[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":100},["ShallowReactive",2],{"activist-section-sister-joan-okeefe-sc-forming-her-activism":3,"activist-sister-joan-okeefe-sc":40},{"id":4,"title":5,"body":6,"description":28,"extension":32,"meta":33,"navigation":34,"oldPath":35,"path":36,"seo":37,"stem":38,"__hash__":39},"activistSections\u002Factivists\u002Fsister-joan-okeefe-sc\u002F01.forming-her-activism.md","Forming Her Activism",{"type":7,"value":8,"toc":27},"minimark",[9,14,18,24],[10,11,13],"h2",{"id":12},"early-life-and-influences","Early life and influences",[15,16,17],"p",{},"Joan grew up in a working-class family with parents from Ireland, a first-generation American who went to a parochial Catholic school. At a very young age, her developing sense of fairness became evident. When turning seven years old in grade two, Joan got into trouble with the principal of her school for talking in class when the class teacher had become ill. Challenged by the principal for her misconduct and feeling \"highly insulted\", the young Joan defended herself with logic, principle, and passion:",[19,20,21],"blockquote",{},[15,22,23],{},"I said to her, \"It wasn't like real talking. I was helping someone do her math because we should have a teacher, because some kids have trouble with math and they weren't getting their pages done that you would tell us to do. No one was supervising us, we were just supposed to be good children, all 50 of us!\" I wouldn't back down when she told me I was wrong; I said, \"I'm not wrong, we should have a teacher and we are wasting time, because they don't know the math\".",[15,25,26],{},"Such early respect for the needs of others and their developing minds was to prove prophetic. Joan's mother was a role model in her support of her daughter's position against the principal and a successful fight on behalf of Joan's sister, who needed extra help with her schoolwork. Joan saw how her mother stood with her children to defend their rights. Joan learned from her that to ask permission of someone is to give power to that person, whether they already overtly hold it, or not.",{"title":28,"searchDepth":29,"depth":29,"links":30},"",2,[31],{"id":12,"depth":29,"text":13},"md",{},true,"\u002Fsister-joan-okeefe-sc\u002Fforming-her-activism","\u002Factivists\u002Fsister-joan-okeefe-sc\u002Fforming-her-activism",{"title":5,"description":28},"activists\u002Fsister-joan-okeefe-sc\u002F01.forming-her-activism","AUKRMcjbAKzx8G1OxJ1TQRHgI2EYJPbgZ-a1illw0wo",{"id":41,"title":42,"body":43,"description":47,"extension":32,"links":72,"meta":73,"navigation":34,"oldPath":74,"path":75,"pictures":76,"portrait":80,"portraitAlt":81,"province":82,"quote":83,"sections":84,"seo":96,"stem":97,"summary":98,"__hash__":99},"activists\u002Factivists\u002Fsister-joan-okeefe-sc\u002Findex.md","Sister Joan O'Keefe, SC",{"type":7,"value":44,"toc":70},[45,48,51,62,65],[15,46,47],{},"In the pouring rain, Liz Burge's taxi arrived to interview Sister Joan O'Keefe, SC, at the impressive Motherhouse of the Sisters of Charity located on a hill overlooking Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax. Awed by the sheer scale of the Motherhouse, accommodating 900 and with its own beautiful chapel, Liz wondered about the links between life on the hill and life in the city. It did not take her long, once Joan was settled, to see how this irrepressible and politically savvy woman integrated all the worlds she inhabits. Clearly, the concept of charity in the title of her Congregation is more than balanced by Joan's social justice goals for transforming social structures.",[15,49,50],{},"In previous lives, Joan was a public school teacher, then a coordinator of Religious Education on Nova Scotia's south shore, and after that, an assistant in parishes there and in Bedford. She holds a Senior Diploma (1967) and a B.A. (1969) from Mount Saint Vincent University and an M.A. (in Teaching) from Saint Francis Xavier University (1977).",[15,52,53,54,61],{},"For 13 years from 1989 to 2002, Joan was Coordinator of the Home of the ",[55,56,60],"a",{"href":57,"rel":58},"http:\u002F\u002Fwww.homeoftheguardianangel.ca\u002F",[59],"nofollow","Guardian Angel and Single Parent Centre"," in Spryfield (now, after extensive renovations and additions, called the Chebucto Family Centre), offering support for families, especially single parent families. Joan donated her winnings from the Elizabeth Seton Award in 2000 to the Single Parent Centre. During these years, she also volunteered on boards and committees for a wide range of service agencies.",[15,63,64],{},"In 2002, Joan was elected to one of the eight leadership positions in the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity in Halifax, and served in that role for six years. Guiding her work was the Congregational Commitment Statement ratified by the international Congregation in July 2008:",[19,66,67],{},[15,68,69],{},"We commit ourselves to bring about structural change in the unjust systems that cause poverty in all its forms. We embrace a personal and corporate transformation to which this calls us.",{"title":28,"searchDepth":29,"depth":29,"links":71},[],[],{},"\u002Fcontent\u002Fsister-joan-okeefe-sc","\u002Factivists\u002Fsister-joan-okeefe-sc",[77],{"image":78,"caption":79},"\u002Fimages\u002Factivists\u002Fsister-joan-okeefe-sc\u002Fpicture-1.jpg","Photograph courtesy of Roma De Robertis, SCIC (Sisters of Charity of the Immaculate Conception, Saint John, NB).","\u002Fimages\u002Factivists\u002Fsister-joan-okeefe-sc\u002Fportrait.jpg","Sister Joan O'Keefe, SC.","Nova Scotia","It's not enough to do the charity. It's to do the justice, to ask, \"Why did a family even have to come to this?\"",[85,87,90,93],{"slug":86,"label":5},"forming-her-activism",{"slug":88,"label":89},"practicing-social-activism","Practicing Social Activism",{"slug":91,"label":92},"creating-change-lessons-skills-and-advice","Creating Change: Lessons, Skills and Advice",{"slug":94,"label":95},"last-words","Last Words",{"title":42,"description":47},"activists\u002Fsister-joan-okeefe-sc\u002Findex","A social justice and anti-poverty activist, Joan O'Keefe won Sister of the Year in 2001 and currently provides support to pregnant women as a volunteer doula.","3kp-vuL6AIDvjyZLPLpmxhxzXuv2LH7giZGUqPyXev4",1789062652248]