Australian and New Zealand Sisters participate in Le Puy Program

In June 2008 two Federation and three Central Josephites joined with Sisters and Associates from Canada, USA, Germany and India in a program called Radical Grace.  This program was facilitated by Sisters Joan Atkinson and Sue Wilson from Canada and explored links between mysticism and justice in the spiritual heritage of the Sisters of St Joseph who were founded from Le Puy.  

The setting was very important to the process as the first Sisters of St Joseph were founded in Le Puy in 1650 and eventually re-founded in Lyon after the French Revolution.  The Australian and New Zealand congregations were not directly founded from Le Puy but our co-founder Rev Julian E. Tenison Woods came in contact with the Sisters in the Le Puy area and drew on this experience when establishing with Blessed Mary MacKillop the Sisters of St Joseph in Penola, South Australia in 1866.  Although we had not previously examined the original writings of Father Medaille, the Le Puy Founder, the similarity with our earliest documents led us to believe that Julian Tenison Woods probably had read and perhaps copied some of the directives that underpin the many congregations of Sisters of St Joseph throughout the world who trace their origins to Le Puy or Lyon.

We used a process that involved input, personal reflection and contemplative dialogue as we considered our context and heritage and how our spiritual heritage provided themes of transformation for our contemporary reality. We all found that although some of the early language was different what we had in common was basic.  From the first day we felt at home and the depth of sharing reflected this sense of common vision and values.

An opportunity to visit the original house where the Sisters began and to stand in the very kitchen that they would have used and to hear the story from one of the Le Puy Sisters and view material in their archives deepened our sense of shared heritage.  The geography of the old town with its narrow cobbled streets and many hills particularly the dominating statues of Mary over the Cathedral hill and the 13th Century Church of San Michel on the hill closer to us were a spiritual experience of heritage that was very new to us and provided an important element to the experience.

Notes prepared by Sr Pat Malone rsj

For more detailed reflections