Share
Witnesses
Saint Joseph's University Campus Ministry
Philadelphia, PA
June 17, 2024

Here at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, PA, we celebrated St. Phoebe and uplifted her witness in our community on September 19, 2023 in a prayer service outside of the Chapel of St. Joseph on the SJU campus. We had about 30-35 people in attendance, including students and community members. Maggie Koch, a 2022 alumna of SJU, shared her witness testimony about her experience as a post-graduate volunteer in Ecuador where she witnessed the wonderful, faith-filled ministry of women in the village she was serving in who embodied loving and spirit-filled ministry through daily acts of care for the community. 

After Maggie’s witness testimony, we opened the conversation for all attendees to have a chance to give witness to the women in their own lives who have shared the gospel through their ministry and care. Our conversation was lively and engaged—we actually had to stop the conversation due to time constraints because so many were eager to share about the wonderful women who have helped them and ministered to them in multiple aspects of their lives. 

We then concluded with a blessing and commissioning for student Julia Osaka (SJU ‘25) who was one of the delegates chosen to attend the General Assembly of the Synod in October 2023. It was a beautiful opportunity for us to uplift Julia and send her on her journey to Rome knowing of our prayers for her. 

We are already excited for our St. Phoebe Day celebration this September, and again look forward to praying and supporting others (including Julia) who will be traveling to Rome for the final General Assembly of the Synod. We are grateful and moved by this opportunity to uplift the witnesses of influential women in our lives and communities at this exciting, synodal time in the Church. 

Witness
“Being able to be educated on who St. Phoebe is and giving others the chance to meet her, being part of a community of women who promote an inclusive model of the church, and seeing my own community come alive and heal from division provides a vision of what can and will be possible one day in the Catholic Church.”
Kathleen O'Brien
Maryknoll Bay Area Regional Coordinator in the Mission Formation Department
Witness
“I have witnessed these women become Catholic high school teachers, professors, writers, administer parish life and leaders of prayer services. Women have been my peers and supervisors, except in diaconal ministry. I continue to hold out hope that women’s gifts for ministry and service can and will be acknowledged by the church.”
Fr. Tom Cwick, SJ
Pastoral Minister, North Side, St. Louis, MO
Witness
“I am grateful as a pastor and a part of the BCCs here to learn and journey together with others. As a priest in our community, I am proud to be a part of this ministry to uplift women who are struggling. It is great joy and fulfillment. In my personal life, I have experienced the richness of acknowledging and uplifting the witness of women in the early Church and also in our Church today.”
Fr. Vincent Dsouza, SJ
Pastor and Base Christian Community Leader, India

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