(1925-2021)
Sister M. Vincentia Joseph was born Marie Antoinette Joseph in Queens New York on December 11, 1925. She graduated from St. John’s University in 1948. After graduation she entered the Community of the Missionary Sisters of the Blessed Trinity (MSBT) and in 1982 entered the Sisters for Christian Community (SFCC).
She worked for 18 years as a social worker with Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Harrisburg Pennsylvania providing direct family and child services. The diocese sent her to The Catholic University of America (CUA) to study for an MSW which she received in 1958. She then went on to earn a PhD in 1974 and that same year she joined the faculty at the National Catholic School of Social Service (NCSSS). She began as an Assistant Professor and advanced in rank to Associate Professor (1979) and to Ordinary Professor (1987).
She was a member of the Catholic Charities USA Code of Ethics Committee which formulated one of the first organizational codes of ethics in 1983. Her forward thinking in ethics made her a key member of the NASW committee that revised the social work Code of Ethics in 1997. This was the first major revision of the social work Code in over a decade. Her commitment to ethics continued and she served on the committee which revised and updated the Catholic Charities organizational code of ethics, promulgated in 2007.
In the 1980’s she served as a research consultant with the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) where she conducted a number of action research studies with religious communities of women in the United States, Canada and Europe. As part of this work she conducted workshops in Ireland, England, France and Italy as well as the United States.
At NCSSS, Sr. Vincentia was an articulate advocate that ethics be taught as a discrete course in the MSW Program. In 1983 she was a Visiting Scholar at the Kennedy Institute Center for Bioethics at Georgetown University. She identified the need to address spirituality in professional practice as well as to include it in the social work curriculum. Under her leadership NCSSS was the first school of social work in 1975 to offer a course in the religious/spiritual dimensions of social work practice which Sr. Vincentia developed and taught. In the 1980s, Sr. Vincentia gave a lead paper at NASW on religion and spirituality in social work. She began meeting in small groups with other social work leaders, providing leadership to teams interested in these topics. This resulted in the establishment of the Society for Spirituality & Social Work.
Sister was actively involved in doctoral education. She served as Assistant Dean and Chair of the Doctoral Program from 1986 to 1996. She was the director of over 20 doctoral dissertations.
Sr. Vincentia was a noteworthy scholar. She authored 23 refereed journal articles and more than 26 refereed papers at conferences, a number of research monographs, and resources for faith-based social service outreach as well as for professional supervision. She taught classes and workshops on ethics and spirituality abroad to groups in Chile, Taiwan, Europe, Hong Kong and in the Philippines. In 2003, the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Metropolitan Chapter named her Social Work Educator of the Year as well as Social Worker of the Year. In 2007 she was named a Social Work Pioneer by NASW.
She was preceded in death by her parents and her friend and colleague Sister Ann P. Conrad. She is survived by the Sisters for Christian Community.
Zoom Service: Due to the COVID situation and to make the service most accessible to friends far and near, we are holding a service for her via Zoom on Wednesday, September 22 at 2:00PM. The zoom link is provided at the end of this e-mail.
Grave-side Ceremony: Sister Vincentia will be buried at the Gates of Heaven Cemetery, located at 13801 Georgia Ave, Silver Spring, MD 20906. Guests attending the grave-side ceremony are asked to park at or near the reception house, and a car will escort us to the grave site. The grave-side ceremony will take place at 10AM on Thursday, September 30th and the car procession to the grave site will leave the main house at the cemetery just before 10AM.
Zoom Link To Service:
The Zoom link is: https://jmu-edu.zoom.us/j/84639344709 pwd=L3J3VmpwY1E0V2xpekMxdXpnS29pQT09
Meeting ID: 846 3934 470
Passcode: 650632
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