Dr. Faustino Bernadett and his wife Dr. Martha Molina Bernadett would like to spotlight Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange in this Nonprofit Spotlight.
The Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange are a congregation of Catholic women who share a common foundation and mission with thousands of sisters in St. Joseph congregations throughout the world.
The Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange were established in 1912 by Mother Bernard Gosselin. She and eight sisters left LaGrange, Illinois, near Chicago to establish a school in Eureka, California. When the Sisters first arrived, they had only 60 cents and only a promise of a temporary house, but even with such limited resources they were able to open a school within a few months of arrival. The Sisters were able to sustain themselves with the meager income the school provided by growing most of their own food, and by the generosity of the people of Eureka.
The first ministries of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange were in education and health care. They experienced decades of effective service within a system characterized by centralized authority, limited personal choice of ministry, and structured ministerial activity. Schools and hospitals were staffed primarily by the Sisters and in the 1940s and 1950s the number of institutions directed by the Congregation increased steadily. In the 1940s the Sisters extended their work in health, education and religious instruction to the people of Papua New Guinea and Australia.
Dr. Faustino Bernadett and his wife Dr. Martha Molina Bernadett are dedicated to supporting organizations with the mission of reducing disparities in access to education and health, which is the mission the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange began with.
To learn more about the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange and how you can support them, click this link to their website.