Women’s Spirituality Day April 10: A Loving Presence
What does it mean to be a loving presence in our broken world?  This question will be explored in Spiral of Evolving Love, this year’s Women’s Spirituality Day program at Mont Marie in Holyoke.

The workshop, sponsored by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Springfield, will be held Saturday, April 10 from 9:30 AM - 3:00 PM.  The program, facilitated by Sister Natalie Cain, will include personal and group reflection and creative expression. 

Sr. Natalie is coordinator of Membership and Association for the Sisters of St. Joseph of Springfield; her past ministries include elementary education, parish ministry and community organizing. The cost for the program, which includes lunch, is $35. Contact Sr. Natalie Cain at (413) 536-0853 ext. 249 for registration information. For brochure, click here.

Students, Sisters of St. Joseph, Raise Money for Haiti
Two fundraising efforts resulted in more than $12,000 being collected for Haiti recently.  The students at St. Thomas School in West Springfield collected $2,500 in a Dress for Haiti fundraiser on January 23.  The students were allowed to dress down in exchange for making a donation to the fund. 

The Student Council, which organized the event, decided to donate the funds to the Haiti Plunge, a program founded by Sister of St. Joseph Eunice Tassone.   The program organizes teams of American youth and adults to work in the mountain villages of Haiti.  (See related story below.) 

The money raised by the St. Thomas students, along with $10,000 raised by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Springfield, will be used by Sr. Eunice and her team to rebuild a bakery which was damaged in the recent earthquake.

Weston Selling Irish Apparel
Irish apparel is for sale at the Weston Center for Women on the grounds of Mont Marie in Holyoke.  Store hours are Mon., Wed., Thur. and Fri. 8:00 - 3:00, and Tuesdays 8:00 - 2:00.

The items are created by women at the rehabilitation center who receive individualized education, case management, computer training and life-skills training.  The program helps women with a history of incarceration, inpatient substance abuse treatment or inpatient psychiatric treatment, begin the process of reclaiming their lives.

The Center traditionally produces a wide variety of uniquely designed Irish items before St. Patrick’s Day, including tee-shirts, sweatshirts and hoodies.

The Center, at 28 Lower Westfield Road, was founded and is directed by Sisters of St. Joseph Shirley Campbell and Eleanor Spring. 

World Day of Consecrated Life celebrated at Mont Marie
Over 200 members of religious congregations gathered with Most Rev. Timothy McDonnell at Mont Marie in Holyoke, February 7 to celebrate World Day for Consecrated Life.

According to Springfield Diocese Vicar for Religious Judith O’Connell, SSJ, religious representing 16 congregations were present.  The Visitation Sisters from Tyringham provided the music and the program for the Mass.  Following the Mass, everyone was invited to the dining room for refreshments and sociability.

The annual celebration of World Day for Consecrated Life was created in 1997 by Pope John Paul II, as a means of inviting all the Church to reflect on the role of consecrated life within the Christian community.

Sister Patricia McDonnell Honored by Pioneer Valley Project
Sister of St. Joseph of Springfield Patricia McDonnell was named a Ministry in Community Action Honoree at the Pioneer Valley Project Dinner in January.  Sr. Patricia is director of Open Door Community Services in Springfield which provides case management, housing search assistance, and medical, mental health, and substance abuse referrals for persons who are homeless. 

Aside from her early ministry in education, Sister has spent much of her career in social work, helping to provide shelter and supportive services for abused and homeless women and children in Springfield and Holyoke.

Sr. Patricia was among 11 individuals and organizations honored by the Pioneer Valley Project for making outstanding contributions to the community.  The PVP works to alleviate poverty, racism, unemployment and other social injustices.

Sister Eunice Tassone, Haiti Plunge Honored in North Adams
(by Kathy Keeser, posted with permission from IBerkshires.com)
The Haiti Plunge has sent teams of youth and adults from Northern Berkshire and the Northeast to help villages in Haiti for the past 27 years. It's work was honored on January 18 in at the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day event in North Adams, Mass.

