July 8, 2022 // Diocese

Holy Cross Sister Joy O’Grady celebrates golden jubilee

Todays Catholic

Sister Joy O’Grady, CSC

Sister Joy O’Grady, CSC, will celebrate 50 years of consecrated life as a Sister of the Holy Cross on July 16, 2022. Sister Joy was born in Battle Creek, Michigan, and moved with her family to Ventura, California, where she attended St. Catherine’s Academy, an all-girls college prep school sponsored by the Sisters of the Holy Cross. Prior to entering consecrated life, she was a student and ward clerk at Holy Cross Hospital, Mission Hills, California. Sister Joy made her initial profession on August 15, 1972, and her perpetual profession on July 30, 1977.

While obtaining her graduate degree in clinical social work from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Sister Joy ministered in pastoral care at St. Joseph’s Hospital, South Bend. Upon graduation in 1980, she began ministry at Oaklawn Psychiatric Center in Elkhart, where she served as a therapist and team leader through 1982. In 1983, she opened a private family counseling practice in South Bend, which she continues today on a part-time basis. 

In 1994, Sister Joy was elected by her congregation to serve as Area Coordinator for its Mid-West Area through 1999. In 2004, she was elected to serve as president of the Congregation until 2009. 

Between 2009 and 2014, Sister Joy served as a facilitator for leadership teams of various religious congregations around the United States. During this time, she also served as a trustee on various hospital boards of Trinity Health. Currently, she serves on the Mount Carmel Health System Foundation Board, Columbus, Ohio, and on the consultation board for a new Congregation ministry called SOAR (Sisters Organizing and Advancing Recycling) in Ghana, West Africa. Sister Joy has been in her current position as a psychotherapist in private practice since 2019, and also conducts national and international workshops in conflict management, MBTI (Myers Briggs Type Inventory), self-esteem and communication.

In 1974, Sister Joy earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame. She pursued further clinical pastoral education at the University of Michigan Hospital, Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1975. 

Currently, Sister Joy is a practicing, licensed marriage and family therapist.