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  • We, the Sisters of Providence, are a Catholic community of women religious. Our administrative offices are located at Providence Place, 5 Gamelin Street, Holyoke, Massachusetts 01040-4081.
  • Phone: (413) 536-7511
    Fax: (413) 536-7917
    E-mail: sisters@sisofprov.org
  • Our Community's initials are SP.
  • Our President is Sister Joan Mullen.
  • Our Executive Council includes our President and four Councilors, one of whom also serves as the Vice President. The current Council will serve until 2009.

council

President Joan Mullen, SP, (standing center) with (from left) Marita Callahan, SP and Elizabeth Oleksak, SP; (seated, from left) Geraldine Noonan, SP and Vice President Caroline Smith, SP.
sister joan
Sister Joan Mullen is our current president

  • The Sisters first came to Holyoke in 1873 as members of another community from Kingston, Ontario, Canada. We were incorporated as an independent diocesan congregation of the Springfield Diocese on December 17, 1892.
  • Sisters of Providence Mission Statement:
    We are called to reveal in the Church the mystery of God's providence. Trusting in the fulfillment of God's promises, we risk all for the sake of the Kingdom. With tender compassion we communicate hope to those in need through ministries of healing, attending particularly to the cry of the poor and oppressed.
  • While most of us, quite naturally, came from Massachusetts, we have had members from thirteen other states, as well as nine other countries!
  • The way we dress and the way we live out our religious life has changed over the years, but our commitment to our faith, hope and trust in our Provident God remains the same.
  • We offer an associate program open to women and men who are rooted in Gospel values and who wish to share in our charism and spirituality but do not seek a vowed religious life.
  • We voted as a community to make a public statement outlining Our Corporate Stand for Peace. Excerpts from this statement offer a message of action to all of us who wish to be people of peace. Our commitment to peace moves us to:
    . . . pray for peace;
    . . . fast on Fridays in union with the American bishops;
    . . . join with all persons in the ongoing struggle to secure peace in the world;
    . . . work with others to challenge and change the institutions and systems which contribute to the arms build-up;
    . . . dedicate ourselves to education and action to promote and bring about peace.
  • Today, as we continue to live our mission, we are actively seeking more women who feel drawn to our spirit -- women who hear God's call to be a Sister of Providence.

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