Sister Eunice Tassone of the Sisters of St. Joseph, director of development at the Catholic Outreach to Youth Center, accepted the award, along with other community members who have participated in the Haiti Plunge, often several times. 

Tassone started the Haiti group and spent many years as the COTY Center's executive director. The youth project now includes adults and college students and offers medical aid, training, educational materials and infrastructure help several times a year.

Tassone spoke of the long history of deprivation in Haiti before the earthquake: "When you have zero, what is less than zero?"

The Haiti Plunge works with a cooperative of nine villages in a mountainous area about 50 miles north of the capital of Port-Au-Prince. When the Plunge began nearly three decades ago, there were no schools, no business structures. Maryanne Santelli and other members of that first team challenged Tassone to continue to go to Haiti and helped to found the village cooperative. In the following years, teams built schools, dug wells and built sustainable, sturdy structures.

The structures built by the Haiti Plunge are still standing after the quake, though most of the villagers' homes were leveled, Tassone has learned, mainly through e-mail with contacts in Haiti.

For information on how you can help, contact Sr. Eunice at 413-663-3133.

Thanksgiving Collection
Baskets of food overflowed in a corner of the Mont Marie foyer in mid-November.  Gathered by the Sisters of St. Joseph and the staff at Mont Marie, the boxes of cereal, dried beans, cans of soup and other staples were then delivered to the Gray House in Springfield for distribution to families in need.  Food drive organizers say that more than 1200 people went home with bags of groceries thanks to the Mont Marie collection. 

The Gray House is a small neighborhood human service agency located in the city’s North End.  It was founded in 1982 by five Sisters of Saint Joseph to provide for the civic, social and educational needs of the people in the neighborhood.

Sacred Heart Golf Tournament Benefits SSJs
Alumni and friends of the former Sacred Heart Academy in Worcester hit the links this fall to raise money for the retirement fund of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Springfield.  Members of the SSJ Congregation taught at the elementary school for many years before it closed in 1970. So when the idea of a golf tournament came up earlier this year, the alumni decided that the proceeds should go to the Sisters.  The flyer promoting the event stated that “Although our school has closed, our hearts and minds remain full of the many memories we share with them (Sisters of St. Joseph) and with the gratitude they well deserve.”

Organizers Martha Pike and Joe Bellino said that the idea just snowballed and in the end more than 100 people attended the September tournament and dinner at the Mount Pleasant Country Club in Boylston.  The pair visited the SSJ motherhouse at Mont Marie in Holyoke in November to present a generous donation of $8,500 to the Congregation.  The Sisters expressed their appreciation and enjoyed re-connecting with the alumni.

Ground Broken for New Senior Housing Project
The Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Springfield broke ground October 27 for the St. Joseph Residence at Mont Marie in Holyoke. The Congregation has been awarded a $4.3 million Section 202 Capital Advance from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for the project.  The grant will also provide a three-year rental subsidy of $438,000.  Additional funding came from the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development.

This is the second time in three years that the Congregation has been awarded HUD funding for a senior housing project.  

Sister Mary Quinn, President of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Springfield, says the Congregation is thrilled to receive another HUD grant.  “St. Joseph Residence will respond to our neighbors who are in need of affordable housing as well as supportive services. This project speaks to the heart of who we are as Sisters of St. Joseph serving our “dear neighbors.”   HUD Project Manager Sheila Galicki added, “The Sisters of St. Joseph are wonderful partners.  Their mission mirrors HUD’s mission of providing affordable, safe housing for the elderly.”

The two-story facility will include 30 one-bedroom low income apartments for people over 62 years of age with varying needs for supportive services.  The Sisters of St. Joseph, co-sponsoring the project with Mercy Housing, designed the facility to provide housing that prolongs independent living as an alternative to long term care placement.  

All apartments will be of senior-friendly design and a percentage will also be handicapped accessible.  The building will include a community room with kitchen, a computer/sitting room and a large courtyard for recreation.  The facility, at 38 Lower Westfield Road, will sit on the east side of the Mont Marie campus overlooking the Connecticut River valley.

Information about applications is available from property manager Lisa Nawrocki at 413-532-9356.