Editor’s Note: Feb. 2 was the World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life, a celebration that coincides with the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, or Candlemas Day, the day on which candles are blessed symbolizing Christ who is the light of the world.
When I entered the Sisters of Saint Joseph in 1961, I received the same formation as the sisters who were much older than I. Shortly afterward, the Second Vatican Council let the Spirit loose in the Church, and religious life was forever changed – challenged to hold on to the best of the old and to be open to the Spirit’s prompting of something new. I feel blessed to have been part of the generation of sisters who could be the bridge from the familiar to the unknown.
These words from Vatican II have always been an inspiration and have shaped much of my life and ministry: “The joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the people of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, these, too, are the joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the followers of Christ.”
Religious congregations took this call seriously. Our own revised constitutions make explicit “a special preference for those who are poor, which calls us wherever we are to be in union with them.”
I will be forever grateful to my congregation, which after providing me with the opportunity for other studies, also sent me to study Spanish in Mexico and Puerto Rico. That experience set the course for the rest of my life!
I choose to celebrate these 60 years of ministry as a Sister of Saint Jose because they have been so filled with the blessings of God and the People of God.
In 1986, I went to work at Saint Joseph Pro-Cathedral in Camden. Camden Churches Organized for People (CCOP), which was a grassroots effort to improve the lives of families, had just begun community organizing. Working with Msgr. Robert McDermott and the clergy and people of diverse faith communities, we began to identify the needs of the residents of Camden. I witnessed and worked with people who recognized grief and anxiety and addressed the injustices that caused them. What a gift to be in Camden at that time.
In 1996, I moved to Perth Amboy to minister with Catholic Charities as a marriage and family therapist. In the course of my time there, we witnessed the horrific attack on the World Trade Center. I was among those sent to work with families who had suffered such great loss. In accompanying them, I learned so much from their faith and resilience. This was also the time when the Metuchen Diocese made an alliance with the Santa Rosa Diocese de Lima of Guatemala. I was fortunate to participate in several delegations that established that partnership and was graced to see first-hand the experience of the Guatemalan people, a grace that showed me the forces that drive people to leave everything they know and love when they immigrate to another country.
While in the Metuchen Diocese, I saw the closing of the last Catholic school in New Brunswick. Imagine my surprise when I returned to Camden in 2011 and found five schools alive and well in the Catholic Partnership Schools under the direction of Sister Karen Dietrich, SSJ. This was just another example of the Camden clergy and people responding to the community’s needs.
At the Pro-Cathedral, Father Joel Arciga-Camarillo had joined Msgr. McDermott in ministering to a large immigrant community. Latino leaders and suburban immigrant advocates lobbied successfully with Faith in New Jersey and other organizations for state drivers’ licenses for undocumented people. While working on this, they provided parish IDs for much-needed proof of identity. What a grace it was to work with people whose faith drove and supported these efforts.
In 2019, the SSJ Neighborhood Center opened in the Cramer Hill section of Camden under the direction of Sister Bonnie McMenamin. The sisters, SSJ Associates in Mission, and other advocates interviewed neighbors to identify needs and celebrate strengths. I was privileged to be a small part of that beginning.
Today, I work with the Latino community in Saint Damien Parish in Ocean City. Their faith, their concern for one another and their desire to celebrate life and culture with others in our parish community are remarkable. Even as I continue to age, God and the People of God bless me.
These are but a few of the many times that I have met God in God’s people. The World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life has provided me the opportunity to revisit these many blessings. Over the years, I have met people who believed that relieving suffering and working for justice were important aspects of Gospel living. Their faith and fidelity, commitment and courage bless my life and challenge me to authentic discipleship. Perhaps as you read this article, you’ll be encouraged to reflect on significant moments in your own life where God and the people of God have blessed you!
Sister Veronica Roche, SSJ, serves in Saint Damien Parish, Ocean City.
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