Sisters in Action at the Martha Justice Ministry

Most students at StFX are acquainted with the Sisters of St Martha through their on-campus ministry at Wellspring. An oasis in the middle of a busy campus, it serves as a place to study, pour a coffee, and relax. However, though it often goes unseen by students, the Marthas’ impact extends far beyond their presence on campus to the broader community. Much of this work is carried out through the Martha Justice Ministry (MJM), a relatively new program through which the Sisters of St. Martha are brewing not just coffee, but change. 

First, a little history lesson. 125 years ago, the Sisters of St. Martha were established to provide homemaking services for students and priests at StFX. Since then, their ministry has developed and branched out to meet the evolving needs of the StFX and Antigonish community, including the establishment of St Martha’s Regional Hospital, local farming programs, and a maintained presence on campus through Wellspring. 

This past week, I had the distinct pleasure of sitting down with Darlene O’Leary, coordinator of the Martha Justice Ministry, to discuss some of the MJM’s projects and goals. Darlene tells me that the ministry was formed about a decade ago as a merging of the Sisters’ separate environmental and social justice programs, born, as she puts it, out of “recognizing that social and ecological justice are so interconnected.” She explains that the MJM has “identified three main areas of priority: poverty eradication, climate and ecological justice, and Indigenous rights and Reconciliation,” which they continue to work towards through various projects in Antigonish and beyond. 

Last year, for instance, the Sisters hosted a four-week series called “Healing the Divide,” to build settler awareness and share ways in which people can engage in Reconciliation. Darlene organizes and presents at events across the province, most recently in Cape Breton where she hosted a documentary viewing and workshop on integral ecology. The Sisters have also been involved in advocacy work with the Antigonish Coalition to End Poverty and are founding members of Basic Income Now Atlantic Canada, an organization that advocates for a guaranteed living income across the Maritime provinces. Recently, the MJM supported actions around Mi’kmaw land defenders on Hunters Mountain, and continues to address other local issues as they emerge. 

 On the federal level, the Sisters are members of the Office of Religious Congregations for Integral Ecology (ORCIE), an organization based in Ottawa that focuses on climate and Indigenous rights advocacy. MJM’s work with ORCIE involves lobby days, typically held on an annual basis, where the Sisters spend a day on Parliament hill meeting with MPs and working, as Darlene expresses it, “to ensure that our priorities have a voice at the federal level.” She admits that they’re “not expecting colossal changes” to result from these events, but that they are nonetheless important opportunities “to hold our federal government to account around commitments that have been made and that we expect them to keep.” 

 The Sisters of St Martha also carry their work to the international level, notably through annual participation in United Nations events including the Commission for Social Development, COP 15 and COP 26, the latter two of which Darlene personally attended. “We shared what we were learning across different networks, different faith communities,” Darlene says of COP 26. “[Our leaders] know we’re there and that we’re bringing our voices and our constituencies to that space, and then we can bring that back here when we meet with our MPs or [other] political officials and say… ‘I was at this convention. I know Canada committed to this, and we expect this to happen. So… it’s mostly about accountability.” 

 Ultimately, the outreach work carried out by the Sisters of St Martha and the MJM is an inspiring demonstration of the impact that a passionate group can have not only on our local community but beyond. Having started over a century ago as just a small group of courageous women working at StFX, the Sisters have built a generational legacy as a force for change, a mission that will continue as the needs of this community and the world evolve. For students, it’s a little something to think about and appreciate next time they head off to study at Wellspring.