St. Joseph’s center seen as an oasis of compassion

By providing an “oasis” of hospitality, spiritual direction, healing arts and counseling, St. Joseph’s Family Center seeks to strengthen people for their life journeys.

As executive director since July, Franciscan Sister Pat Millen connects her previous work with homeless people – many of whom deal with mental illness – with her current ministry.

“Hospitality as a welcoming presence brings peace and harmony, enabling people to speak out for the voiceless members of society,” she says.

With federal, state and local government funding decreasing for housing services, St. Joseph’s Family Center helps bridge the gap by providing anger management and other counseling, and classes in parenting children of divorce to help keep families together and in their homes.

In addition to her administrative work, Millen has talked with Washington legislators about preserving the state’s Disability Lifeline and low-income housing.

“If the lifelines are cut, there will be more homeless people,” she says. “Many who suffer mental health issues are better off if they can live in an apartment rather than under a bridge.

“An unsafe environment escalates mental health issues. When basic necessities are provided, people are better able to focus on their mental well-being.”

Growing up Catholic in New York City and New Jersey, Millen decided in high school she wanted to enter a religious order.

After her parents separated, she stayed to help her mother. She was drawn to the life of her cousin, a Sister of St. Francis of Philadelphia, living with “the poorest of the poor in a rough area” of Washington, D.C.

“The focus of the Sisters of St. Francis, in the tradition of Francis of Assisi, is to see the goodness of God in each person and in all of creation,” Millen says.

In 1978, she joined the order, and her first mission was at Lancaster, Pa.

“It was culture shock going from downtown Manhattan to a community of single women entering religious life and living in a rural area surrounded by Amish farms,” Millen says.

From 1985 to 1991, she led guidance programs and testing at Baltimore Catholic High School for girls, where she responded to needs of poor women and children.

After earning a bachelor’s degree in behavioral science and religion and a master’s degree in guidance and counseling, Millen directed two shelters for women and children with the Ministry of Caring in Wilmington, Del., from 1991 to 1995.

She then spent two years with Catholic Social Services in Anchorage, Alaska, gaining experience in ecumenical housing programs, including Habitat for Humanity.

Millen worked with homeless people and in home-buyer education and housing advocacy for two years until moving to the Fairbanks Diocese in 1997 for two years to train Yupik Eskimos to be church leaders at St. Marys, a bush village of 500 people.

She then moved from the cold and isolation to California do an internship in affordable housing outreach with Mercy Housing System.

“I learned to do community development, assessing needs for low-income housing and shelters,” Millen says.

Before coming to St. Joseph’s, she worked in Bremerton for eight years with Catholic Community Services Southwest as director at the Kitsap Family Center and as program director of Benedict House.

Millen established a program called the Homeless Outreach Shelter Team, which provided beds for 268 homeless men. 

She raised $1.6 million to fund Benedict House, which opened in 2006 and provides room for 24 men.

Her fund development and communication background led to her role at St. Joseph’s. Millen sees the center’s programs as preventive because they address mental health and family issues before they become severe.

“It’s easier for families to accept helping a member with diabetes or cancer than someone with bipolar illness, schizophrenia or substance abuse,” she says.

“We seek to develop the whole person to promote growth within families and create healthy communities.”

The constant challenge, she says, is providing funding for the programs.

St. Joseph’s has shifted from an annual fundraising luncheon to hosting several events on its campus throughout the year, so supporters can see the center and its services firsthand.

The center began in 1890 as an orphanage, then became a children’s home in the 1970s when the Department of Social and Health Services shifted its focus to foster care. 

The Sisters of St. Francis decided to use its facilities at 1016 N. Superior St., near Gonzaga University, to work with religious women in the community to develop a counseling program that addressed the body, mind and spirit.

The center later added retreats and programs for people of any spiritual background or denomination.  It served more than 7,000 people in 2010.

St. Joseph’s Family Center’s mission aligns with the ministries of the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia in doing peace and justice advocacy, rebuilding the church, and doing religious education and spiritual ministries, Millen says.

The sisters see themselves “as companions, a healing presence and examples of God’s love in a violent world,” she says.

For its healing arts programs, St. Joseph’s recently received the Holistic Chamber of Commerce award and was a finalist for the Agora Nonprofit of the Year.

“Counseling among the poor, marginalized and oppressed helps people be in relationship with God and articulate their concerns,” Millen says, “not only in the privacy of counseling, but also within the community.”