Visitors to St. Joseph Monastery these days are greeted with trucks, cranes, scaffolding, and piles of tiles! “What is afoot?” they might ask, and the answer might come as a surprise:

Cherish the Flame!

Yes, you read it right! Cherish the flame of our Passionist life and charism. It is a theme of renewal in our community which began in the summer of 2019 and has continued to gain momentum and meaning for us ever since. As the Lord has led us in this process, it quickly became clear that He desired to renew our monastery buildings right along with our monastic community! Discussion, discernment, and prayer gradually presented to us a construction and renovation project that none of us saw coming two years ago. Now, about a year into the planning and fundraising, we are excited to share about it on the blog.

Cherish the Flame! In this grace-filled Passionist Jubilee Year, we are seeking to nurture our Passionist monastic life so that the current and future generations of nuns will continue to flourish here at St. Joseph Monastery. The time is right to renovate and build in order to provide necessary spaces for our monastic life that were omitted or compromised in our initial construction 25 years ago: Chapter Room, Refectory, Community Room, Fitness Room, and covered outdoor spaces in the cloister. You can read more about the whole project at our project webpage!

Cherish the Flame! But what does that have to do with cranes and roof tiles??? Well, one of our most urgent needs is to replace our current roof. After many setbacks and delays, and thanks to the generosity of the many who have helped our building campaign so far, the tiles are FINALLY starting to grace the first sections of roof. Check out the photos of progress!

Would you like to find out how you can be involved in our Cherish the Flame building campaign? Just click the button below!