Latest News from the Sisters of Saint Joseph


SSJ E-NEWS is available for viewing on the SSJ website.

Edition No. 69 — May 24, 2018 
Sister Helen Cole SSJ
Receives Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters
Saint Joseph University
May 19, 2018
On May 19, 2018, Saint Joseph’s University presented Sister Helen Cole SSJ with an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters at their Class of 2018 Commencement in Philadelphia.

Helen has ministered in Camden for almost 30 years. In 1995, she founded Guadalupe Family Services, offering clinical counseling and direct social services for families. Helen primarily works as a grief counselor for the families of murder victims.

Congratulations, Helen — an honor well deserved!
Helen celebrates inspiring honor with her family and local community.
Photos courtesy Meg Cole SSJ
10th Annual Director's Community Leadership Awards
J. Edgar Hoover Building — FBI Headquarters
Sister Helen Cole SSJ Honored
Each year, the FBI recognizes citizens from across the country who have worked tirelessly to help their friends and neighbors and to strengthen their communities.

On April 20, 2018, Sister Helen Cole SSJ and her staff at Guadalupe Family Services received the FBI Community Leadership Award. Founded in 1995 by Helen, Guadalupe Family Services offers counseling and social services to families in North Camden, New Jersey.
Christopher Wray, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, presents Helen Cole SSJ
with award.
Helen on stage with the other honorees.
Photos courtesy Meg Cole SSJ
SSJ Associates in Mission Commitment Ceremony
Redmond Room, St. Joseph Hall
May 22, 2018
The following members of the Chestnut Hill Community were welcomed as new SSJ
Associates in Mission on Tuesday, May 22, 2018: Ashley Henderson, Linda Lowe,
Mary Katherine Ortale, Jeanie Schwille and Mike Terranova.

Associates are persons who feel called to embrace with enthusiasm the mission of unity
of neighbor with neighbor and neighbor with God. They experience living the mission in
ways as varied as the ordinary circumstances of the lives they live.

We extend a warm welcome to our new Associates in Mission and pray that we may be
supportive and effective, bringing to life all the best in one another so that together we
might help others to see God in themselves.
SSJ Associates are presented with their Associate Pin.
Pictured back row, from left: Mike Terranova, Nancy Dachille, Kerry Rusak, Ashley Henderson, and Jeanie Scheille
Pictured front row, from left: Linda Lowe, Mary Katherine Ortale and Rita Woehlcke SSJ
Many years ago, our sisters in LePuy made lace, sold lace 
— a source of their livelihood.
Perhaps as they worked the bobbins, pins and threads,
they saw threads as symbols of their call to unity
of neighbor with neighbor and all with God.
Perhaps the spaces, were symbols both of brokenness,
of every empty form
of the oppression of human dignity
as well as symbols of the Spirit’s healing hospitality.
Threads and spaces, spaces and threads — patterns
created out of need, out of pain, out of love.
Interlaced threads — empty spaces — creating the pattern of our lives.

—  Virginia Flaherty, CSJ (ad.)
Palliative Care Program
Saint Joseph Villa
May 23, 2018
The Palliative Care Program at Saint Joseph Villa seeks to provide relief from the domains of pain that one might experience when faced with a debilitating diagnosis. Palliative Care is not end of life care. The program is designed for individuals who are seeking to live a productive, meaningful life as they adapt to their illness. 
 
On Wednesday, May 23, 2018, Fr. Terry Odien was invited to give a talk on spiritual pain, as part of the continued effort to grow the Palliative Care Program.  

The Villa will continue to offer informative sessions on physical pain and emotional pain. Through acknowledgement, treatment planning and focus on quality of life, the staff strives to provide the highest quality of care to the sisters at the Villa. 
Photos courtesy Marian Beems
"Rooted in the mission of Christ, ours is the same mission which continually unfolds in the Church, 'That all may be one as you, Father, are in me, and I in you. I pray that they may be one in us.' (Jn 17:21)."
                                        — SSJ Constitutions #17
Editor, Sister Carole Pollock SSJ | 215.248.7269 | cpollock@ssjphila.org | http://ssjphila.org/home/