Religious Life
Women's Congregations in the Diocese of Syracuse
Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth (CSFN)
The spirituality of our Congregation, whose model and patron is the Holy Family of Nazareth, is based on love, the self-giving spirit of communion which exists in the Blessed Trinity and the Holy Family. In our mutual relationships, and with all God’s people, we are committed to creating communities of love and hope which foster and celebrate the oneness of the human family.
We seek to listen attentively and faithfully respond to God’s call to us, believing that God speaks to us in the daily, ordinary experiences of human life. The Eucharist is a central component of our spirituality and is expressed through daily participation in the liturgy and an extended period of prayer in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament.
Nazareth spirituality is ecclesial and apostolic. Rooted deeply in the heart of the Church, which our foundress understood as the ‘family of God’, we are committed to furthering the reign of God’s love in our world through a variety of ministries, with particular emphasis on enriching families, the heart of our mission. Whatever form our ministry takes, it is not so much what we do, but rather the quality of our presence that expresses who we are.
To learn more, visit our website.
Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet (CSJ)
We Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet are committed to respond to the urgent needs of our world. Who we are and how we minister are grounded in the Gospel, prayer, and our community. With the strength that comes from our life together, we dare to do, to suffer, and to undertake whatever we do to be of service, especially to those who are most vulnerable.
Our 2013 Congregational Calls to Action urge us to move from the center where we are comfortable to the margins of vulnerability. There we are called to respond to a fragile Earth Community, Church and all God’s people with respect, care, protection, healing and just laws and practices that will sustain all life – no exceptions, for all life is interconnected.
To sustain, enhance, and ensure that needs are identified and addressed, we collaborate with our Associates and others with similar values in direct service and advocacy.
To learn more, visit our website.
Felician Sisters of North America (CSSF)
Our Foundress Blessed Mary Angela Truszkowska, was inspired by the lives and spirituality of Saint Francis of Assisi, Saint Clare, and Saint Felix of Cantalice. Each of them turned away from worldly comforts, at times even defying the wishes of their families, to follow God’s call to a life of simplicity, prayer, and service to all in need. Their ministries were nourished by time spent in prayer, and this became the model for the contemplative-active community life of the Felician Sisters.
As a Franciscan community, we follow the Rule of the Brothers and Sisters of the Third Order Regular of Saint Francis. Blessed Mary Angela called on her Sisters to live as Saint Francis had lived—in simplicity and humility; in reverence for all God’s creation; as living examples of the Gospel message; and in compassionately caring for and serving the marginalized and those living in poverty.
As Felician Sisters, our spirituality draws upon four fundamental Franciscan values:
- Minority –serving among and standing in solidarity with the poor and oppressed
- Prayer – from which all service flows
- Poverty – to live in simplicity, humility, and self-denial
- Conversion – a turning to God in heart, mind, and spirit
Our spiritual life is characterized by four distinct expressions of Franciscan spirituality:
- Eucharistic – The Eucharist is central to our faith and to our consecrated lives.
- Ecclesial – We commit ourselves to the universal mission of the Church in lives dedicated to God.
- Evangelical – We share with all Christians the responsibility to bring God’s message and loving kindness to all.
- Marian – We honor Mary, Mother of Jesus, as Mother and Lady of our Congregation and we emulate her as a model of faithfulness and humility.
To learn more, visit our website.
Talk to our Vocation Director, Sr. Judith Marie Blizzard
Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul (D.C.)
The mission of the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul can be defined as: Given to God, in community, for the service of those who live in poverty.
As a Society of Apostolic Life in the Catholic Church, we devote our lives to ministering in the everyday worlds of the poor and the marginalized. We live and pray in community and support one another in the common mission of service in a spirit of humility, simplicity, and charity.
Today, there are nearly 14,000 Daughters of Charity living and working in about 90 countries throughout the world. Between the two provinces in the United States, we are located in 20 states and Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Sisters serve in a wide variety of ministries, depending on the needs of the poor and the Sister’s talents, education, and interests. Some of the most common ministries for a Daughter of Charity include serving in: Education, Health Care, Social Justice, Pastoral Ministry, Advocacy for Change, Social Services, and Foreig Ministries.
To learn more, visit our website.
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Daughters of St. Mary of Providence (DSMP)
Baptized in Christ, inserted in the heart of the Church and partakers of her plan of salvation, and consecrated in a special way to charity by means of religious profession, we are sent to evangelize those in need and to reveal to them the Provident love of the Father with our words and mercy.
We dedicate ourselves with a preferential love to persons less favored with the gift of intelligence, physical health, those in need of religious formation, and those deprived of human support. We offer our lives to as many as Providence puts on our path. We feel the solicitous concern to be “sister and mother”, to become one family with them.
As Instruments of Providence, we do not limit our energies but extend them to provide assistance wherever serious circumstances and need arise.
Central to our life of piety and unity is the Eucharist “the source and end of the entire Christian life”, and because of this all of our spiritual exercises are prayed before the Blessed Sacrament. We feel a great commitment to always improve our personal and community prayer, maintaining our faith and reviving the spiritual traditions that characterize it. Each Sister is committed to a weekly Personal Holy Hour and Community Eucharistic Holy Hour on the day dedicated to our Founder.
To learn more, visit our website or check out this great article about our work in Syracuse.
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Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHM)
The Congregation of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHM) is a community of more than 400 Catholic women religious whose roots date back to 1845.
