A sisterhood, still powerful at 375: Sisters of St. Joseph of Springfield reflect on order’s mission, activism
SPRINGFIELD – Every weekday morning around 10:30, the kitchen at 577 Carew St. comes alive with the smell of fresh coffee, as women sit to share baked goods across a big table and talk business.
They're all sisters, but this is a different sort of family.
The Sisters of St. Joseph of Springfield is no longer accepting new members into the religious community, where the median age is 83. But this sisterhood remains powerfully engaged with what's happening in the community they and their predecessors have served since 1880.
This Sunday, they'll mark an even bigger milestone – the founding of their order in Le Puy, France, 375 years ago – with a liturgy at 2 p.m. at Sacred Heart Church, at 395 Chestnut St., in Springfield.
At its peak, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Springfield had over 1,000 members. Today, only one of the 124 sisters works full time; the youngest is 55 and the oldest is 97. Just 20 are under age 75. Many live in health care centers around New England, including Framingham, Worcester, Fall River, Pittsfield and in Rutland, Vermont.
In a roundtable discussion this month over pumpkin bread, coffee and tea, eight members reflected on the work begun by six women in 17th century France, aiding widows and orphans, and later continued here in the U.S., as sisters stepped into roles as teachers and social workers.
"We were founded to meet the needs of the times," said Sister Eileen Sullivan. "For a long time, we were just teachers." After its start in Springfield 145 years ago, the order opened a parish school, in Chicopee Falls, in 1883, according to Sister Elizabeth Sullivan, the group's president.
Sisters of St. Joseph President Sr. Elizabeth "Betsy" Sullivan shows her ring with SSJ engraved on it. Each sister is given a ring once they have given their final vows and been in the community for over ahalf a decade. Oct. 3, 2025. (Douglas Hook / The Republican)Douglas Hook
One of the order's most beloved early members was Mother Mary Cecelia Bowen, who moved from Flushing, New York, in 1880 and helped staff the Chicopee Falls school, educating immigrant children. She is credited with expanding the Springfield-area mission and by force of will ministering to inmates of the city's York Street jail.
"She saw beyond the things that needed to be done," Elizabeth Sullivan said of Bowen. "We're very proud of her foresight and steadfastness in doing that."
"We're very much involved in helping the poor," she said of the order's work today. "We work for peace throughout the world and our city."
Political work
Though now retired from full-time labors, members of today's order continue to pursue projects that have defined their community work, including lending their voices to causes on behalf of people in need.
One member, Sister Jane Morrissey, has done more than speak out about the poor and disadvantaged. She's often put herself in a position to face arrest during nonviolent protests.
But around the kitchen table Oct. 3, she was far from the only sister to voice concerns about actions being taken by the Trump administration.
"I always knew there was racism," said Sister Patricia McDonnell. "It's like we're going back to just seeing white people in power – and blonde-haired women."
Sisters of St. Joseph Sr. Denise Granger. Oct. 3, 2025. (Douglas Hook / The Republican)Douglas Hook
Another, Sister Denise Granger, said she takes inspiration from community responses across the U.S. "I think you've got to look for the innate humanity that you see all over the country, to see the people who are resisting and pushing back and sort of concentrate there – because there is hope there."
Bound by community
On this anniversary, members of the order are thinking across the centuries – back to the group's start in 1650 in a different kitchen, a likeness of which is captured in a framed illustration at the sisters' Springfield headquarters. To show their empathy for the plight of French widows, members long dressed as they did in black.
Two of today's sisters in Springfield, Denise Granger and Eileen Sullivan, wore versions of those habits when they joined the order in 1967, though that dress requirement did not survive. Many, like Granger, went into teaching in Catholic schools, where religious instruction interlaced with academic subjects.
"When we were teaching, we offered the gospel as a set of principles and values to hang your life on," Granger said. "We know when we meet our (former) students that a lot of that worked, that they are doing very good things for other people. They're in service agencies. They're teachers."
Though their careers in teaching, social work and health care have wrapped up, members of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Springfield didn't have to say goodbye to the colleagues with whom they worked. They are bound by their shared congregation as sisters.
Sisters of St. Joseph Sr. Maureen Kervick, left, Sr. Eleanor Harrington and President Sr. Elizabeth "Betsy" Sullivan sit down each morning at 10:30 a.m. to drink coffee or tea and enjoy a piece of cake. Oct. 3, 2025. (Douglas Hook / The Republican)Douglas Hook
"The congregation is my life," said Sister Elizabeth Sullivan. "I love the congregation. I've been a part of it and an integral part of it all of my religious life. And so in some ways, we become family with one another."
Eileen Sullivan, her biological sister as well as a religious one, says she treasures the order's close-knit sense of family. "We represent one another, no matter where we go."
She's been thinking about sisters past as well, as the anniversary nears. "We stand on the shoulders of the sisters who have gone before us," she said. "What they have done and what they did gives us courage and strength and hope to say, okay, even at our age, we've got to do this."
Morrissey echoed that thought, saying this weekend's celebration, open to Catholics and non-Catholics alike, honors all who dedicate their lives to serving others. "We really want to see it as a gift to everyone who helped make us what we are," she said. "What we're really celebrating are the sisters who've gone before us."
Sunday's liturgy will be followed by a reception. All members of the public are invited, the sisters say.
From left, Sisters of St. Joseph President Sr. Elizabeth "Betsy" Sullivan, Vice President Sr. Patricia "Patty" McDonnell and Sr. Denise Granger show the Bobbin Lace cushion in the congregation's offices on Carew Street. Oct. 3, 2025. (Douglas Hook / The Republican)Douglas Hook
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