Our Origins

The Church's first great encyclical on social justice, Rerum Novarum, was the seedbed of our community.

Our founding members in 1908 adopted the social mission of the Church as the motivating thrust of their lives.

After professional training, they dedicated themselves to responding to the needs of those who were socially, economically and politically powerless.

They believed that they should not only work to heal the wounds of society, but should spend their lives trying to change the conditions that caused the wounds.

Foundation

The Society of the Sisters of Social Service bears the mark of several great personalities who were inspired by Pope Leo XIII's Rerum Novarum - the first of the great social encyclicals calling for social justice.

At the turn of the 20th century in Hungary, there was already a growing Catholic Women's Movement (CWM) whose activities were in harmony with, and whose leaders were inspired by the Pope's document.

Edith Farkas was the leader of the Catholic Women's Movement. She worked with volunteers long before the climate of the times expected that a group of women would dedicate themselves to the social mission of the Church, that is, service to the poor, rejected and marginalized. The women would be professionally trained and skilled to do this work.

Community's Canonical Status

Neither Edith nor the Bishop envisioned a religious congregation. The depth and breadth of the mission called for a canonical structure that would free members for service in all areas of social and human need.

The Social Mission Sisters would be lay women who would bind themselves by private vows and be established as a Society of Common Life categorized today as a Society of Apostolic Life.

Instead of the usual type of religious habit, the Sisters wore a simple uniform and hat, hardly distinguishable from lay attire. Their emblem was the Dove, as Pentecost was their major feast.

The Holy Spirit

The Sisters were already aware of their great need for the love and power of the Holy Spirit in their lives as they broke ground in new kinds of service.

Communion with the Holy Spirit is a most treasured component of the Society's charism.

Spirituality

Very early, the Sisters chose to follow a Benedictine spirituality so as to draw strength from its Gospel rootedness.

Benedictine traditions lead them to view humility as being both the threshold and at the heart of all inner experience.

Sister Margaret Slachta

Prominent among the Society's founding members was Margaret Slachta. She not only made the vision of Edith Farkas and Bishop Prohaszka her own, but developed creative ways of enfleshing that vision.

She was a pioneer in the field of social work, organizing women to heal the wounds around them, and also to work toward changing the conditions that caused them.

During World War I, the members of the community worked in Budapest and rural districts in military hospitals, nurseries, orphanages and a girls' reformatory.

After the First World War, political, social and religious factors created internal difficulties for the Social Mission Society. Finally, Edith Farkas introduced a new rule which would have made the community a Religious Congregation and radically changed its spirit.

As a result, about half the membership under the leadership of Margaret Slachta, separated and created the Sisters of Social Service, believing they would thereby be more true to the Society's original charism. The Sisters of Social Service came into being on May 12, 1923.

Sister Margaret was a woman of great courage and broad vision who saw the social mission of the Church as embracing all of the pressing needs of the human family. She trained countless women for a variety of social services and political action.

Sister Margaret was the first woman to sit in the Parliament of Hungary, and she continued in a political ministry. She was forced to leave Hungary during WWII because of daring attempts to save others' lives, fearlessly risking her own.

She moved the central government of the Community to Buffalo, New York in 1949.

History - Sisters of Social Service in Canada

The financial collapse that followed WWI left the people of Hungary, as well as the young community of Sisters of Social Service, impoverished.

At this time, there appeared an appeal in the Hungarian newspaper from Most Reverend E. D. Mathieu, Archbishop of Regina, Saskatchewan, for personnel to help Hungarian immigrants in their spiritual and material needs.

This call came to the Sisters when they were entertaining plans for mission work in foreign lands. Sister Margaret Slachta, superior, accepted the invitation and sent three volunteer members to the western mission in Stockholm, Saskatchewan: Sisters Ida Horvath, Julia Lampert and Mary Schwarz.

In the fall of 1923, Sister Paula Ronai visited Stockholm and other colonies in the Province of Saskatchewan. Here, she collected contributions to cover the Sisters' transportation.

Sister Mary did not make her way to Stockholm with her two companions. On arrival in Montreal, she was directed by her Superior to head the Sisters of Social Service foundation in Buffalo, New York because of an emergency situation there.

A couple of years later, in 1925-1926, Sister Klotild Melegh and Sister Anne Hornyak from Hungary joined Sisters Ida and Julia in Stockholm.

Three years later, in 1927, the first Canadian member, Sister Rita Kulcsar, joined the community.

Federation

The three branches of our Society: the Sisters of Social Service of Buffalo, of Los Angeles and of Hamilton, share common origins and are related to one another through the Federation of the Sisters of Social Service, established on April 7, 1972.

Pioneering Spirit

True to our prophetic role, we keep our pioneering spirit alive by our willingness to explore new ways and to blaze new paths in order to speak God's reconciling Word to the world.

Mindful that God is revealed to all, we pledge ourselves to contemplate the face of Christ as He reveals himself in people of varied races, nationalities, cultures and backgrounds.

We seek to be contemporary in all aspects of our lives: prayer and worship, in our ministry, and in our life together. Sensitive to the signs of the times, we strive to be adaptable and flexible, yet dare to be counter-cultural when the Spirit of God calls for it.

We are fully aware that without the help of the Holy Spirit, we can do nothing.

We seek to live in trust and openness, confident that the Spirit will guide and teach us how best to live out our mission.