It was a great year for the Year of St. Joseph, but not because it was a great year. It was a year spent in and out of COVID lockdowns, a year of natural disasters fuelled by climate change and a year for Canadians to confront the hard truths of their history in the form of forgotten graves for Indigenous children who died at residential schools.

Dec. 8 will be the end of the historic Year of St. Joseph proclaimed by Pope Francis.

Pope Francis announced the “Year of St. Joseph” on Dec. 8 to inspire believers of Christ across the globe to venerate the man who “accepted Mary unconditionally,” taught the value of “participating in the work of salvation” and was a tender earthly father to Jesus.

For 65 years, Sr. Sue Mosteller has been a Sister of St. Joseph, but her relationship with St. Joseph himself reaches back even further. As a 17-year-old boarding student at the congregation’s Toronto girls’ school (up from the United States, and an Anglican to boot), Mosteller and her sister were called into the office and given a piece of devastating news — far away in Ohio, their father had died.