The society of St Joseph Sevika Sanstha (SJS) is a religious order (congregation) of the Catholic Church with St. Joseph The Worker as its patron saint.
SJS began with indigenous Indian sisters but the religious Congregation is open for sisters of other nationalities too. SJS is a Diocesan congregation.
SJS Congregation’s current headquarters are in the bustling commercial city of Indore in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. The headquarters serves as Mother House of the Congregation.
SJS as a religious order was the brainchild of the then Bishop of Indore, Most Rev. Francis Simons SVD, who along with SJS Foundress Sister Baptista SSpS, during his tenure in India discovered to his chagrin that there were no Catholic religious societies existing at his time (in 1960s) that were fully focused on social upliftment ministries along with spiritual building up of people.
The key people involved in the initial phase, and towards the development of the Congregation, are Foundress Mother Baptista SSpS and Co-foundress Mother Josapha SSpS.
The main purpose for founding of the Congregation was to serve the poor, the rejected, the destitute and other marginalized people such as orphans, leprosy patients, abandoned elderly people and the socially downtrodden ones.
SJS works for the social upliftment and rehabilitation of the needy, and operates health care centers as well as mobile medical services. It imparts non-formal and formal education to illiterate people particularly in rural areas.
In domain of pure spirituality, SJS sisters undertake pastoral services and evangelical works, in addition to prayers and other spiritual activities.