Subseries 12 - Correspondence, Speeches and Media

• Textual record

5 cm of textual records

This subseries contains material related to communications from the General Superior office to the congregation, the diocese, and the public of London, Ontario. The General Superior and the General Council (later the Congregational Leader and the Leadership Circle) were responsible for leading the community and keeping the Sisters informed of the actions of Leadership. Present in this subseries is material presented and distributed by the Leadership Circle and Congregational Leader to the Sisters. This includes letters and reflections to the community from the Congregational Leadership concerning holidays, a vocation conference in Toronto, and religious reflection. There is also a pamphlet for the presentation by Sister Patricia Hogan for the 40th Anniversary of the Federation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Canada. The General Superior was often responsible for giving speeches at ceremonies and events of the congregation.

From the period when Sister Margo Ritchie was Congregational Leader, there is a talk given at the Installation Ritual of the 2007-2011 Leadership Team, a reflection for the celebration for the Final Profession of Sister Kathy O’Keefe, and speeches from the funerals of Sisters. There are also notes, meeting lists, correspondence, prayer booklets for the 135th and 136th Anniversary of the Sisters of St. Joseph in London, and material from the website committee, which was working to create a web presence for the community.

Congregational Leaders were often involved in other religious associations to remain connected to the wider religious community. Present here is Sister Mary Diesbourg’s Presidents Address “We remember, We Celebrate, We Believe” for a meeting of the Canadian Religious Conference-Ontario.

Much of the material in this subseries is correspondence. It primarily concerns the interactions between the congregation and the diocese of London. There is correspondence to Sister Margo Ritchie from Most Rev. Ronald P. Fabbro, C.S.B., Bishop of London, thanking her for her service as Congregational Leader. There is also correspondence between the General Council of the Sisters of St. Joseph of London, the office of the Bishop of London, and various other clergymen in the diocese of London concerning the introduction of the all-male Permanent Lay Diaconate position within the diocese. Attached to some of this correspondence are informational flyers about the ministry and the positions of laity within it. There is also correspondence to Sister Valerie Van Cauwenberghe from Gerald Fagan planning for a Gerald Fagan Singers’ concert for the Sisters.

Also found in this subseries is material related to the construction of the new residence on Windermere Road and the closing of Mount St. Joseph. There is a thank-you from the Sisters to the builders of the new residence which ran in the London Free Press and clippings of “The New Order” by Mary Hatt in London City Life, on the construction of the new residence on Windermere Road.

The material in this subseries includes correspondence, newsletters, notes, lyrics, pamphlets, prayer books, clippings, speeches, agendas, meeting minutes, website layout drafts, and funeral notes.