Newsletter: July 2026
Dear Friends of Joseph House:
If we see a dandelion growing up through a crack in the pavement, we might dismiss it as an ugly weed, an eyesore to be pulled out by the root. But the jagged leaves and yellow flower show the power of a seed, and how generous nature is in spreading her bounty indiscriminately. No opportunity is wasted; literally every nook and cranny has potential to support life, no matter how inhospitable it looks. It’s all worth taking a chance.
We can learn from this and apply it to how we live our lives. The world seems to have a hard shell these days, but there are plenty of cracks and openings. Seeds of love need to be sown, seeds of kindness, understanding, solidarity, and peace. We need to scatter them freely, like dandelion seeds drifting on their feathery sails in the breeze. They can take root anywhere.
Jesus liked the image of a seed, and we do too. A seed is truly a miracle. It initiates a process of transformation, taking in what surrounds it and creating something new, something living. This happens in silence, unseen by no one. In our work at the Joseph House, what we do might seem little compared to the circumstances of the people we encounter. Hopefully, however, new possibilities have opened up, and in time they become not just dreams but a beautiful reality.
By caring for others we change the world, and we also change ourselves, becoming the people God made us to be. We are made in God’s image and likeness – there’s a potential inside of us, like a seed that needs to grow. It can shrivel and die, or it can blossom. Our actions decide.
Thank you for supporting the work of the Joseph House. Here are stories of people we helped at our Crisis Center. You can see how every contribution adds up and makes a difference to someone.
Veronica is 78 and still a full-time mother. Her three adult children live with her, all of whom are disabled. Their ramshackle house has no running water on the second floor. Veronica’s unpaid gas bills totaled more than $1,000. She traveled almost 50 miles to our Crisis Center because no other place had funds to help her. We paid almost half of what was due so she could be placed on a budget plan.
Stanley, 51, became homeless when he had to leave his family’s farm after his father died. He was not prepared for this dramatic change in his life. Stanley found refuge in a homeless shelter. Freed from the overwhelming worry of where to sleep and what to eat, he was able to get a job in the food service industry. Before his time was up at the shelter, the Joseph House helped Stanley pay the security deposit on an apartment.
Darnell, 69, must live on a very limited fixed income. Like many people, he is being squeezed dry by utility bills. His small home has electric heat, and the bitter cold of winter sent his electricity bills through the roof. Darnell was anxious: he knew that if the power got shut off in his home, it was going to stay off for a long time. Fortunately, we were able to make a sizable payment to the utility company to prevent a disconnect.
Sherry, 31, has three children of her own. She recently took in a niece and two nephews because they were being neglected by their mother. Sherry works, but with three new children to take care of she had difficulty paying her bills. The Joseph House helped to cover her electricity bill.
Anna, 19, needed to move into her own apartment. This is a big step for any young adult, but Anna’s intellectual disability made it extra challenging. She will have a roommate so she will not be alone. The Joseph House paid Anna’s share of the security deposit.
On July 4th, we celebrated the 250th anniversary of the United States. We join you in giving thanks to God for all the ways He has blessed our country. Our gratitude calls to mind this verse from the Gospel: “More will be demanded from those entrusted with more” (Lk 12:48). Let us remember that freedom comes with a responsibility to do what is right and good. May we live by our nation’s highest ideals and be a light to all people everywhere.
Your Little Sisters of Jesus and Mary
Prayer Requests: Send us your special intentions and the Little Sisters will pray for you: Contact Form.
Donations: Your contribution will help people in need: Donate.
In honor of the 250th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, here is the address given by Pope John Paul II at Battery Park in New York during his first visit to our country in 1979:
Every nation has its historical symbols. They may be shrines or statues or documents; but their significance lies in the truths they represent to the citizens of a nation and in the image they convey to other nations. Such a symbol in the United States is the Statue of Liberty.
This is an impressive symbol of what the United States has stood for from the very beginning of its history; this is a symbol of freedom. It reflects the immigrant history of the United States, for it was freedom that millions of human beings were looking for on these shores. And it was freedom that the young Republic offered in compassion. On this spot, I wish to pay homage to this noble trait of America and its people : its desire to be free, its determination to preserve freedom, and its willingness to share this freedom with others. May the ideal of liberty, of freedom remain a moving force for your nation and for all the nations in the world today!
It greatly honors your country and its citizens that on this foundation of liberty you have built a nation where the dignity of every human person is to be respected, where a religious sense and a strong family structure are fostered, where duty and honest work are held in high esteem, where generosity and hospitality are no idle words, and where the right to religious liberty is deeply rooted in your history.
Yesterday, before the General Assembly of the United Nations, I made a plea for peace and justice based on the full respect of all the fundamental rights of the human person. I also spoke of religious freedom because it regards a person’s relationship to God, and because it is related in a special way to other human rights. It is closely allied with the right to freedom of conscience. If conscience is not secure in society, then the security of all others rights is threatened.
Liberty, in all its aspects, must be based on truth. I want to repeat here the words of Jesus “the truth will make you free” (Jn 8 :32). It is then my wish that your sense of freedom may always go hand in hand with a profound sense of truth and honesty about yourselves and about the realities of your society.
Past achievements can never be an acceptable substitute for present responsibilities toward the common good of the society you live in and towards your fellow-citizens. Just as the desire for freedom is a universal aspiration in the world today, so is the quest for justice. No institution or organization can credibly stand for freedom today if it does not also support the quest for justice, for both are essential demands of the human spirit.
It will always remain one of the glorious achievements of this nation that, when people looked towards America, they received together with freedom also a chance for their own advancement. This tradition must be honored also today. The freedom that was gained must be ratified each day by the firm rejection of whatever wounds, weakens or dishonors human life.
And so I appeal to all who love freedom and justice to give a chance to all in need, to the poor and the powerless. Break open the hopeless cycles of poverty and ignorance that are still the lot of too many of our brothers and sisters; the hopeless cycles of prejudices that linger on despite enormous progress toward effective equality in education and employment; the cycles of despair in which are imprisoned all those that lack decent food, shelter or employment; the cycles of underdevelopment that are the consequence of international mechanisms that subordinate human existence to the domination of partially conceived economic progress; and finally the inhuman cycles of war that springs from the violation of man’s fundamental rights and produces still graver violations of them.
Freedom in justice will bring a new dawn of hope for the present generation as it has done before: for the homeless, for the unemployed, for the aging, for the sick and the handicapped, for the migrants and the undocumented workers, for all who hunger for human dignity in this land and in the world.
Pope John Paul II
Visit To Battery Park, Manhattan, New York
October 3, 1979
Pope John Paul II was canonized in 2014