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Associates

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What is the associate?
a project a form of sharing a life program an accompaniment a process a wanting to be with...

Some men and women, living in the world, want to deepen their Christian life and give more meaning to their commitments while retaining their status as celibates or married people. The associate program meets their needs by giving them the opportunity to share the spirituality, spirit, charism and mission of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Saint Hyacinthe.

How is your life enriched by your being an associate of our community?
This grounds me in my faith life, my spiritual life, and the renewal opportunities that it offers me increase my understanding. It gives me opportunities for mutual welcome, for renewal, listening, prayer, joy, moral support, and the feeling of belonging to a religious family.

What do you have to do before making a commitment as an associate?
There is a process that includes reflection and discernment in prayer. The process includes a number of different meetings where we learn about the various aspects of the commitment and see if there are some common points between what the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Saint Hyacinthe offer through their association and what we want to live.

What important events have you lived since your commitment?
The most important : finding a second family where I can talk about God. Praying to God with the sisters of my designated local community who are at once very human and very spiritual. Being welcomed by them with love and respect. Discovering simplicity through the service of the most excluded members of society. Some activities that especially touched me:

- The feast days of Saint Joseph and of Mother Foundress
- Celebrating Mother Saint Joseph's 150th birthday
- Participating in the 1997 Chapter
- The commitment of new associates
- Our immediate involvement in the associates' regional committee
- Being a member of the Saint Joseph High School board of directors
- A fraternal celebration : feast day of Saint Catherine where both associates and sisters from the regions were present
- Participating in committee work to prepare the 125th anniversary of the founding of the SJSH

As a group, what is your mission as associates?
Our mission is to bring Christ's love to our brothers and sisters, on a day-to-day basis, by offering fraternity, hope, compassion and respect with the charism and spirit of the SJSH. Living with service, joy, simplicity, and humility Walking along Mother Elisabeth's path with ardour, simplicity and abundant faith, with the weakest members of society. Sharing a God that makes himself close to every human being.

HISTORY
In 1985, during the Congregation's General Chapter, the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Saint Hyacinthe became convinced that Jesus calls lay people to follow him in the world where he himself lived as a lay person. They also understood with conviction that Jesus invites them to share their spiritual heritage and their mission with the lay people.
Since 1988, the associates and the little SJSH local communities share with one another their differences and their understanding.
The associates and the local SJSH communities try to:
- be a question and a "spiritual answer to the quest for the sacred and to the nostalgia for God" (Vita Consecrata Num. 103), at the heart of the III Millennium society;
- commit themselves to projects in line with the mission entrusted by the Founders;
- dedicate themselves to the integral education of the human person, in the footsteps of Joseph, educator of the Child Jesus;
- present to the world and ,especially to the humble and the small, a God who makes himself close to every human being;
- proclaim the Good News;
- dance the dance of the Kingdom.