Sister Marianne Van Vurst "When people ask, 'How can you do this work every day?' I say, 'How can I not do this every day?'"

“Here I am at St. Joseph Home, experiencing more of what heaven is about. I see God’s perfection at work in the unconditional love the children give us. They totally trust us to be their eyes, ears, and voices. When I feel “down”, I simply spend time with them and they make my problems seem smaller. I have all my faculties but I can never do what they do for others.

“Losing one of them in death is always painful and yet it’s beautiful, too. They are at last whole. Sister Lynn Heper and I are often asked to have their funerals. Then we get to speak of the child’s accomplishments – how much they have done in their little time by touching so many lives. They are our teachers with patient, quiet suffering. With no expectations they teach us love. So when people ask, “How can you do this work every day?” I say, “How can I not do this every day?”

“I believe the ministry I’m in here at St. Joseph Home is a ministry of prayer. I feel the presence of God throughout the building, throughout the day, throughout everyone here. When I can’t hear God clearly, I simply ask the children to intercede for me. They have never let me down, and neither has God.”

Since 1986 Sister Marianne Van Vurst has been administrator of St. Joseph Home, a sponsored ministry of the Sisters of Charity. St. Joseph’s is a residential facility for 47 children and young adults with severe mental and physical challenges.

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