Founded for Mission: Every Catholic an Apostle

The Shrine of St. Joseph was established in 1924 by Father Thomas Augustine Judge, C.M., who was born on August 23, 1868, in South Boston to Irish immigrants was a visionary Roman Catholic priest who founded the Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity in 1909. His upbringing in a devout Catholic family and the early loss of his father significantly influenced his spiritual and apostolic zeal. After completing his education and overcoming health challenges, Fr. Judge was ordained in 1899. He dedicated his life to missionary work, particularly focusing on the spiritual needs of the poor and abandoned, as well as the activation of the laity.

The Shrine is owned and operated by the Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity (Trinity Missions). While serving with a parish in New York, he witnessed pilgrims arriving from Italy and Ireland to America. With them, they brought the deep Catholic traditions of their faith. He quickly noticed the need to preserve the faith of the immigrant families and foster the formation of the faithful laity as missionary disciples of Jesus. Today, the Shrine continues ministering to many more ethnic cultures that call these sacred grounds home.

Fr. Judge established the Shrine as a place for all to be renewed in faith and sent out as missionaries in the providence of their everyday life. A place to grow in understanding that every Catholic is an apostle. The Shrine is just one of the many missions the priests and brothers serve. This sacred place is one of learning, celebrating, healing, and living out the Missionary Servant Rule of Life:

“Our specific mission is the preservation of the faith in areas and among people who are spiritually neglected and abandoned, especially the poor. Our chief effort is to develop a missionary spirit in the laity, with the goal that every Catholic be an apostle.”

History of the Shrine of Saint Joseph

When the Shrine of Saint Joseph was established in 1924 by the Rev. Thomas Augustine Judge, it was placed under the patronage of Saint Joseph since this extraordinary Saint offers inspiration for the laity who struggle to preserve the vitality of their faith in a societal environment little supportive of Gospel values. The Shrine is a spiritual home fostering a “missionary spirit” that calls us to a greater collaborative role in the mission of the Church, particularly in relation to the issues addressed by Catholic social teaching.

From its earliest inception, the Shrine has offered an atmosphere of quiet where the beauty of the natural environment speaks eloquently to all who come and witness the beauty and presence of God our Creator.

The Shrine was originally housed in a barn converted into a rustic chapel in 1928. Devotions are held each Sunday in honor of the Holy Patron, Saint Joseph, which began that year and has continued without interruption until now. Our beautiful main Chapel, shrines, outdoor Stations of the Cross, and the 9/11 Tower of Remembrance offer a meditative atmosphere.

In 1970, the old wooden residence building was replaced. Five years later, the most extensive change to the Shrine campus came. The rustic wooden barn–chapel finally succumbed to weather and termites and was replaced by the present stone chapel complex on the brow of the hill overlooking the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. The same year marked the arrival of the Sister Servants of Jesus, who came from their native Poland to assist in the ministry of the Shrine.

In more recent years, the former Saint Joseph Villa, established by Fr. Judge for the treatment of clergy suffering from the disease of alcoholism and just a few minutes from the main campus, was placed under the care of the Shrine. Restored and renamed Trinity House, this home is now used for retreats and spiritual programs.

In 2014, a new mission plan for the Shrine was inaugurated. This plan, built upon several “pillars of ministry,” brings renewed energy and focuses on the Shrine of Saint Joseph as a place of spiritual formation and mission center committed to responding to the pressing needs of the Church and our world.

Who are the Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity?

The Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity is a religious order of priests and brothers whose primary mission is to preserve the Faith among spiritually neglected and abandoned people, especially the poor, and to develop the missionary spirit of the laity. The order has 43 missions serving the parishes of inner-city neighborhoods and isolated rural areas in seven countries, including the United States, Mexico, Haiti, Colombia, Honduras, Costa Rica, and Puerto Rico.

The Missionary Servants bring God’s comfort and relief to the poor through:

Holy Rosary Indian Mission in Mississippi, serving ten thousand members of the Choctaw nation.
Medical clinics in Honduras, Colombia, and Haiti.
A school for poverty-stricken children in Haiti.
Building homes for poor families in Honduras.
Operates a food bank in Coachella, California, that feeds over 15,000 and provides a leadership formation center for the lait.
Providing groceries for the homebound elderly and disabled, fostering community and friendships throughout its missions.
Providing a new way of life for gang members in LA.
Offering spiritual retreats and religious education for the rural poor in Alabama.
Mission and ministries among the Yaqui and Tohono O’odham nations in Tucson, Arizona.
Working with those struggling with addiction through the iThirst recovery ministry program.
Ministering to migrants in Chicago and California.

In New Jersey, the Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity own and operate the Shrine of St. Joseph in Stirling, NJ, 30 miles west of New York City. This year marks the Shrine’s Centennial Year is celebrating its one-hundredth anniversary. Some highlights of the Shrine include:

Welcoming more than 30,000 visitors yearly to a place of great peace and beauty.

Own and operate a religious book and gift shop.
Hosting an ecumenical 9/11 memorial service every year at the Tower of Remembrance, an International Peace Site honoring the victims and the first responders. The tower is constructed with beams from the fallen Twin Towers and the orders seminary bells.
Hosting a Bereavement Ministry
Providing over 500 Thanksgiving dinners to families in need.
Offering spiritual direction to those who desire to grow in their faith.
Offering Mass and Confession daily and a monthly Mass with prayers for healing.
Maintaining the sacred place where people can experience God’s presence and peace.
Providing a place of welcome and a home to worshiping communities from India, the Philippines, Brazil, Central and South America, and the original Emmaus Christian community.
Offering Men of St. Joseph, a bi-weekly virtual men’s group for prayer, study, and fellowship.
Offering retreats, days of renewal, and other spiritual events, talks, and concerts throughout the year to various schools, parishes, dioceses, and groups.
Providing a place of eternal rest for the deceased.

What is the Missionary Cenacle?

In 1909 Fr. Thomas Augustine Judge, CM, organized a lay group of women. That first meeting, which took place in Brooklyn, NY, at St. John’s Parish, was the beginning of what was to become the Missionary Cenacle Apostolate (MCA). Two new missionary religious congregations came from this lay organization: the Missionary Servants of the Most Blessed Trinity (a congregation of women) and the Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity (a congregation of men). Eventually, a secular institute of the laity was formed, the Blessed Trinity Missionary Institute (BTMI). Father Judge believed in the capacity of ordinary men and women to love and serve God in the ordinary circumstances of their lives. He taught that by being a loving presence to the people we meet in our daily life, we live out our Baptismal call to be Apostles.