The Sisters of Charity of New York, founded in 1846, announced that they will no longer take new members, describing their congregation as on “a path to completion.”
“The Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul of New York will no longer work toward finding nor accepting new members to our congregation in the United States,” the congregation said in an April 27 statement.
In a unanimous vote at their 2023 general assembly, the sisters decided to adopt the recommendations of the congregation’s executive council.
The delegates approved the recommendation to affirm that the New York sisters “continue to live our mission to the fullest, while acknowledging that we are on a path to completion.”
“The decision was not an easy one,” said the congregation, which has 154 sisters. “We will continue to grow in love. We will continue to deepen our relationships with each other, with our associates and with our ministry partners. We will continue to deepen our relationship with our God.”
The Sisters of Charity Federation of North America has 14 member congregations, including the New York body. The federation website gives inconsistent membership figures, reporting that there are 1,871 to 2,500 sisters among its member congregations. CNA sought clarification from the federation but did not receive a response by publication.
The New York sisters said they still believe in “the future of religious life.” The sisters will continue to promote vocations and refer any inquiries to Sisters of Charity federation congregations and the Religious Formation Conference, a Chicago-based national organization that supports Catholic religious life.
The congregation’s statement, citing its 200-year-old history, said New York’s Sisters of Charity will “continue to pass the torch of charity.”
“This is not the end of our ministries. Our mission will continue beyond our sisters, through our associates and partners in ministry, expanding what it means to live the charism of charity into the future,” the congregation said.
Their history dates back to St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, a native New Yorker who founded the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph in Emmitsburg, Maryland, in 1809. Seton sent three Sisters of Charity to New York City in 1817 to help care for orphans. The New York congregation was founded as an independent community in 1846.
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