In the weeks before Easter, we are given time during Lent to put extra effort in turning toward Christ and becoming more Christ-like. There are three practices to help us: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. They are three companions on the journey as we convert our hearts. They will help us to become more loving and…
Dear Friends of Joseph House: The Hospitality Room has been an essential part of the Joseph House Crisis Center for 20 years. It’s a day shelter for men and women who are homeless. Five days a week, they can go to the Hospitality Room and take a shower and have their clothes laundered. A big…
This has been a very busy week at the Joseph House Crisis Center. More than 50 families came seeking financial assistance, many in regards to housing. When housing needs are on the line, we can’t delay in responding – especially when the weather is cold. A house does more than provide protection from the elements,…
Dear Friends of Joseph House: To the world, he was John Paul I, a pope known primarily for the shortness of his term (33 days). To Pia Luciani, however, he was Uncle Albino, and in a recent interview she shared her memories of him: Pia: He told stories, sometimes even jokes with a moral ending,…
January is Poverty Awareness Month. According to the Census Bureau, 43.1 million people in the United States live in poverty. Of these, about 19.5 million live in deep poverty, which means their household income is less than 50% of the poverty threshold. Furthermore, 105 million people live close to being in poverty. Their household incomes…
As Head of the Holy Family, extraordinary demands were placed on St. Joseph, and he worked hard at being the best husband and father he could be. This involved not only doing, but listening. St. Joseph was receptive to God’s will, and that set the course for the action he took. His life turned out…
Dear Friends of Joseph House: In depicting the birth of Christ, Byzantine icons sometimes show St. Joseph sitting away from the manger, either resting with his eyes closed (symbolizing his dreams) or facing the devil (symbolizing the temptation to disbelief). Art in Western culture places St. Joseph inside the stable, usually holding a lantern or…
Every religious community has its own charism, a particular way of life and a spirit that forms its identity. In setting the charism of the Little Sisters of Jesus and Mary, Sr. Mary Elizabeth Gintling looked to an obscure French priest who lived from 1858 to 1916. His name was Charles de Foucauld. Charles spent…
Dear Friends of Joseph House: A few years ago, Fr. Paul Mast, a Catholic priest of the Diocese of Wilmington, spent a six-month sabbatical immersed in the lives of people living on the streets. The experience spoke to his heart, and he wrote about what he learned in a book called Street Sabbatical. In one…
Dear Friends of Joseph House: She was born in Philadelphia and raised in Baltimore. She lived in a house built by her father on the banks of North Point Creek, from where she liked to set out in a row boat and go crabbing. Trained as a registered nurse, she had several “careers,” and wasn’t…