The IHM Congregation came to be because our founders, Theresa Maxis Duchemin and Louis Florent Gillet, were on fire with love of God and love of neighbor. In 1845, Theresa, one of the four founding members of the Oblates Sisters of Providence, and Louis, a Redemptorist priest, left their ministries on the east coast of the United States to travel to frontier Michigan. They left all that was familiar to them because they knew that the people of Monroe, Michigan had no one to minister to their spiritual needs, educate their children in the faith or give them skills to overcome obstacles blocking the full realization of their God-given dignity and potential.
Theresa and Louis were great-souled visionaries with an acute sensitivity to the urgent needs of their times and an unremitting orientation to life and to the future. Their zeal for mission, generosity of spirit, courage, resourcefulness and confidence in God’s loving providence enabled them to convert dreams to deeds. They were prophets of vision and pilgrims of a dream. In the depths of their hearts they realized that for those who love, the impossible becomes possible.
Our history since those beginning days is a long and joyful course of hope and vitality, proclaimed through lives of prayer, a communal lifestyle and works of education, healthcare, social service and pastoral and spiritual ministries.
Our works have historically taken us into a world struggling with crises of faith, commitment and social responsibility. In response to the urgent needs of the times, we have worked to meet
the critical needs of people throughout the United States and in Latin America. Living the vows of chastity, poverty and obedience as signs of hope to the world, we are especially committed to works that manifest special concern, service and advocacy for the economically poor and spiritually neglected.
To learn more, visit our website.
Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Mother of Christ (IHMMC)
The Congregation of the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Mother of Christ is an Apostolic Religious Congregation of Pontifical right under the jurisdiction of the Holy See. Our Institute was founded in 1937 by an Irish Missionary to Nigeria, Archbishop Charles Heerey, CSSp.
Our core Mission is to seek the perfection of love in the service of God through the profession of the evangelical counsels of Chastity, Poverty and Obedience which is lived in community. As missionaries we serve and witness to the compassion of Christ wherever the work of charity demand our service.
As Mariam Institute we are specifically drawn to Mary’s Immaculate Heart. Our Motto is “AD JESUM PER MARIAM” (All to Jesus Through Mary).
Our founder’s concern for the status of women, the underprivileged, the sick, children and for good Christian family life led to our foundation, and we dedicate ourselves to: special care of children, educating the youth, care of the sick and underprivileged, family life, retreats and marriage counseling. Our Charism is Compassion-to be the face and hand of Jesus touching lives everywhere we are called to serve. The spirit that spurs us on is Humility- as we mirror our Master who humbled himself even to accepting a shameful death on the Cross.
To learn more, visit our website.
Little Sisters of St. Francis (LSOSF)
To learn more, visit our website.
Missionary Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception (MFIC)
We, Missionary Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, commit ourselves by profession of vows to:
- Manifest God’s universal compassion through inclusive non-dominating relationships of
love. - Trust in God’s Providence and live in a manner that affirms the right of all to a just share
of the earth’s resources. - Discern together the voice of the Spirit that has called us to be one in our diversity.
- In the spirit of Francis, Clare, and Elizabeth Hayes, we promote ever-widening circles of communion as we:
- Open ourselves to a life of continued conversion in response to the call of the Gospel.
- Identify with the victim, the poor and the marginalized in seeking a peace built on justice.
- Reverence creation, acknowledging the right of all God’s creatures to enjoy its blessings.
- Address the need within ourselves for repentance, forgiveness and healing while promoting a message of reconciliation.
To learn more, visit our website.
Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus (MHJ)
Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus is a Christian community of vowed and promised women and men who have been called by the Holy Spirit to a lifestyle of prayer, service to the poor, incarnational evangelism, and transformation in Christ (theosis). We are contemplatives in action. Our charism is incarnational. Our mission is primarily the care of widows and orphans. “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to take care of orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” James 1:27
We welcome into promised membership women and men of mature age. We welcome into vowed membership women of mature ages and diverse backgrounds, especially widows who, having many treasures yet to share, wish to answer God’s call to a life of prayer and service to the Kingdom of God through the profession of vows.
- Vowed members profess poverty, chastity, obedience and fidelity.
- Promised members profess simplicity, purity, and humility.
- Our vows and promises are renewed annually on Pentecost Sunday.
Our charism is incarnational. Because Christ took on human nature in the incarnation, we are now able, through grace, to take on the Divine Nature in a process called theosis. Having been made in the image of God, we are being made in his likeness. The whole of our spiritual journey is aimed toward this very transformation. As we die to self and live to Christ we, like Paul, can someday say, “It is no longer I who live, it is Christ who lives in me.” “The incarnation is the key to our understanding of the Christian life. Christ is not simply the perfect Man who shows us what could be done, but He actually communicates (Divine) life to us. He is God who became one of us so that we could bear God within, so that the likeness of God could be restored in us…” Catechism of the Byzantine Catholic Churches.
To learn more, visit our website.
Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities (OSF)
The Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities is a congregation of more than 400 vowed women religious whose origin goes back to St. Francis of Assisi in the 13th century. Our Franciscan spirit, rooted in the Gospel, motivates us to continue God’s work and respond to God’s people wherever there is a need with reverence, justice and compassion. Together, the sisters serve in 12 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, as well as in Kenya and Peru.
To learn more about us, come “Meet a Sister” and read her story!
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