Charism

What it is

A charism is a gift of the Spirit given to people so that they may use it to help others. Each religious community has its own charism, which then determines what their work or mission will be. It can be described as a seed that grows within a group of people excited about this gift and prepared to devote their lives to being of service to others.

The CSJ charism

Father Jean-Pierre Médaille and the first Sisters of St. Joseph were inspired by Jesus' invitation: to love God and to love our neighbour.

From this invitation flowed our charism: to be one with God, among ourselves and with all others.

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Here is how some of the CSJ Sisters described their charism in the oral history book called Wisdom Raises Her Voice:

I think that the important thing is that we communicate to people whoever they are - but particularily to people who do not think they are of value - that they are of value.

I think the charism of our community is to assist other people to know they are loved by God, to discover their gifts and to reflect with them where God is in it all.

We want to nurture community with the homeless, the economically poor, the alienated and women at risk.

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We are not the only group to have this gift. We share this charism with other congregations in our Federation. Have a look at how others live out their charism.