NATURE, SPIRITUALITY AND PURPOSE OF THE INSTITUTE
We Sisters of St. Joseph are a unique gift that the Holy Spirit wished to distribute to the Church through his specific inspiration to our foundresses (1 Cor 12: 11). Through successive followers of our institute, this gift is progressively nurtured and transmitted to God’s people creatively and in faithful commitment.
Accordingly, we manifest our charism uniquely by: witnessing in simplicity the evangelizing and saving mission of Christ among the people we live and interact with. We serve all people of God without discrimination regardless of their faith, economic status, political ideologies or social affiliation. We firmly believe that regardless of the differences we have, we are all daughters and sons of the same Father.
Nature
The institute of The Sisters of St. Joseph of Mombasa is characteristically an apostolic religious institute that traces its remote beginnings on 6th July 1929, when Sr Rosalina accepted the first three girls in Bura. It was canonically erected as an institute of Diocesan Right on 8th December 1938 when it received its decree of foundation and is now seeking Pontifical recognition.
Vision
Our vision is to become signs of God’s tender love and living witnesses of Christ.
Mission
Our mission is to witness Christ to the world in simplicity, prayer and service to God through His people, by engaging in varied apostolates that enhance holistic human development. To achieve this, we live and work among ordinary people, guided by God’s spirit, subjecting ourselves under the patronage and model of St. Joseph and following in the footsteps of our foundresses. Our whole life is therefore permeated with apostolic spirit and our apostolic actions are guided by the spirituality of our institute.
Purpose:
The purpose of the foundation and existence of our institute is to:-
- Evangelize the people of God in simplicity and in humble obedience to God’s will.
- Uplift the living standards of the human person integrally.
- Promote integral human dignity by restoring and maintaining people’s faith in God
Spirituality
Our rootedness in the life and works of St. Joseph our patron makes our spirituality Josephite according to which, we:
- Partake in the divine action of the Holy Spirit in the work of evangelization
- Serve our brothers and sisters by embodying the spirit of St. Joseph the husband of Mary, enlightened by his virtues and submitting ourselves to his patronage.
Our Apostolates
Like our foundresses and imbued with the spirituality of St. Joseph, we undertake the following apostolic activities: catechetical instructions in parishes, prisons and in learning institutions; teaching in schools, colleges, vocational training centres and higher institutes of learning both ecclesiastical and civil; home management; health care in hospitals and other healthcare facilities as well as home to home health care; social work: taking care of orphans, street children, migrants and the HIV/AIDS infected and affected; financial administration in dioceses and parishes; communication and journalism in Church and related institutions; guidance and counseling; management in Church related institutions; secretarial work in schools and Church organizations; agriculture and animal husbandry; any other work the superior may assign as dictated by the signs of the time, and according to the charism of the institute.
In this way, we nurture the knowledge that Christ wishes to use us to make Him known to Christians and non-Christians alike.
WHERE WE ARE FOUND
The congregation membership has grown steadily over the years. Today, the institute has grown to a total number of 233 perpetually professed sisters, 76 temporarily professed sisters and 22 novices. The growth in number has allowed the institute to spread to several dioceses and archdioceses in Kenya namely Mombasa, Malindi, Machakos, Kitui, Nakuru, Nairobi, Murang’a, Kisumu, Kitale and Lodwar.
The institute has one community in Malawi and several houses in Tanzania in Moshi and Morogoro dioceses, and in the Arch Dioceses of Dar-Es-Salaam and Arusha. Similarly, the institute has been invited to open communities in Europe and America.
