SUPPORT THE SISTERS DIOCESAN ANNOUNCEMENT / Bishop Mitchell T.

Rozanski -- Aug 10, 2015

Id like to start by welcoming everyone today to our gathering, in a special way to Sr. Maxyne
Schneider the President of the Sisters of St. Joseph and members of the leadership team. I
extend that welcome to all the Sisters of St. Joseph who are with us here today including those
who I have the privilege of working with in diocesan ministry. Id also like to welcome the lay
volunteers who have been working with the sisters as part of the Campaign Cabinet for the
Support the Sisters Campaign. In a special way Id like to acknowledge the co-chairs, Sheriff
Michael Ashe and John Foley along with Dr. Robert Sheehan, Brian Tuohey, John Hennessey,
Kathy Tobin, MaryAnn Munger, the Hon. Mary Hurley, James Casey, and Daniel Roulier. Also I am
also grateful to welcome my fellow honorary co-chair, former Mayor Charlie Ryan.
We gather today in view of St. Michaels Cathedral, which has not only been the primary seat of
the Diocese of Springfield since its creation, but also the site of the first Catholic school the
Sisters of St. Joseph established in the City of Springfield. In 1883, just 3 years after the first
sisters arrived in western Massachusetts from Flushing New York they established a Catholic high
school in two small rooms located just up a narrow winding staircase above the Cathedral
Sanctuary. There a group of sisters came to educate the growing immigrant Catholic population
here in Springfield.
Those 10 sisters who first came to Chicopee and Webster in 1880 and eventually here to
Springfield, left behind all that was familiar to them in New York, trusting in God and in turn
planting the seeds of a diocesan community that would prove to be so very critical to our
Catholic communitys growth and establishment.
I dont think its an exaggeration to say that the lives of many Catholics here in the Diocese of
Springfield as well as in the Dioceses of Worcester, Fall River, Burlington, Vermont, Providence,
Rhode Islamd and elsewhere have been uniquely blessed by the generous and selfless work of
the Sisters of St. Joseph. Their mission to unite neighbor with neighbor, and neighbor with God,
to live simply and act for justice, remains as critical and essential today as it was in 1883 when
they established the local diocesan community. The good sisters, as they are so often referred
to, have always put the needs of others ahead of their own. While staffing many of our schools
and working in our parishes, they lived meagerly but always taught their many students with
great joy and commitment, always cared for the less fortunate with deep compassion and care.
In the year since my installation as Bishop of Springfield I have come to know personally of their
dedication and commitment and I have been truly inspired by these good women.
Now it is our turn to repay the tremendous debt we owe these sisters for all they have done for
us. By now we have all heard of their current financial challenge, finding themselves with
inadequate funds to care for their retired and infirmed members.
Those who gave to us for so many years now need us to assist them.
As I said, the Diocese of Springfield owes a great debt to the sisters who have served in our
schools, ministries and parishes. And many good and faithful Catholics have already answered
this call by making generous pledges and gifts to the Sisters current campaign.
Today the Diocese of Springfield will join in this effort with a gift of $1 million to the Campaign to
Support the Sisters. In doing so we are playing our part in helping to ensure these dedicated
women have the peace of mind to know they will be cared for just as they have cared for so
many over 135 years.

To Sister Maxyne and all the sisters please know that as you continue to address this challenge
our diocesan community stands with you, both prayerfully and financially.
I hope with the announcement of this diocesan gift, others will now step forward to help these
good and dedicated women, those who have given their lives in total service to our faith
community, as they seek the funds necessary to provide for their sisters. May God bless the
good Sisters of St. Joseph !
Sr. Maxyne..