Long-standing convent in Lower Valley to close

Residents of a Lower Valley neighborhood are bracing for a big change as a convent that has been a pillar of the community prepares to close its doors.

The Missionary Sisters of Jesus, Mary and Joseph have been at the corner of Barton and Franklin in the Cadwallader neighborhood for more than 50 years.

It’s a bittersweet moment for many in the community. Generations of residents attended St. Joseph’s of the Valley pre-school. But the Catholic order can’t justify keeping the doors open any longer.

“The friendships, the relationships that we’ve developed over the years has been wonderful,” delegation superior Sister Gloria Rodriguez said.

The sisters first came to the neighborhood in the 1960s at the request of Bishop Sidney Metzger. The convent celebrated its 50th year in 2010. But now the property is up for sale, and the sisters are leaving.

“It was built for about nine sisters, so this is a big place. There’s three sisters here now,” Rodriguez said.

At its height, the convent had a pre-school and day care facilities and acted as an unofficial community center. But as newer schools and day care centers opened up nearby, demand for the convent’s children’s services declined. The sisters closed St. Joseph’s in 2008. With much less space required now for the remaining three sisters, the time has come to pack up and move on.

An agreement was signed with a real estate company last Monday and it will begin showing potential buyers the property in the coming weeks.

Rodriguez spent 18 years at the convent and has come back from a new posting in Corpus Christi to help with the process

“It’s almost like a death, where you’ve given your heart and your soul, and then you have to pack up and leave,” Rodriguez said.

For members of the community and neighbors like the Esparza family, it will be a loss in their lives as well.

“I pretty much grew up over there,” Guillermo Esparza said.

Eparza went to St. Joseph’s for day care and pre-school between 1980 and 1983, and he says it’s like losing a family member.

“It’s going to be an open wound, and it’s going to hurt to look over there and know,” Esparza said. “You can still see the building, but they’re not going to be there.”

Esparza’s parents say St. Joseph’s was one of the few places they knew would be a safe place for their children to learn and grow.