Mission & Spirituality
Our Mission
Mount Saint Joseph Academy, a college preparatory school, empowers young women to realize their fullest potential. Imbued with a spirit of unity and reconciliation, the charism of the Sisters of Saint Joseph, Mount Saint Joseph Academy fosters excellence tempered by gentleness and compassion.
Enriched by the values of the Catholic Church, Mount Saint Joseph Academy offers academically rigorous programs, which challenge students to shape the future. In a student-centered, collaborative environment, Mount Saint Joseph Academy provides a holistic education with an emphasis on global responsibility.
Faithful to “educating founders,” Mount Saint Joseph Academy enables students to be agents of transformation in the face of moral and ethical challenges in an ever-evolving society. Trusting in the wisdom echoed by the Constitution of the Sisters of Saint Joseph, the mission asserts, “On the education of women largely depends the future of society.”
Spirituality
Our spirituality is a basic Gospel call to love of God and neighbor. It is characterized by a deep relationship with the persons of the Blessed Trinity and with Jesus, Mary and Joseph as a human community of love.
The distinguishing mark of our Congregation is simplicity, and we try to accept God’s invitation to grow both individually and together in humility and charity.
The spirit of the Congregation urges us to resist complacency, to nourish mutual healing and to foster reconciliation. It animates us to move always toward closer union with God and neighbor.
We share a rich spiritual heritage with other Sisters of Saint Joseph throughout the world, and work together to find inspiration for our 21st Century lives in the writings that are part of our heritage. We ponder the words of our early documents, hoping to become by God’s grace the Congregation of the great love of God.
Learn about the Academy's theme for this school year—Service to the Dear Neighbor.
For more information, read about our history and visit the Sisters of St. Joseph Philadelphia website.
Laced in Legacy...Living the Mission
Read the 2018 Strategic Plan Summary
Beliefs
Our Beliefs as a School Community:
- Single-sex learning environments cultivate strong women leaders, independent in mind and spirit, socially responsible, and intellectually and personally courageous
- This school community, impelled by Christian values, emboldens young women with compassion, confidence, and competence to found a future committed to justice and peace
- Nurturance of a mature prayer life and faith spiritually energizes and enriches the entire community
- Gospel values inform the development of individual consciences and strengthen moral and ethical life decisions
- Education demands the stimulation of intellectual curiosity and creative problem-solving and the call to global engagement
- The desire to respond actively to the needs of the “the dear neighbor” (Sisters of Saint Joseph Documents) empowers each student to assume her responsibilities as a citizen of a global community
- Comprehensive, challenging curricula enable each student to realize her fullest potential
- Innovative, technologically-rich, as well as traditional instructional strategies maximize the potential academic growth of each student
- Gentleness with self and others tempers the drive for excellence.