Video Interview with Sr. Virginia and Sr. Marilyn

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 founder, Sr. Mary Elizabeth Gintling, and their personal vocation stories.

Our thanks go out to Bob Krebs and the Office of Communication for this interview. We really appreciate the opportunity to spread the word about the Joseph House and the Little Sisters.

Little Sisters of Jesus and Mary help the needy on Maryland’s Eastern Shore

Catholic Diocese of Wilmington / Catholic Forum Video Interview

Posted: October 9, 2024.

Description: On this episode of Catholic Forum, after a news update from The Dialog, we talk with Sister Virginia Peckham, LSJM and Sister Marilyn Bouchard, LSJM. For more than 50 years, the Little Sisters of Jesus and Mary have been helping the needy and homeless in the Salisbury, Maryland area with hope, healing and hospitality. The Sisters will tell us about their work and their foundress, Sister Mary Elizabeth Gintling.

Bob Krebs: This is Catholic Forum, I’m Bob Krebs, and my guests today are from the Little Sisters of Jesus and Mary, a community of vowed Catholic women religious based in Salisbury, Maryland, and my guests are Sr. Virginia Peckham and Sr. Marilyn Bouchard. Sisters, welcome to Catholic Forum.

Sisters: Thank you, Bob.

Bob Krebs: You are one of I think just two religious communities actually based in our Diocese. I think the other one would be the Benedictines who were at Ridgley but are now in Newark, but you are celebrating your 50th Anniversary. Tell us a little about your community and about its founding.

Sr. Marilyn: Well, Sr. Mary Elizabeth Gintling, who is our foundress, was a Little Sister of the Poor for over 20 years. It was there that she learned her deep faith and spirituality and her own work with the poor that they cared for at that time. She had an inner call from the Lord that she felt was calling her to go out and serve the poor as you know, as their needs appeared, and she waited five years. She spent five years in discernment before actually making the attempt to leave the Little Sisters and see just where and how the Lord was calling her. That was a journey in itself. One of the important things she did when she left was to go up to Canada to see Catherine Doherty who was the founder of Madonna House. In a conversation with Catherine she said, “Sister, just go start something,” and that was the founding and the beginning actually of Joseph House.

It was small at the beginning but she was joined by many volunteers who were enhanced by her charism and called by her just sense of justice and things to do. This was in the ‘60s which was a real time for inner city. The volunteers joined her and together they formed the Joseph House. She realized as time wore on and they were doing so many good things that the Joseph House really needed a core, a central core of people who would carry out the vision and keep that thought ahead of them.

When the sisters first got the habit and received permission from Bishop Gossman in Baltimore to form a community, where they came from Berryville and were first dressed in the habit, the volunteers were rather startled. They stayed and they continued but they also realized that a religious community was perhaps what they were not called to, so little by little over the course of the next two to three years they ended up leaving, and the sisters actually on a visit to Salisbury, Maryland and Ocean City discovered there was a whole pocket of poverty here and it opened a brand new vista for her.

When Sister actually found another volunteer that had come who was also interested in religious life, that was her key and that was the beginning of our little Community. When they received her mission, that was in 1974, Joseph House itself was founded in 1965, so it’s about 10 years later that we evolved. She founded a Montessori school, she also opened a little card, book and gift shop there, she served the poor in whatever manner they needed, and it was multiple, you know, starting with food, counseling, whatever finances they could get together, she provided help financially for them, she even began small prayer groups based on the spirituality of Br. Charles de Foucauld.

Anyway, we became a small religious community and as I said we somehow opened, our sister opened the vista to Salisbury and I’m going to let Sister take over from there.

Bob Krebs: Okay Sister, so actually the founding goes back more than 50 years as far as Joseph House is concerned, but…

Sr. Marilyn: That is correct. The actual ministry and the work began 10 years prior to that.

Bob Krebs: Right, so Sister pick it up from there, you folks…

Sr. Marilyn: I also know, Bob, that you asked me or you were thinking about Sr. Mary Elizabeth and herself.

Bob Krebs: Yes, about her what made her so special, yeah.

Sr. Marilyn: She almost had a mystical wisdom and a charism and it drew people in quickly. She had a deep faith and trust in God, she had a vision and a great sense of humor which also was very attractive to people, she was a terrific storyteller, and we affectionately called her “Mother Goose.” She was candid, honest and she always sought the truth. Her feet were always planted firmly on the ground while her heart was always engaged with the Lord and what He wanted her to do. She really wanted to serve the poor in whatever way He called her to. It was very important to her and she said it was like water I must have it. She promised the Lord that she would do the work if He would provide the means. She has and He did.

Bob Krebs: That’s beautiful, Sisters, so at the beginning of the Little Sisters of Jesus and Mary, how many sisters were there, was it just Sr. Mary Elizabeth Gintling or were there other sisters?

Sr. Marilyn: Just two at the beginning, Sr. Patricia Guidera and Sr. Mary Elizabeth Gintling. It took five years before the first person came on board and then they had three. At one time we were as many as 12.

