Dear Friends of Joseph House: There’s a Christmas song that goes “There’s no place like home for the holidays,” but on that first Christmas Mary and Joseph were far from home, and 60 years ago this December so was the founder of the Joseph House and Little Sisters. Sr. Mary Elizabeth, who back then was…
Sr. Virginia and Sr. Marilyn were interviewed by Bob Krebs for Catholic Forum, a production of the Office of Communication of the Diocese of Wilmington. The video was posted October 9, 2024. You can watch it below and read the transcript too. The two Sisters talk about the various ministries of the Joseph House, our…
Dear Friends of Joseph House: October is the “golden hour” of the calendar year, the equivalent of late afternoon when the day is drawing to a close and the quality of sunlight glazes everything with a soft, warm glow. These are days of rich autumn colors and pleasant weather, but they are bittersweet because they…
Dear Friends of Joseph House: The dog days of summer are here, and the heat makes us want to take it easy and dream of the sea breezes down by the beach. But for people who are poor there is no vacation from poverty. Families facing eviction or a utility cut-off, the elderly and infirm…
![Looking Back On 50 Years [Video]](https://thejosephhouse.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/blog_jul24_50years_videopost_featured-768x402.jpg)
This is how Sr. Mary Elizabeth Gintling once recounted the story of how she began the Little Sisters of Jesus and Mary: “I started in 1974, I don’t know how. I had already begun what we call Joseph House, which is our apostolate, and I was doing that as a layperson with other lay people,…
Dear Friends of Joseph House: Our days at the Joseph House are usually pretty full. In addition to overseeing the Crisis Center and the Workshop, we attend to any number things that often pop up without notice. We might need to deliver food to someone whose car is inoperable, buy a week’s worth of milk…
Dear Friends of Joseph House: The last few months have been tough for our Joseph House family. Our Sr. Clare died of cancer last May, and in July we tragically lost Gregory Dennis, a Crisis Center staff member, in a hit-and-run accident. Two sharp blows, one after the other. We carry on (we have no…
Dear Friends of Joseph House: Our actions bring to life our beliefs, values, commitments, and convictions. If our actions were the pages of a book, what would the story tell? Reflecting on the life of Sr. Clare, her book would tell a story of sacrifice in order to care for others, of being generous with…
Dear Friends of Joseph House: Nine years after starting the Joseph House, our founder thought it needed a change in focus. The year was 1974 and Sr. Mary Elizabeth had just begun forming our community, the Little Sisters of Jesus and Mary, in Baltimore. She thought it was time to provide conferences and days of…
Dear Friends of Joseph House: When our founder started our community in 1974, she wanted it to be counter-cultural. But her understanding of what that meant was counter-cultural itself. Emulating Jesus, Mary, and Joseph is what Sr. Mary Elizabeth had in mind. She was inspired by the Holy Family and the life they lived in…