The Society ensures that the tradition of caring and compassion, as exemplified by the Sisters of St. Joseph continues in each of its sponsored organizations. The Society seeks to serve as good stewards paying specific attention, in a compassionate and collaborative manner, to issues of social justice and strives to listen to all voices, seek inclusiveness, and balance the needs of the unique individual with the common good of the community.
Mission Leadership
Catholic health care depends on leaders who can cultivate and inspire organizational cultures that carry on the healing ministry of Jesus. As a Sponsor, we have a responsibility to support our sponsored organizations with the development, review, and delivery of programs focused on mission leadership and integration.
The goal of mission programs is to prepare leaders in Catholic health care to further the legacy of their founders by enabling them to explore, discuss, and reflect on several topics including:
- Their personal call and vocation in Catholic health care.
- What makes Catholic health care distinct, and the obligation of this vocation to serve with compassion and dignity, the vulnerable and those most in need of Catholic social teaching, is our call to social justice and the common good, and how it can be applied to the life and mission of our organizations.
- The history and mission of the Catholic Church in health care and social services, and its unique role in today's society.
- The significance of Canon Law, Sponsorship in Catholic health care and social services, and its unique role in today's society.
- How to integrate our mission, core values, ethics, and vision into our organizations.
The Forming Health Leaders: A Guide is a key resource for the design and delivery of mission leadership learning opportunities. It was created to assist with identifying key learning activities as well as to stimulate discussion of what it means to be a Catholic health care organization in terms of operations, governance, administration, and care delivery.
Catholic Health Care Ethics
Since the Sisters of St. Joseph established their first facilities in Southwestern Ontario in the 1880s, ethical reflection has been a cornerstone of the organizations we sponsor. Ethics addresses who we make decisions and follow through with actions as individuals, organizations, and communities. Whether it is in a clinical setting, the workplace environment or the boardroom, having a commitment to ethical reflection means bringing the best of wisdom and lived experience to bear on decision making and living with integrity.
As a Catholic health care organization, St. Joseph's Health Care Society, along with the organizations we sponsor, follow the Health Ethics Guide published by the Catholic Health Alliance of Canada (CHAC). The Guide is foundational to the work we do. Rooted in the Catholic Church's moral and social traditions, the Guide serves to guide the development of local protocols. It was intentionally developed to be accessible to staff, administrators, and Board members alike. It also outlines the moral obligations for the sponsors/owners, boards, members of ethics committees, and personnel of Catholic health and social service organizations.
It is important to note that the Guide also complements other initiatives in the Church's healing ministry, such as spiritual and religious care, organizational mission and values integration, ethics committees and centres, and parish-based ministry and nursing, through which caregivers are becoming more aware of the broader aspects of their healing ministry.
Spiritual Care
Spiritual care is a vital part of who we are and everything we do and is expressed in the rich spiritual legacy of faith and compassion we carry from our founding Sisters. As a Sponsor, we are committed to supporting spiritual care services in our sponsored organizations that provide holistic care to patients, residents, and families. We consider their spirituality an integral part of their health- it is a significant healing force that can make the difference between wellness and illness. At the same time, we also recognize spirituality takes different forms for different people. Spiritual care services offer a variety of services to meet an individual's spiritual and religious needs regardless of their faith, tradition, practices, or beliefs.