The Good Rain Volume II: The Sisters of St. Joseph of Rochester in Brazil 2001-2024

In the 1960s, Pope John XXIII encouraged religious congregations to send sisters and priests to South America as missionaries. The Sisters of St. Joseph of Rochester NY (SSJ) responded by sending five sisters to Brazil in 1964. Their story of adjusting to a new culture, working with the priests from the Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI), welcoming native vocations, and becoming sensitized to the social problems of local communities is detailed in The Good Rain, (2004), an account of their first forty years in Brazil, written by Sister Margaret Brennan.

Now on the cusp of the sixtieth anniversary of the SSJs living in Goiânia, Urberlândia, and Paranaiguara, Brazil, The Good Rain, Volume II by Sister Monica Weis, fleshes out the expanding pastoral work of the sisters from 2001-2024, the Brazilification of their mission with native leadership, and the pastoral challenges of a changing church. Based on archival data and personal stories of the sisters’ activities in several dioceses, the reader is invited to share their enthusiasm for the experimental intercongregational community in Felisburgo, their compassionate response to the tragic earthquake in Peru, and the disruption created by Covid-19. Despite deaths and personal losses, the sisters continue to sow seeds of hope, exert a positive influence in their neighborhoods, share their deep spirituality with their parish communities and, most recently, with new SSJ lay Associates. Indeed, this story of risk-taking and ongoing prayerful commitment links the 17th century portrait of a Sister of St. Joseph - as one with ‘Eyes open, ears attentive, spirit alert. . . sleeves rolled up for ministry’ - with the courageous women who today live in the interior of Brazil. Gratefully, the “good rain” continues to fall on fertile soil.