The Sisters of Saint Joseph Welcome Center

The Sisters of Saint Joseph Welcome Center The Welcome Center has been established to respond to the needs of newcomers in our neighborhood, community and country.

In the spirit of Saint Joseph, the Welcome Center offers opportunities for newly-arrived immigrants to improve the quality of their lives through education, support services and programs leading to self-sufficiency. Beginning life in a new country carries with it special challenges, and the Sisters of Saint Joseph seek to reach out to those in need by offering English classes, citizenship preparat

ion classes and guidance, computer skills classes and a variety of social services through the Welcome Center. Focusing on the betterment of the community and the improvement of cultural integration in Philadelphia, the Welcome Center is continually devoted to the immigrant community of Philadelphia.

We welcome you to pray for the detainees and their families, stay updated on this issue as it unfolds, and call on your ...
05/29/2026

We welcome you to pray for the detainees and their families, stay updated on this issue as it unfolds, and call on your representatives to ensure the safety of the detainees inside and those assembled outside of the facility.

Find your representative: 5calls.org
Read this script: tinyurl.com/mtw8e7xz

This past weekend our Church celebrated Pentecost, remembering how the Spirit came to empower the disciples in living th...
05/26/2026

This past weekend our Church celebrated Pentecost, remembering how the Spirit came to empower the disciples in living the Gospel boldly. We have countless “Pentecost moments” at the Center, where the Spirit accompanies us in our commitment to our dear neighbor. Tomorrow, the weekly vigil sponsored by Sanctuary Movement of Philadelphia outside of the Philadelphia ICE office will revolve around Pentecost and our role in it. Our Center contributed to this vigil by creating the resource flyer to be distributed there, as well as the symbol for the vigil: “Spirit sticks” to wave in profession of faith and in protest of the harm inflicted on the immigrant community. Adriana, our student from Ecuador, wanted to contribute to the vigil by assembling these symbols. It is with her resilience and joy that we invite you to consider how you can be involved, either by attending the vigil or committing to an opportunity outlined on the resource flyer.

On Monday at our Golf Outing, Olivia shared with our golfers the story of Victor, who is our 364th dear neighbor accompa...
05/21/2026

On Monday at our Golf Outing, Olivia shared with our golfers the story of Victor, who is our 364th dear neighbor accompanied by the Center on their citizenship journey. We hope that Olivia's words and Victor's story resonate with you. This year, with your help, we raised over $40,000 to sustain our programs. Our work would not be possible without the support of our dedicated partners in mission. If you are ready to respond to the call and be a Victor, please explore below all the ways that you can serve our community and commit to our mission. And be sure to save the date for next year’s Golf Outing: Monday, May 24, 2027!

Make a wholehearted gift of yourself. —SSJ Maxim 39

Support our food pantry: forms.fillout.com/t/18JVeRobtTus
Celebrate our students: forms.fillout.com/t/o2ySfMtMjkus
Volunteer with our team: forms.fillout.com/t/st8SQCyXdNus

Thank you so much to everyone who joined us for the SSJ Welcome Center's 6th Annual Golf Outing! We are very blessed to ...
05/20/2026

Thank you so much to everyone who joined us for the SSJ Welcome Center's 6th Annual Golf Outing! We are very blessed to have such dedicated partners who show up time and time again for our mission (even in 95 degree heat!). You can see more photos from this event here: photos.app.goo.gl/Uc1RsgrXx3fScS4k9

And just like that, our final week of classes has come to a close! It has been bittersweet to see our students say goodb...
05/15/2026

And just like that, our final week of classes has come to a close! It has been bittersweet to see our students say goodbye to their teachers and classmates for the summer. Saying goodbye is always difficult, but the close-knit communities created in our classrooms (both in person and online!) are wonderful to witness. Our students and teachers are true embodiments of SSJ Maxim 90: “Bring great love to whatever life presents today, great and small things alike.”

We look forward to welcoming back many of our students and teachers in the fall for more learning, connecting, and growing together. Thank you to our amazing volunteer teachers for all you do; our work would not be possible without you!

If you would like to partner with us as a volunteer teacher this fall, please let us know by completing this form: forms.fillout.com/t/st8SQCyXdNus

Our English and citizenship classes would not be possible without our 47 volunteer teachers, 6 of whom are Sisters of Sa...
05/14/2026

Our English and citizenship classes would not be possible without our 47 volunteer teachers, 6 of whom are Sisters of Saint Joseph! Our Sisters invite us to join them in being “ready for any good work,” words used to describe the SSJs in the 1800s that certainly still ring true today!

SSJ Maxim 4: Let your life be a continuous act of love.

Pictured from left to right:
Sister Marian Behrle, SSJ
Sister Lisa Olivieri, SSJ
Sister Maryanne Zakreski, SSJ
Sister Pat Madden, SSJ
Sister Carol Heffner, SSJ
not pictured: Sister Deb Hughes, SSJ

Earlier this month, on the feast of Saint Joseph of the Worker, the Sisters of Saint Joseph adopted a Corporate Stand in...
05/14/2026

Earlier this month, on the feast of Saint Joseph of the Worker, the Sisters of Saint Joseph adopted a Corporate Stand in Solidarity with Immigrants, Refugees, and Asylum Seekers. This is our last week of English and citizenship classes before a summer respite, so our team gathered with our students and volunteer teachers to pray together with the words of the Corporate Stand. Today and always we stand with our immigrant students and celebrate our oneness.

“Families are torn apart, human dignity is denied, and fear of the “other” is used as a strategy to divide communities. In the midst of this reality, the Sisters of Saint Joseph hear again the Gospel invitation and their founders’ call to become instruments of unioning love with God and with one another.”

You can read the full statement here: tinyurl.com/583aabpf

We can’t wait to welcome everyone to Sandy Run Country Club on Monday for our 6th Annual Golf Outing! It’s going to be a...
05/12/2026

We can’t wait to welcome everyone to Sandy Run Country Club on Monday for our 6th Annual Golf Outing! It’s going to be a tee-rific day of golfing and community building on the green.

We are very grateful to our sponsors and golfers for their presence at this event in support of our mission. Our work would not be possible without partners like you!

We are proud to share with our partners in mission this Corporate Stand in Solidarity with Immigrants, Refugees, and Asy...
05/01/2026

We are proud to share with our partners in mission this Corporate Stand in Solidarity with Immigrants, Refugees, and Asylum Seekers adopted by the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Philadelphia. You can read the full statement here: tinyurl.com/583aabpf

An FAQ document is also available here with more information: tinyurl.com/y97w5n5j

If you would like to watch the promulgation prayer witness live you can do so at the links below:
9:30 AM: vimeo.com/event/5889315
2:30 PM: Sisters of Saint Joseph of Philadelphia

We would like to extend our gratitude to the Associates of the Handmaids of the Sacred Heart of Jesus for helping us sto...
04/30/2026

We would like to extend our gratitude to the Associates of the Handmaids of the Sacred Heart of Jesus for helping us stock our food pantry this month! Their generosity as January and April food pantry sponsors embodies SSJ Maxim 39: “Make a wholehearted gift of yourself.” These donations are essential in ensuring that our team has the outreach items we need to support our dear neighbors and their families.

If you would like to sponsor our food pantry for a month, both our team and our community members who rely on it would be most grateful. Let us know if you can help out here: forms.fillout.com/t/18JVeRobtTus

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728 E Allegheny Avenue
Philadelphia, PA
19134

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