By Linda Reeves of Florida Catholic Media
Called to service, eight young sisters clad in black habits sailed across the Atlantic to America during the Reconstruction era following the Civil War not knowing the challenges they would face, but leaving it in God’s hands, and as it turns out, they made it through and did so much with nothing.
Today, the Sisters of St. Joseph celebrate 160 years of ministry and service in Florida still answering the call and going to serve wherever they are needed. “We have 26 sisters in St. Augustine and sisters in Jacksonville and Miami,” said Sister Kathleen Carr, general superior about today’s small clan of Sisters of St. Joseph in Florida. “We go wherever we are called. God helps us get through.”
The Sisters of St. Joseph of St. Augustine stem back to Le Puy-en-Velay, France. It was there 375 years ago when Jesuit Father Jean Pierre Medaille and six women established the congregation now with religious sisters around the United States and the world.
It was 1866 when the first sisters barely speaking a word of English landed in northeast Florida upon the invitation of Bishop Augustin Verot, Florida’s first bishop. The Civil War had just ended, and the bishop asked the sisters to teach the newly freed slaves and their children how to read and write. The religious also taught the youngsters and their parents a thing or two about the love of God through their strong witness.
The young women in their 20’s brought up in the comfortable environment of France were unaccustomed to the intense sun, heat and humidity of Florida. They also weren’t expecting the disease-carrying mosquitoes or the insults they received by people who resented their outreach.
The sisters endured. They taught the children, then, the adults during evenings in a 15-pupil school. The women supported themselves by lacemaking and private French, music and art lessons.
Time went by. Their ministry grew with the opening of St. Joseph Academy chartered by the state in 1877. The facility became a boarding school for young women and set the way for more academies.
The women trailblazed across Florida responding to other needs of the Church and neighbor. The Sisters of St. Joseph of St. Augustine launched more than 100 ministries in 40 Florida towns between 1866 and 1987. They opened and staffed elementary schools, high schools and colleges, homes for children, nursing homes for elderly, homes for developmentally disabled adults, a home for unwed mothers and Miami’s Mercy Hospital, the first hospital in Miami to open its doors to Cuban exile physicians, enabling them to rebuild their lives in America.
Today, the Sisters of St. Joseph of St. Augustine are not slowing down. They continue to serve in leadership roles and take on various projects and ministries. The most recent project was the renovation and reopening of the Father Miguel O’Reilly House Museum. One of the oldest buildings in town, the structure was where the sisters first began their journey teaching the poor children.
The museum showcases the story of the Sisters of St. Joseph of St. Augustine and their legacy of dedication, love and service to God and “dear” neighbor as they say.
We talked to a few Sisters of St. Joseph, who shared their own unique journey story. The stories may be a little different, but the women all have a commonality, love for God, Church and fellow man.
Sister Carr was born in Sarasota in the Diocese of Venice and raised in Stuart in the Palm Beach Diocese. She was born into a big Catholic family and is the eighth of 13 children. “I told my mother when I was six years old that I wanted to be a sister. I thought it was something God might be calling me to.”
She met the Sisters of St. Joseph when she was 10 years old and a student at St. Joseph School in Stuart. The sisters had started the school and staffed it. “I liked their style. I liked the joy of the sisters who taught me. When I entered high school, I began teaching CCD (Confraternity of Christian Doctrine) working with them. I graduated in 1974, went to college for two years and entered the St. Joseph Sisters of St. Augustine in 1977.
This year, Sister Carr marks 48 years with her fellow sisters. Over the years, she has served in leadership and education as a teacher and principle in the Diocese of Orlando and Archdiocese Miami, most recently St. James School in North Miami and St. Mary Cathedral School where she enjoyed working with mostly students of Haitian descent enrolled in the schools. “The Haitian community has been a big part of my life,” she said. “They are wonderful people.”
She has chaired the board of directors of St. John Bosco Clinic in Miami, which is sponsored by the sisters. In 2018, she was elected general superior.
Sister Stephanie Flynn’s big Catholic family was a household of six children. She was born in Massachusetts and grew up in West Palm Beach at St. Clare and St. Juliana parishes both with schools opened under the direction of the St. Joseph Sisters of St. Augustine. She attended Rosarian Academy in West Palm, an independent Catholic School founded by the Adrian Dominican Sisters.
After earning degrees, she began teaching at St. Mary Cathedral School in Miami. She met the Sisters of St. Joseph there.
“I wasn’t going to be a religious sister,” she confessed. “It is what God wanted for me.”
Sister Flynn was in her 30’s when she joined the sisters in 1993. After professing final vows, she worked at St. Charles Borromeo Catholic School in Orlando.
She then, went to St. James School in Miami, where she served as principal. Currently, Sister Flynn serves as assistant general superior and treasurer of the congregation and board chair of St. Joseph Neighborhood Center opened in 2021 by the sisters. The non-profit is dedicated to helping young, single mothers helping them improve their lives to provide a better life for their children.
“I like living in community. I wanted to share my life with women that do good, that shared the same values,” she said. “All of our sisters do good work. God gives us the grace to do what we do.”
Sister Elizabeth Worley, raised in Jacksonville, was 17 years old when she entered the Sisters of St. Joseph of St. Augustine in 1963. She was in first grade and in her early studies at St. Paul Catholic School that opened in 1923 and continued to be staffed by the Sisters of St. Joseph over the decades. “I was drawn to the sisters,” she said. “When I was 12-years old, I knew God was calling me to religious life.”
During her religious life, Sister Worley has served in education, healthcare administration and diocesan administration. She fondly recalls her chemistry classes at Immaculata-LaSalle High School in Miami and Madonna Academy, which she “loved.”
Going back to school, she earned degrees in business administration and certifications in health care administration and served as chair of the board for Mercy Hospital and chief executive officer of Catholic Hospice in Miami.
Heading to Orlando after an invitation from then- Orlando Diocese Bishop Thomas Wenski, she served as first chancellor for administration and chief operating officer for the diocese. Currently, this religious sister is not slowing down. She serves as chancellor for administration and chief operating officer for the Archdiocese of Miami headed by Archbishop Wenski.
“We are always looking to see how we can serve our dear neighbors in Florida and how to build the Kingdom of God,” she said. “The life of our Sisters of St. Joseph is one rooted in prayer and contemplation. We assess any need, figure out who has the best skills and get whatever the need is done.”
The Sisters of St. Joseph of St. Augustine from the very start continue to leave a legacy of dedication, determination and service to the Lord, God’s people and Church as they continue to journey under their patron, St. Joseph, a witness of faith, love and service.
“Our sisters have served in all of the dioceses in Florida,” said Sister Carr. “We go where we are needed. We continue to pray for new vocations.”
The Father Miguel O’Reilly House Museum, 32 Aviles St., St. Augustine, features the legacy of the St. Joseph Sisters of St. Augustine. The museum features, photos, archives and displays giving visitors a glimpse into the past and present-day journey of the St. Joseph Sisters of St. Augustine that began in 1866 in Florida. Open Tuesday-Sunday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Admission is free. For information, call (904) 826-0750 or visit www.oreillyhousefl.org.
