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Sisters make a quiet and faithful decision to remain together

When the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Third Order of St. Francis left their Marymount Convent in Garfield Heights, many of them made a quiet and faithful decision: they would stay together. Today, more than twenty Sisters of SOSJ-TOSF call the Jennings’ Garfield Heights campus home.

The transitions that brought them here were not easy. As Sister Linda, their Congregation President and a now a member of the Jennings Board of Directors, reflected: “Our congregation has known the sorrow of leaving homes which we have long cherished… Such transitions are never easy. And yet, amid that loss, we have also discovered new grace.”

That grace is visible in the rhythms they have built together. Every Monday at 5:00 p.m., the Sisters who live in the apartment building gather to pray and share. Every second Friday, they celebrate a birthday. They worship together, share meals, and mark the feast of St. Joseph as a community. But their community does not stay closed. Sister Theresa, who is nearing her sixtieth anniversary as a nun, sings in the choir and assists with pastoral care. Sister Sandy draws inspiration from St. Francis himself: “St. Francis would say that the world was his cloister—he went where the people were.” Now, the Sisters are neighbors to everyone at Jennings, getting to know one another’s families, checking in, and celebrating life together.

Sister Linda put it simply: “Here, we continue to live the heart of our vocation… Jennings has offered not simply a place to reside, but an environment in which beauty, community, compassion, care, and respect are truly possible.”