Because of the Sisters – My Journey of Formation

Guest post – Gabriela Robles, Chief Executive

When I first met the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange in the mid 1990s, I was working at a nonprofit that received grants from their foundation. That first encounter began a relationship that would shape my life and my leadership in ways I could not have imagined.

By 1998, I left the nonprofit I was with to move to what was then called the St. Joseph Health System Foundation (now the St. Joseph Fund). At that time, I didn’t understand how deeply the sisters would help form me as a leader within the larger ministry. Working directly for and alongside sisters was a gift. I learned not only what it means to be a healthcare executive but also how to have a prophetic voice at the table, and how to work and live with integrity.

What began as a job quickly became a calling.  The sisters helped me see that understanding the work we lead in community is inseparable from how we operate inside the organization. They pushed me to ask how I work within the system to create change and how our decisions reflect what we say we value.

In addition to Sister Suzanne Sassus, CSJ, whose relationship I’ve shared before, one of the pivotal people in my career journey is Sister Jayne Helmlinger, CSJ. She saw potential in me that I had not yet seen in myself. She encouraged me to consider returning to school for a Master of Arts in Health Care Mission at Aquinas Institute of Theology. Sister Jayne’s encouragement wasn’t just about me getting another degree. It was her way of saying that my voice and leadership had a future in this ministry. Today, she serves on the board of the St. Joseph Fund. I am grateful and in awe that someone who once mentored me now serves as a board member and partner in governance.

I was also joyfully welcomed into the spiritual life of the community. I joined the sisters for St. Joseph Day services, Jubilee celebrations, and many gatherings over the years. I learned by watching and by praying with them. I saw the importance of their culture and traditions. Over time, I realized I had one foot in the Sisters’ heritage and the other in the executive suite. I was being mentored in balancing mission, executive presence, decision-making, and courageous conversations. That balance is one of the greatest gifts they have given me, and it allows me to proudly say that the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange have formed me.

The sisters have pushed me to ask how I can advance my education, honor my lived experience, and how all the pieces of who I am can serve the mission. I feel fortunate to have experienced such holistic growth. That gift now feels like a responsibility that I graciously take on.

Now that there are fewer sisters in day-to-day leadership, I am called to continue the mentorship and development I received as a lay person, and to do so in the spirit of the founders. I hold their legacy with care as we form new leaders and evolve our mission.

At the St. Joseph Fund, we often talk about what it means to serve, rooted in love. One of these roots is the foundation of the sisters. Their history of advocating for immigrants and those who are economically poor guides us as we seek partnerships with like-minded organizations. We understand the responsibility we have to keep their desire to care for the dear neighbor without distinction alive and to live it in action and with intention.

Another gift the sisters have given me is their understanding of the needs of the times. They remind us that our work is not about what happened in France centuries ago. It is about what is happening in communities right now. And in these chaotic times, that perspective keeps me grounded in the present and open to change.

My relationship with the sisters is also woven into my family life. I had the joy of having my children baptized in the Sacred Heart Chapel, the sisters’ chapel. It is important to me that my children know they are part of this heritage, too. My kids know the sisters not as distant figures but as people who pray for us and cheer them on.  The sisters know our family traditions and school milestones because I share those small moments with them. It is a simple way to keep our relationship alive and to invite them into our daily life.

Almost thirty years after that first grant meeting, I still feel that I have one foot in the chapel and one foot in the boardroom. The sisters have shaped the way I see leadership, community, and mission. They have taught me to hold love and accountability together, to make decisions that honor people, and to use my voice at the table with courage.

As a lay leader, I want to be sure that the spirit of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange continues to live in our work in our communities and in the next generation, including my own children.

Their legacy lives on every time we choose to serve beyond our walls, advocate with those most impacted, and respond to the needs of our time with faith and love.