Sister M. Vincentia Joseph (Marie Antoinette Joseph) was born in Queens, New York, on December 11, 1925. As a young woman, she graduated from St. John’s University and then entered the Community of the Missionary Sisters of the Blessed Trinity. Later on, she joined the Sisters for Christian Community, with whom she remained until her passing.

For eighteen years, she was a social worker with Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where she worked with families and children. The diocese sent her here to The Catholic University of America to obtain her Master of Social Work; she received her MSW in 1958 and a Ph.D. in 1974. The same year she received her Ph.D., she joined us at the National Catholic School of Social Service as an Assistant Professor. She later earned the position of Associate Professor, and then Ordinary Professor.

During her career, she helped make strides in the ethics aspect of the field across the span of over twenty years. She was a member of the Catholic Charities USA Code of Ethics Committee, which created one of the first organizational codes of ethics. She was an influential member of the National Association of Social Workers by assisting in revising the Social Work Code of Ethics which was not revised for over a decade beforehand. She was also on the committee to update the Catholic Charities organizational code of ethics.

Sr. Vincentia was an advocate for reform in the education of future Social Workers. Here at NCSSS, she fought that ethics needed to be taught in the MSW Program. She also developed and taught the first religious/spiritual dimensions of social work practice course. When she was a Visiting Scholar at the Kennedy Institute Center for Bioethics at Georgetown University, she fought to have similar courses included in their curriculum. Her activism for this aspect of social work resulted in the establishment of the Society for Spirituality & Social Work. She took her ideas abroad by teaching ethics and spirituality in South America, Asia, and Europe.

She may go down in history as the 2003 Social Work Educator of the Year, 2003 Social Worker of the Year, or 2007 Social Work Pioneer, but here at NCSSS, she will be remembered as a beloved professor, colleague, mentor, and friend. She is remembered fondly and in our prayers. May she rest in peace.