To be a Hospital Lay Associate is to respond, from your everyday life, to the call to care for, accompany, and serve the most vulnerable—sharing the charism of hospitality alongside the Sisters and the wider community.
It means living your faith through concrete commitment, becoming part of a mission that transforms lives—including your own.
No. As a layperson, you do not take religious vows or live in community, but you are spiritually and missionally united with those who share this charism. You live hospitality from your place in the world, as an active part of a larger hospital family.
You can take part in specific activities such as:
Volunteering in hospital or social care centers
Formation and prayer gatherings
Accompanying individuals who are vulnerable or excluded
Spreading the charism of hospitality in your community
The same values that inspire the Congregation: compassion, service, spirituality, listening, care for others, and a commitment to those most in need.
If you feel an inner call to serve, to care, to be close to those who suffer, and you are drawn to the spirit of the Hospital Sisters, this vocation may be stirring in your heart. We invite you to explore it freely, at your own pace, with support.
You can join a Lay Associates group in your country or begin with a concrete experience—a gathering, a conversation, or a period of volunteering. All you need is an open heart and a desire to walk with others in this mission.
Since I’ve been here, I’ve been moved by the way they show their hospitality.
The Congregation of the Hospital Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus was founded in 1881. Since then, the dynamism of the hospital mission has continued to call people to collaborate, offering both material and spiritual support—our friends and benefactors.
Later, the growing presence of collaborators became crucial for continuing the hospital mission, which called for both compassion toward those who suffer and increasing specialization.
This involvement has developed throughout our history in a progressive and gradual way, fostering a deeper appreciation for the complementarity between the work of the Sisters and that of the laity, with the goal of providing holistic, high-quality care rooted in the culture of hospitality and aligned with scientific advances.
Along this path of service, some collaborators feel called not only to continue the work, but also to embrace the spirit and charism of our Founders—responding with their professional gifts.
Contact with the hospital mission leads many people to develop a particular sensitivity to the hospital charism, discovering in it a new meaning for their lives. These are people who share faith in Jesus Christ and find in the hospital charism a concrete way to live out and express their Christian commitment in society. As a result, in various parts of the Congregation’s global presence, groups of Hospital Lay Associates are forming—individuals seeking to live their Christian faith through service to those cared for in our local ministries.
