Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace Elect New Leadership
The Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace, an international Catholic community of vowed women religious, elected new leadership during the 23rd Congregation Chapter meeting held April 23-25, 2021, in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, USA. Sister Andrea Nenzel, CSJP will serve as the Congregation Leader. Sister Susan Francois, CSJP will serve as the Assistant Congregation Leader. Other members of the newly elected Leadership Team are Sisters Sheena George, Margie Fort and Kathleen Pruitt. This Leadership Team will serve the Congregation from July 1, 2021, until January 6, 2027.
Sister Andrea currently serves in governance as vice-chair of the Board of Directors of PeaceHealth, a ministry founded by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace, and until the election served on numerous committees of Washington State Hospital Association and American Hospital Association and volunteered in several social ministries in Vancouver, WA. Before that she served in education, social service ministries and during the war in El Salvador as co-director of Calle Real Refugee Camp for the Archdiocese of San Salvador. She also served twice as Province Leader, Western Province.
Sister Susan served on the previous Congregation Leadership Team since 2015. She writes a regular column for Global Sisters Report on religious life and social justice. She previously ministered as a social justice educator and advocate at the lntercommunity Peace and Justice Center in Seattle, Washington. She presently serves on the National Board of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, as Trustee of Peace Ministries, Inc. in New Jersey, and as Trustee of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace Charitable Incorporated Organisation in the United Kingdom.
Sister Sheena, a native of India, currently is running a House of Hospitality for asylum refugee women in Jersey City, NJ. She has a master's degree in Pastoral Counseling and a bachelor's degree in Theology and Psychology from Fordham University. Her background also includes young adult ministry, chaplaincy, and serving on the board of the York Street Project, which provides an environment to
shelter, feed, educate and promote the healing of persons in need, especially women, children, and their families.
Sister Margie lives in the Pacific Northwest where hiking and long neighborhood walks are favorite pastimes. Most recently she was on the Congregation formation team, mainly responsible for novitiate formation. She is an educator and licensed clinical social worker who is bilingual in English and Spanish. Past ministries have included parish work, community mental health and work with non-profits serving vulnerable adults affected by poor health, poverty, lack of legal status and homelessness.
Sister Kathleen has served as Province Leader of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace, Western Province. She serves on the PeaceHealth System Board of Directors, on the community board for Peace Island Hospital, and has served on the St. Joseph Hospital Governing Board and on the Board of Trustees for the St. Joseph Health System. She is a past president of the National Leadership Conference of Women Religious and was Vice President of Pax Christi International. Sister Kathleen has also served as facilitator with a number of religious congregations and has a contemplative prayer/Zen meditation group that meets weekly on Zoom.
The Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace are in three regions: Eastern United States, Western United States and the United Kingdom. The Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace co-sponsor the New Jersey Ministries with Peace Ministries, Inc: Peace Care, St. Joseph's School for the Blind, and the York Street Project in Jersey City; Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck; and Waterspirit in Rumson.
In the western region the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace was one of the founding congregations of the lntercommunity Peace and Justice Center, Mercy Housing Northwest, and Jubilee Women's Center in Seattle, Washington, and the founding congregation of PeaceHealth System which has hospitals in Washington, Oregon and Alaska.
In the United Kingdom the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace have Sisters serving in the Archdiocese of Westminster and in the dioceses of Nottingham, Leeds, and Motherwell.
The Congregation was founded in 1884 to promote social justice as a way to peace. Current membership includes 125 Sisters and 111 Associates.