Bob Krebs: How many now, Sister?

Sr. Virginia: So now there are six.

Bob Krebs: Sisters, so tell us about Joseph House and the Joseph House Workshop.

Sr. Virginia: Okay, so the Joseph House is on Boundary Street. We got a large piece of property donated by a donor, a generous donor, in the ‘80s. It filled out the Joseph House Center. We were able to have a lot more storage warehouse and we got the Joseph House Workshop building. The donor asked us he said I have one requirement which is that we start a soup kitchen, so in addition to the soup kitchen we have other ministries and the philosophy was to directly serve the poor, whatever their needs, to stabilize family life both immediate and with an eye to the future, and to promote social justice according to the Gospel.

So in addition to the soup kitchen we have a food pantry which provides supplemental food once a month, we have financial assistance for pressing needs, this is really unique in our area, that we could give out financial assistance without a lot of requirements except that they would qualify, you know, because of their income level. But we’re able to help people that no other agency helps. It’s especially for evictions, utility cut-offs, but also for other things like medications and some other really urgent needs.

We have a payee program and that helps people who for various reasons are unable to handle paying their bills, we can step in and handle that for them and get them stabilized and help them to prosper on their small incomes. We have a hospitality room for the homeless. I work in that room, there it’s a day room that for morning weekdays they come in, they can have breakfast, they can take a shower, they can launder a change of clothes, we can provide them with some clothing, they have lunch and above all they can have a safe space where it’s calm and hopefully hospitable and where they can have a little camaraderie and get off the streets. We have the Joseph House Workshop.

Bob Krebs: Yeah, what is the Workshop, Sister?

Sr. Virginia: The Workshop is a residential program for men, up to eight men, and they’re usually men who are kind of exhausted and kind of need to make a new start, usually homeless, sometimes they have substance abuse problems but not always. So they can join this program, get stabilized, get some material and spiritual help, and then after a little while they begin to look for either training to get a good steady job or to actually go out and work. They can stay there for two years, save money and get kind of the emotional and spiritual stability that they need to go back out there and to have a more fulfilling life.

I teach, I give an art class at the Workshop so it’s kind of comic relief, but right now we’re making mosaics, so we have different mosaic signs and decorations around the Workshop.

Bob Krebs: Not only the Workshop but you know the Joseph House, just having that area where the homeless folks can come in and be safe and get clean and be supported and not judged, it must just be quite a blessing to those folks who are in the Salisbury area.

Sr. Virginia: We think it is. One time this man was talking about a quarrel that had happened somewhere and he said, “We’re not like that, we don’t have time for that kind of foolishness, we’re the Joseph House people.” That made me feel good.

Bob Krebs: Yeah, absolutely.

Sr. Virginia: Sr. Elizabeth also founded the Joseph House Village which became the Village of Hope and that was for women, single women and women with children, and we’ve had up to 14 women and children staying there, up to 14 rooms, little apartments for them, and there again it’s a two-year program where they can get their feet on the ground and get a good new fresh start and get a lot of supports for parenting, job, find good jobs, and that sort of thing.

Bob Krebs: My guests today on Catholic Forum are from the Little Sisters of Jesus and Mary, a religious community of religious women based in Salisbury, Maryland. They operate the Joseph House and the Joseph House Workshop and other ministries. Sr. Virginia Peckham and Sr. Marilyn Bouchard are here with me today, and Sister, what’s a typical day like for one of the sisters.

Sr. Marilyn: I’m going to give her the typical day.

Sr. Virginia: Her day is never typical because she’s the superior. We rise early, we try to put about a holy hour in, then we have morning prayer, then we have mass, then we have breakfast and some of us go to work at the Center, at the Joseph House Center until noon and then we have some lunch and then miscellaneous work in the afternoon, often sort of errands and things for the community. Then at home, some of us, we alternate cooking and we have evening prayer and dinner and then recreation with the community after that.

Bob Krebs: You’re kind of busy, it looks like, you know, plenty to do. Sister, what attracted you to the Little Sisters, how long have you been a member of the community and what attracted you?

Sr. Marilyn: Go ahead, you continue.

Sr. Virginia: I’ve been here 12 years. I’m a widow and my husband and I were very close and he was ill for a while and once he died I realized that I was going to have a whole new life anyway and I was a fairly new Catholic and pretty excited about the faith, and I began to talk to my friends about maybe joining a community and I discovered vocationmatch.com which is like a dating site for people discerning religious life. And so I sent out the questionnaire and the Little Sisters responded and I came down. Our system was to go for a week then a month and then if everybody was agreeable to then become a postulant, so that’s what happened.

Bob Krebs: Sr. Marilyn, your turn.

Sr. Marilyn: Well, I guess most of my life I had always had that aspiration and hopefully the call to religious life. Took me a long time to take full action on it. I always had a desire to thank the Lord for the good He had done for me and I also wanted to serve Him, especially with the poor. For the Little Sisters, I was very fortunate that they took a belated vocation. I was in my 40s, my mid-40s, when I first entered. I’ve been here over 34 years about now.

