About

A Place of Serenity, Beauty, and Quiet


Listen to Sister Celeste describe St. Joseph Family Center and see campus photos (above)

Drive down the avenue lined with trees and rose bushes and turn left into the second driveway.  See the large lawn with lush green grass, a rose garden complete with statues, a trellis, and patio, and party lights that twinkle white at night. Hear the fountain bubbling, the occasional train that whistling in the distance, and the frog and cricket troupe who join the chorus.

The living room (above)

You have arrived at The Franciscan place at St. Joseph Family Center, a center for hospitality and healing.  This center looks, feels, and sounds serene on the inside, too.  The living room offers a space to recline, recover, and rest.  A large picture window, ample and plush seating, a peace lily and several other potted plants relax in the natural light.  Books, candles, and thoughtfully positioned lamps wait for nightfall.

"It's a place of beauty, serenity, and hospitality," said Sister Celeste Crine, OSF, the center's Spiritual Coordinator.

Nearby Gonzaga University in the Fall (above)
Nestled alongside the Spokane River in the Gonzaga District, this hospitable place provides opportunity for respite for the haggard college student, and daily rates show kindness to the ever-thinning wallets of student's families.  Professors visit for conferences at Gonzaga University, just minutes from campus.  Groups book the place solid one year in advance for Mother's Day.

Make use of the full-service kitchen with a green linoleum floor, smell the bouquet of roses in the blue vase, turn on the teapot, and choose from a selection of teas.  Miraculously, with a little help from staff, you’ll find the dishes washed in the morning, too.

In the Clare House, private rooms await your stay with a redwood dresser, spacious closet space, sage bedcover set complete with decorative pillows, and a private bath.   Alternately, book a room and share a bath down the hall, decorated in vibrant red and orange.

Display art decorates the halls (above)
The center provides a variety of services including heart-healthy menus, cozy meeting spaces, group and individual retreats, massage, yoga, reflexology, T'ai Chih Chih, and spirituality programs.  The center also offers professional counseling, parenting classes, mediation, anger management, and relationship enhancement services.  The center hosts workshops on grief, prayer sessions, a tea, and women's retreats for cancer survivors.  Professional organizations can contact the center to reserve meeting space.  Each of these services support the center’s mission to help people experience wholeness.

The center's affiliation with The Franciscan Place refers to the center's core mission:  spirituality, hospitality, and healing arts services.  St. Joseph accomplishes this mission via a dedicated staff and a three-acre campus with 18 rooms available.  Facilities staff ensures that all the appliances, structures, and even the carpet receive care. 


If you rise early, watch for dawn, when the sun rises through a translucent backdrop of green leaves that sway lightly in the breeze, illuminating the serenity garden with shafts of red, orange, and yellow.  An occasional runner pads through the trees on the Spokane River and Centennial Trail.

Why stay anywhere else?

A Sacred Space for a Harried World

Sister Celeste enjoying the Serenity Garden (above)
Sister Celeste arrives in the morning, turns on the tabletop fountain with the copper floats that ding as little bells.  She then walks down the long hall, decorated with wall art, to her office on the left, where she conferences with clients.

In her early days, Sister Celeste trained for spiritual formation with the Order of St. Francis out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (OSF).  Today, Sister Celeste wants others to know their spiritual journey and to draw deeper into relationship with God.   She envisions offering a peaceful place where people take a break from a harried world to focus on healing. 

The spiritual life is the foundation of it all. ~ Sister Celeste Crine, OSF

Sister Celeste works in her office (above)
In keeping with the center's mission, Sister Celeste wants people to find that they can relate with God to become "a more whole, a more holy, and a more integrated person."  Sister Celeste likes best helping people to experience this wholeness through living as an integrated person, or living fully in their relationship with God, with the self, with others, and with their mind, body, and soul.  She enjoys seeing "the wonderful things that God does in people's lives."

At St. Joseph, Sister Celeste defines community as the ongoing experience of working together with a common goal and helping people to know that God created them.  She wants guests to know that God gave them gifts to discover.  She desires to help people to heal and learn from their difficulties such as feelings of disconnect, hurt, and physical illness.

"I feel privileged and honored to walk with a person who is inviting me into a sacred part of their self," she said.


Sister Celeste in front of the Clare House (above)

In all, Sister Celeste yearns for people to experience meaningfulness in life and hopes that people recognize the center as a place for them to find quiet so that they can work on their inner journey.

"I want people to know that they are always welcome here."

Grace, Peace, and Welcome to You

Sharon Ecklund, the Hospitality Coordinator (above)
Sharon Ecklund, the center's Hospitality Director, also works in an office in the Clare House.  Sharon began working at the Center four years ago as a volunteer.  She loved it so much that she jumped at the chance to be a Hospitality Coordinator when the position opened. 

"It was divine intervention," she said.  Essentially, Sharon assists guests to book their space and facilitates their stay.

A bench and statue overlooks the Clare House (above)
"I enjoy the most meeting different people who come through here... This is my greatest joy because I meet the greatest people," she said.  

Sharon develops lasting relationships with those "great people" who have become regulars over the years.  She wants to touch people's lives as they experience the center. 

"I want them to take away with them the Franciscan Spirit of hospitality, the Spirit of grace," she said.  "I want to know that I have been able to provide a sense of peace and grace... to give the true Franciscan Spirit of hospitality for all who come here." 

For more information, visit the Contact and Links pages.