Sisters of the Holy Family | Advocating for the underserved in our community

“Their sturdy backs bent down, by labor and fatigue, their eyes intent upon the earth, sift through stubble discarded by the reapers.”

—Sister Michaela O’Connor

 

 

Above: The Gleaners, by Jean-François Millet (1857), depicting three peasant women gleaning a field of stray stalks of wheat after the harvest.
(funeral to be held September 2024)

Our Mission:
To seek out and advocate for the poor and needy, especially families, for the Kingdom of God since 1872

 

Celebrating Our Legacy
Past

As Gleaners, we stood at the edge of society where Christ was encountered in word, silence, and action as the power of His Kingdom pushed out the boundaries of our world. We have been recognized by our simplicity of life and visible presence among the most abandoned.

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Celebrating Our Legacy
Present

Our mission as Gleaners is to serve segments of the population who are underserved by Church and social institutions. As we celebrate this time in our history, our ministries will focus on children, homelessness, food insecurity, immigrants, refugees, and healthcare.

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Celebrating Our Legacy
Future

Reflecting the heart of our mission our legacy will live on into the future for others through the Gardens at Palmdale, our Opportunity Fund with Abode Services, our Archives Collection, and Early Childhood Education Scholarships.

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Reflection for Easter Triduum, Part 3 — Easter Sunday (which lasts all week!)

 

Easter is a celebration of hope, but it is hope in the bi-i-i-ig picture, the lo-o-o-ong picture. It doesn’t mean that no one will die today. It doesn’t mean that all cancer will be cured. It doesn’t mean that people unjustly imprisoned will be freed before midnight. Even our Pope died on the morning after Easter. The hope of Easter is a hope that takes us beyond our life on earth, to see the beauty of life on earth but to know that is not the end of life. When my mother died 15 years ago, I was with her, and from life to death, there was a change. Something was different, a part was missing. The body was still there and still looked like my mother, but the spirit was gone. Where? What was it doing? Where did she go? We have all kinds of answers to these questions, probably most of them wrong, but they are what we can come up with now. What remains is the mystery, the hope-filled amazing mystery, of life after death, eternal life, life with the saints — and the memory of what each has done on this earth to move us forward, inch by inch, life by life, to the new and glorious Jerusalem, or whatever we want to call it. We have a lot of answers, but we don’t know everything, so we trust the God of what has been to also be the God of what will be. Jesus, the Christ, came back to show us the way, but we need to make the journey ourselves, trusting and hoping and believing. Happy Easter!

Join Us

There are a number of ways you can join our Family of Friends, including donations, prayer requests, connecting with a Sister, and joining our mailing list.

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Prayer

If you would like to request a prayer for yourself or a loved one, please let us know.

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News

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