Anyway, as I said one of the wonderful things about the sisters is Sr. Mary Elizabeth always said she doesn’t do the calling, God does, and so she has left this window of opportunity for people who are a little older or are a little above somebody else’s top framework for age, and we’ve had people who have come at various ages, you know, laughingly I came in, I had a good job, I was happy in the job, I was going back to school to regain my teaching credentials, and anyway, I just needed a new break.

The Extension Magazine came to my desk where I was working and it had a beautiful length of articles on Sr. Mary Elizabeth. So I thought, oh maybe a resident volunteer would be a good thing, you know, a diversion, and something changed with, you know, somewhere in the back of your head you think, well, maybe maybe maybe this is the time. Well, after a conversation, after a visit, I have to tell you quickly I came on a turnaround bus to the pro-life march in Washington, called Sister, somehow got a hold of her and said could I come? She said, oh I’m on retreat, could you come next week? And I said, oh sure. Well, I was coming from Wisconsin, but I drove, I drove, I drove and spent some good time with them and after I talked to Sister and spent a little time with her, before I knew it I was signing on the dotted line to become a sister and it’s been a gift, you know, either the Lord set it up for that operation or she was praying that maybe I’d change my mind and come on board.

Bob Krebs: Now obviously Sr. Marilyn you knew Sr. Mary Elizabeth, but did you Sr. Virginia or had she passed?

Sr. Virginia: No, she died quite a while before I came.

Bob Krebs: Yeah, was it 2000 is that when it was?

Sr. Marilyn: 2004.

Bob Krebs: I’ve been here at the diocese since 2000 and I remember when she passed, so yeah.

Sr. Marilyn: Just shy of 90.

Bob Krebs: Oh gosh. What does the future hold for the Little Sisters, what are your future plans?

Sr. Marilyn: Well, we are still a small community, as I said at one time we were 12, we now have six members, and that’s our total number. We have one sister who is officially retired but she is a prayer warrior, you know she spends so much time in prayer that she supports us in that totally. The rest of us are engaged in anywhere from the Center, the Workshop, we have a wonderful Good Neighbor program, we are also engaged at the Village yet and various any things from administration to the everyday cooking, working, cleaning and whatever we do.

We have people from all over and they, as Sister mentioned, she is a widow and some people have children. Our future of course is going to depend a lot on our future growth, we always pray for more vocations, for more resident volunteers, we have both male and female openings for volunteers and one of our resident volunteers has been here for over 30 years himself. So there’s a hold, you know, Sister once she gets a hold of you, look out, she holds tight, and the work goes on in that way, but we’re also praying, you know.

We have ministries, if we didn’t have volunteers, Bob, we couldn’t do anything. They are the ones who are underpinning, they’re faithful and they’re everything from day volunteers to weekly volunteers to monthly to even yearly in our special events things. So they are just a real gift for us and they make it all possible, but of course we still need that core that I talked about earlier to carry out the vision.

There are more things to do. Sister had a lot of fore-thinking. You know one day she was hoping for an entire complex of people that lived in proximity, formed community and just made, you know, like a little so-called village, let’s say, just working and helping and creating an extended community. So there are things to do. We have not created new ministries, we’ve expanded on the ones we have already, but when more people come and we’d like to, you know, continue in faith and justice and whatever we can do to help stabilize family life and touch the poor.

Bob Krebs: How can our listeners and viewers help your work and help the work of the sisters?

Sr. Marilyn: Well, we have multiple links to share with Joseph House.

Sr. Virginia: We have a monthly newsletter, also the best ways to go is to the website probably, it’s thejosephhouse.org. We have, of course, we have an email address and phone number and the address all on that website. I guess we want to mention some of our upcoming events, do we have a moment, Bob, to just say?

Bob Krebs: Sure, please do, yes.

Sr. Virginia: So we had a golf tournament, a fundraising golf tournament, 16 of them, but we finally had to end that one this year, but we have a concert every year that raises money for us and the Christian shelter in Salisbury, a homeless shelter, a wonderful Christmas choral concert with the National Christian Choir and it’s just beautiful, it’s spectacular. Then we have a giveaway of brand new coats for children. The Knights of Columbus buy the coats and help us to distribute them. We have a food collection that a wonderful family has has been doing for over 25 years, a great big collection of imperishable food for our pantry, and then we have a toy giveaway for the people in our food pantry group and we give away hundreds, 600 or 700, bags of toys to children. There were over 700 bags of toys last year.

Bob Krebs: That’s terrific and our listeners and viewers can get more information about those events at thejosephhouse.org. Correct?

Sr. Marilyn: Correct, can do, yes, absolutely.

Bob Krebs: Well Sisters, I think we could probably go on talking for the next hour about all the great work that you’ve done and continue to do but unfortunately we’re out of time. Congratulations on reaching this 50-year milestone and we hope that God continues to bless you and the other sisters and your work for the needy in Salisbury and the surrounding areas. Thanks so much.

Sr. Marilyn: Thank you, thank you for your kind invitation and we enjoyed speaking with you.