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The founding co-sponsors of Catholic Health East share a common heritage and
similar values in the sponsorship of their health ministries. The heritage of
each sponsor is characterized by a deep and unwavering faith in God's
providence, a passion for responding to unmet needs, and a special concern for
persons who are poor.
Today Catholic Health East is sponsored by ten religious sponsors and Hope Ministries
- Congregation of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Scranton, PA
- Franciscan Sisters of Allegany, Allegany, NY
- Franciscan Sisters of St. Joseph, Hamburg, NY
- Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill, Greensburg, PA
- Sisters of Mercy, Northeast Community, Cumberland, RI
- Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, Mid-Atlantic Community, Merion, PA
- Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, New York, Pennsylvania and Pacific West Community, Buffalo, NY
- Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, Regional Community of Baltimore, Baltimore, MD
- Sisters of Providence, Springfield, MA
- Sisters of St. Joseph of St. Augustine, FL
Franciscan Sisters of Allegany (OSF)
The Franciscan Sisters of Allegany were founded in 1859 by a Franciscan priest,
Rev. Pamfilo da Magliano, who sought Franciscan sisters to educate children in
the southern part of the Diocese of Buffalo. During the first year, three women
were received into the Franciscan habit, including Mary Anne O'Neil, a young
girl from New Jersey who was elected Superior General at the first Chapter in
1865. In 1883, the congregation assumed responsibility for St. Elizabeth
Hospital in Boston, beginning their health care ministry, which has since
extended into New York, New Jersey, and Florida, as well as overseas. The
congregation's other ministries include education, pastoral and social work
and homes for the young and elderly.
Franciscan Sisters of St. Joseph (FSSJ)
The Franciscan Sisters of St. Joseph were founded in 1897 by Mother Colette
Hilbert of Poland. She entered the community of the Charity Sisters of St.
Charles Borromeo in 1888 and was missioned to a parish in Pittsburgh. When
members of her community were recalled to Poland, Mother Colette and four
American-born novices chose to remain in the United States to minister to
the needs of a growing immigrant population. Unable to establish an American
chapter of the Polish Borromeo community, Mother Colette and the others were
vested in the Franciscan habit. In 1926, the sisters opened a home for the
elderly near their motherhouse in Hamburg, New York, and continued to expand
into the health ministry, serving in the United States and abroad. In 1934,
they became the Franciscan Sisters of St. Joseph because of the foundress'
great devotion to St. Joseph.
Sisters of Mercy of the Americas (RSM)
The Sisters of Mercy were founded by Catherine McAuley of Dublin in 1831.
Catherine used her inheritance to build the House of Mercy for poor women and
children of Dublin's slums. At the urging of local clergy, Catherine
established a religious order to ensure that the Mercy mission would continue
beyond her lifetime. In 1843, six Sisters of Mercy traveled to Pittsburgh to
provide for the needs of immigrants. They founded the first United States
Catholic hospital, Mercy Hospital of Pittsburgh, in 1847. Over the next 25 years,
other Mercy Sisters were called from Ireland to minister in cities throughout
the United States, where their health care and education ministries flourished.
The Institute of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas was established in 1991
to unite 25 Mercy congregations and provinces within a common direction.
Sisters of Providence (SP)
The seeds for the development of the Sisters of Providence were planted in 1873
following a fund-raising trip by four Sisters of Providence from Kingston, Ontario,
to Holyoke, Massachusetts. The sisters were requested by a local pastor to return
to Holyoke to help with the needs of poor parishioners. The sisters returned from
Kingston and began their ministry by establishing the House of Providence, which
was to become the first hospital in Holyoke. In 1892, the Holyoke mission was
incorporated as separate diocesan congregation, with Mother Mary of Providence as
the foundress. The congregation is based on the Rule of Saint Vincent de Paul with
an emphasis on Providence spirituality. The community established a variety of
ministries to serve the needs of children, the poor, and the elderly. Initially
concentrated in Massachusetts, services were expanded to North Carolina in 1956.
Sisters of St. Joseph of St. Augustine, Florida (SSJ)
The diocesan congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of St. Augustine, Florida,
was founded in 1899. The sisters first arrived in the Southern United States in 1866,
in the wake of years of Civil War, the Emancipation Proclamation, and General
Robert E. Lee's surrender of the South to the Union. In 1865, the Most Reverend
Augustin Verot, the Bishop of the Diocese of Savannah and Vicariate of Florida,
visited his native France. He implored the Congregation of Saint Joseph
(established in 1650) in LePuy to assist him in serving African-American men,
women, and children in his diocese who were without work, shelter, health care,
or education. Mother Marie Léocadie Broc, the Superior General, selected eight
eager volunteers to cross the Atlantic to serve many people in need. Upon their
arrival, the sisters established many pastoral, educational, and social
ministries in Georgia and Florida. Their health care ministry endures within
the services of Mercy Hospital and Mercy Health System in Miami, Florida. It
was established in 1950 to serve the booming population of post-war South
Florida and is the only Catholic health care ministry in the Greater Miami
area today.
The Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill
For more than 130 years, the Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill have played a
vital role in the lives of people in Western Pennsylvania. The community's
mission to serve is evidenced by a history of ministries providing
educational, health, pastoral, and social service care to those in need.
The sisters trace their origin to the first American congregation of women
religious - The Sisters of Charity of America -- founded in 1809 by Saint
Elizabeth Seton, the first person born in the United States to be elevated
to sainthood. The Seton Hill congregation began in 1870 when Sister Aloysia
Lowe and three other sisters were sent to western Pennsylvania from
Cincinnati and began their work, founding and staffing schools. They
established their foundation at Seton Hill in Greensburg in 1882. There,
they also established a school for boys and an academy for girls, which
grew into Seton Hill College.
Today, The Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill is an international apostolic
community of women religious who vow to continue the mission of the Church.
The Congregation numbers nearly 500 with 307 sisters ministering in the
United States and 191 sisters ministering in Korea. In the tradition of
Saint Vincent de Paul and Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, The Sisters of Charity
of Seton Hall, have a special abiding concern for the deprived and the
destitute, devoting themselves especially, though not exclusively, to the
services of the poor. Programs and activities supported by the Sisters of
Charity of Seton Hill are respectful of human dignity and protective of
human rights. All work is rooted in faith, animated by prayer, supported by
the common life, and performed in simplicity and charity.
Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHM), Scranton, PA
The Congregation originated in 1845, founded by Louis Florent Gillet, C.S.S.R. Thirteen years later, Theresa Maxis Duchemin opened the first mission at St. Joseph’s in Susquehanna County, PA, a site that later became the Diocese of Scranton. Later, another mission at St. Peter’s in Reading, PA, opened. By 1910, the Congregation had opened 31 missions serving healthcare, childcare, catechetical, and educational needs – including 27 schools. Over the years, the Sisters established Marywood College, St. Joseph’s Hospital, St. Joseph’s School of Nursing, and Our Lady of Grace Montessori School and Retreat. In 1965, the Scranton IHM Congregation opened its first Latin American mission in Lima, Peru. St. Joseph’s and Carbondale General Hospitals consolidated into Marian Community Hospital in 1992, just three years before the IHM Sesquicentennial. The Maxis Health System was formed in 1998.
Hope Ministries, Newtown Square, PA
Upon the formation of Catholic Health East (CHE) in 1997, the CHE Sponsors
Council (the leaders of each regional community or congregation that co-sponsors
CHE) determined the need for an alternative method of sponsorship to ensure the
future of the ministry. Over the next three years, they designed and petitioned
the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic
Life for the establishment of Hope Ministries, a public juridic person of
Pontifical right.
On July 7, 2000 Eduardo Cardinal Martinez Somalo, Prefect of the Vatican
Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic
Life, responded positively to the petition of the CHE Sponsors Council for
the establishment of a public juridic person, thereby making Hope Ministries
a reality.
According to its design, Hope Ministries is a Member organization and the
Members are appointed by the CHE Sponsors Council. The Sponsors Council
named the first Members in December, 2000. They are: Canice Dolan, Sr.
Margaret Mary Modde, OSF, George O’Connell, Sr. Margaret Taylor, RSM, and Sr.
Patricia Wolf, RSM. Hope Ministries held its first meeting in January, 2001,
and elected Sr. Patricia Wolf, RSM as chairperson. The Members have developed
a mission statement for Hope Ministries and continue to explore their ministry
as co-sponsors of CHE and in the name of the Church.
Hope Ministries is designed and designated to serve as a sponsor for new
organizations that join CHE as well as those organizations whose sponsors may
eventually wish to transfer sponsorship to another public juridic person.
It has been created by the Sponsors of CHE to serve as a vehicle, a holding
place, a vessel for the future. It will be a place where ministries can
continue their life as Catholic healthcare organizations and where
other-than-Catholic organizations can join the system and develop an identity
as Catholic. Hope Ministries is the canonical sponsor of the newly incorporated
Global Health Ministry, and will serve as the public juridic person
that sponsors:
- St. Francis Health Care Services, Wilmington, Delaware
- St. Agnes Medical Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Nazareth Hospital, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- St. Mary Medical Center, Langhorne, Pennsylvania
- St. Francis Medical Center, Trenton, New Jersey
- Saint Michael’s Medical Center, Newark, New Jersey
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