Who We Are

We are women of action responding to the call to help others. We strive to be in union with God and our neighbour, as did the first Sisters of St. Joseph. Our beginnings can be traced back 350 years to France… see for yourself

Our ministries are rich with possibility. CSJ Sisters founded such organizations as Toronto's Food Bank and the Furniture Bank. Our Sisters minister to people over potter's wheels, in parishes, at Drop-In Centers and in numberless other places. We seek in these ways to fulfill our main goal: to make Christ present in the world through our witness. For more on this, have a look at our Mission page.

The spirit that drives us was inspired by Jesus invitation: to love God and to love our neighbour. See how this gift that we were given helps us in our own lives…

Our spirituality is one of relationship with God and others - a spirituality of communion. It is expressed through prayer and through service, to name just two expressions. If you would like to explore this further, look at our Spirituality page.

Apart from Sisters, there is another group attracted by the CSJ spirit: the Associates. These are single or married women or men who reflect our spirituality in their homes, parishes and communities. See how they do this on "Our Associates" page.

Better yet, we invite you to meet some of us: Our Leadership Team, a Sister, and an Associate.

We are not alone: our order belongs to a Canadian Federation. Learn about the Federation and the other five orders we are related to in this way.

Perhaps now that you know us better, you will want to learn about what we do. We invite you to visit our "What We Do" section.