Dianne Horsch, CSJ entered the Novitatiate of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Boston on August 15 at the chapel at Fontbonne Convent in Milton.

The Sisters of St. Joseph of Boston is a congregation of more than 500 religious women who minister in the Greater Boston area and beyond.

Horsch has been an active member of service since her graduation from Rockland High School, when she entered the United States Air Force. While there, she graduated from the Police Academy, earned an associate’s degree in criminal justice, and served as an investigative detective and a law enforcement specialist. After leaving the Air Force, she began working for the United States Postal Service.

During her time at the Air Force, Horsch made two trips to Saudi Arabia where she taught religious education classes on the bases where she served. Horsch was active as a eucharistic minister in a strictly Muslim country, and organized a singles group that gathered for monthly prayer.

She is the youngest of Bill and Jennie Horsch’s seven children. The Horschs are active members of Holy Family Parish, Rockland, which Horsch accredits for the development of her faith. She specifically remembers a Teens Encounter Christ weekend that she attended in high school. “From then on, no matter what was going on, I knew that God was always with me,” she said of the experience.

At the end of August, Horsch and nine other women from various parts of the United States will begin a year of formal prayer and study in the Sisters of St. Joseph Federation Canonical Novitiate.

Horsch is one of five Boston-area women participating in initial formation with the Sisters of St. Joseph of Boston. The process takes several years and leads to a life-long vowed commitment.

2005-2006 marks the fifth year that the National Sisters of St. Joseph Federation has been located in Framingham, Mass. The U.S. Federation is one of four federations of Sisters of St. Joseph representing close to 12,000 women religious throughout the world who share a common heritage dating back to 1650 when the community began in Le Puy, France.