) please click through to our parent site: Justice Matters.