Our Founding Sisters: A Story of Courage, Faith, and Action

As Los Angeles has once again become a reflection of the country, on the front lines of debates over who deserves housing, what should be taught, and who gets to call L.A. home, it is worth revisiting a history that has united this city across difference.

While many Angelenos remember the city’s founding fathers, fewer know the story of its many founding mothers, including a small, determined group of social justice-driven Sisters who traveled across Los Angeles to meet the needs of others and, in doing so, helped shape the moral heart of the city.

Among them were the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, women of faith and action who dedicated their lives to uplifting what they called the “dear neighbor,” anyone in need, without distinction. Their legacy stretches from classrooms to labor fields, from Venice storefronts to global advocacy.

A Legacy Rooted in Action

In 1870, seven Sisters departed St. Louis for Tucson, answering a call to establish a school in the desert Southwest. Over the decades, their ministries expanded across education, health care, immigrant services, and community advocacy, until, in 1900, they moved their provincial headquarters to Los Angeles. The move was intentional. They placed themselves in the center of a growing, diverse city whose needs mirrored their mission.

As Los Angeles rapidly transformed in the early twentieth century, the Sisters saw both promise and responsibility: to teach, to heal, to accompany, and to advocate in a city defining the future of America.

“Meet people where they are. Honor dignity. Walk alongside the dear neighbor, without distinction.”

Education as Justice

Their belief in opportunity also led to the founding of Mount Saint Mary’s University in 1925, the only women’s liberal arts university in Los Angeles, grounded in the conviction that women deserved access to education not as an exception, but as a right. The Sisters purchased land in the Santa Monica Mountains and built a campus where women would be formed as leaders in service, justice, and knowledge.

Nearly a century later, more than 24,000 alumnae have gone on to lead classrooms, hospitals, nonprofits, public agencies, and boardrooms.

Faith in Public Life

Their activism extended into the streets and fields. In the 1970s, the Sisters stood alongside California farmworkers, praying, organizing, and advocating for fair wages and safe conditions. On the day César Chávez ended his 25-day fast at Forty Acres, Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet carried boxes of bread to feed the gathered community.

Their presence in Sacramento echoed that same courage, lending moral voice to legislation that sought dignity for agricultural workers.

From a Venice Storefront to St. Joseph Center

Fifty years ago, that same spirit took root in Venice.

Two Sisters, Sister Marilyn Rudy and Sister Louise Bernstein, deeply shaped by social justice formation and inspired by the Sisters’ history of accompaniment, rented a small storefront to serve immigrant families and neighbors experiencing homelessness. What began as a modest neighborhood ministry has grown into an institution that now serves nearly 15,000 Angelenos each year through housing, workforce development, mental health, and food security programs.

That work includes Bread & Roses Café, which has served over one million meals for our unhoused neighbors.

As we enter our 50^th year, we do not simply celebrate our history. We inherit a mission of courage, accompaniment, and radical care.

And together, we carry it forward.