Our Story

About Our School
hallway

St. Joseph Catholic School is located at the corner of Locke Street South and Herkimer Street in the Krikendall North neighbourhood since 1921. At this time, St. Joseph School opened in the former St. James Presbyterian Church. The Sisters of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Loretto Sisters) ran the school until 1958 when the Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny arrived to replace them. All remnants of the old church were removed by this time, leaving us with the present school structure.

The school has had several additions beginning in 1951, 1958, 1963, 1965, 1969, and most recently in 2008 with a renovation including a new library, computer lab, two classrooms and air conditioning. St. Joseph School has a very large gymnasium with a balcony (used for our uniform exchanges), a conference room with Smart Board, a Language Resource Room, and spacious Junior and Senior Kindergarten classrooms.

St. Joseph School offers a French Immersion program from Senior Kindergarten to Grade 8. It is a dual stream school, with a population of approximately 420 students. Our school draws students from the surrounding local area, central and west city below the mountain, Dundas, Ancaster, Waterdown, Carlisle, and Flamborough.

class

 

Saint Joseph
saint joseph

Everything we know about the husband of Mary and the foster father of Jesus comes from Scripture and that has seemed too little for those who made up legends about him.

We know he was a carpenter, a working man, for the skeptical Nazarenes ask about Jesus, "Is this not the carpenter's son?" (Matthew 13:55). He wasn't rich for when he took Jesus to the Temple to be circumcised and Mary to be purified he offered the sacrifice of two turtledoves or a pair of pigeons, allowed only for those who could not afford a lamb (Luke 2:24).

Despite his humble work and means, Joseph came from a royal lineage. Luke and Matthew disagree some about the details of Joseph's genealogy but they both mark his descent from David, the greatest king of Israel (Matthew 1:1-16 and Luke 3:23-38). Indeed the angel who first tells Joseph about Jesus greets him as "son of David," a royal title used also for Jesus.

We know Joseph was a compassionate, caring man. When he discovered Mary was pregnant after they had been betrothed, he knew the child was not his but was as yet unaware that she was carrying the Son of God. He planned to divorce Mary according to the law but he was concerned for her suffering and safety. He knew that women accused to adultery could be stoned to death, so he decided to divorce her quietly and not expose her to shame or cruelty (Matthew 1:19-25).

We know Joseph loved Jesus. His one concern was for the safety of this child entrusted to him. Not only did he leave his home to protect Jesus, but upon his return settled in the obscure town of Nazareth out of fear for his life. When Jesus stayed in the Temple we are told Joseph (along with Mary) searched with great anxiety for three days for him (Luke 2:48). We also know that Joseph treated Jesus as his own son for over and over the people of Nazareth say of Jesus, "Is this not the son of Joseph?" (Luke 4:22)

We know Joseph respected God. He followed God's commands in handling the situation with Mary and going to Jerusalem to have Jesus circumcised and Mary purified after Jesus' birth. We are told that he took his family to Jerusalem every year for Passover, something that could not have been easy for a working man.

Since Joseph does not appear in Jesus' public life, at his death, or resurrection, many historians believe Joseph probably had died before Jesus entered public ministry.

Joseph is the patron of the dying because, assuming he died before Jesus' public life, he died with Jesus and Mary close to him, the way we all would like to leave this earth.

Joseph is also patron of the universal Church, fathers, carpenters, and social justice.

We celebrate two feast days for Joseph: March 19 for Joseph the Husband of Mary and May 1 for Joseph the Worker.