Sister Anne Marie Joshua prays the rosary after mass at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Bowling Green on Friday, Feb. 14, 2025.
Bright morning sunlight pours through the stained-glass windows and explodes into a palette of colors that rest on a lone woman sitting in the sanctuary at Holy Spirit Catholic Church.
She wears a white habit and clasps her hands. Wooden beads gently bump the wooden pew while she moves from bead to bead, each representing a “Hail Mary,” part of her Rosary devotional.
Anne Marie Joshua is no ordinary churchgoer. She answered a calling almost 31 years ago, a vocation that transcends herself. Joshua belongs to the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception congregation.
Joshua is the only Franciscan nun in Bowling Green, Kentucky, a city of nearly 73,000 and that hosts three Roman Catholic churches. More important for Joshua, the city is a federal refugee center, and Joshua’s calling is all about serving humanity as a social worker and Program Director at the International Center of Kentucky in Bowling Green.
“My motto is humanity and compassion,” Joshua said. “Jesus came. He was compassionate to everybody. He loved everybody, and he commanded us to love one another.”
Joshua sings during Mass at Holy Spirit Catholic Church on Sunday, March 9, 2025. “I loved God from my childhood,” Joshua said. “One of the best ways that I always prayed was to sing.”
“When you say you love God, you got to love other people around you.”
-Sister Anne Marie Joshua-
-Sister Anne Marie Joshua-
Joshua plays with Larrysam Berinyuy, 3, during Bible study at Holy Spirit Catholic Church on Sunday, March 9, 2025. Joshua describes the Berinyuys as her own family. Later that day, she went to their house to have dinner. “As much as I love kids, kids also love me. That love is like magnets,” Joshua said, chuckling.
Joshua embraces her friend Nora, a parishioner, while Nora’s daughter Amanda watches before mass at Holy Spirit Catholic Church on Sunday, March 23, 2025. “I love God, and I love my humanity,” Joshua said. “Every day I cannot see God, but I see God in everybody that I see. That is what life is all about.”
Joshua grew up in Nigeria in a religious family. Her grandfather was responsible for bringing Catholicism to her village. Her father was a choir director, her mother was a prayer leader and both her brother and cousin are priests.
Joshua said that although she is the first nun from her village, her mother doubted that she’d make it through convent because of her outspokenness and stubbornness.
“Every year I come home for vacation, and every time I joke with her, I say, ‘Hey, I’m still going back. Are you still expecting me back at home?’” Joshua said.
Joshua prays the rosary after mass at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Bowling Green on Friday, Feb. 14, 2025.
Joshua makes herself a plate of food before going straight to work from mass and prayer at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Bowling Green, Ky. on Friday, Feb. 14, 2025.
Joshua prepares to deliver food to the home of a refugee who recently lost her job. At work, Joshua does not wear her habit to respect people of other faiths. “I want people to understand that I’m not here because I’m a Catholic, and I’m not here to help Catholics alone,” Joshua said. “When I come here (work), I feel like I’m a social worker, and I’m coming to deal with people who have social problems. So I leave my own religion on one side, and I’m here as somebody to make a difference in your life regardless of who you are.”
Joshua also got religious training in Scotland. At the time, Joshua didn’t speak English, let alone having to understand people speaking four Scottish dialects. Living in in the U.S. and Scotland, and being a native of Africa helps her work with refugees.
“I always feel I have empathy for people because I like to put myself in people’s shoes,” Joshua said. “Even though I don’t speak their language, I still do make so much effort to make sure that their needs are met.”
Joshua delivers food to the home of a refugee who recently lost her job in Bowling Green on Tuesday, March 11, 2025. The woman came to Joshua directly after mass the previous Sunday and asked for help. “I go anywhere they tell me there is food,” Joshua said. “I will go pick it up, and I will go give it to some families.”
Joshua attends an online class in her office after her work day at the Kentucky International Center in Bowling Green on Thursday, March 27, 2025. Joshua is currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in Social Work from Western Kentucky University.
Sister Anne Marie Joshua goes to pick up food to deliver from Feeding America at Lampkin Park in Bowling Green on Wednesday, March 26, 2025. Joshua explained that she usually delivers food to 70-80 families a month. Most of the families are refugees but some are just people Joshua has encountered that need help. “I grew up in Africa,” Joshua said. “I know how hard it is sometimes for people to have enough food to eat. Since I came to Bowling Green, one of the things I love doing so much is making sure that children have food.”
Working with refugees is not always easy for Joshua. She often must reschedule appointments with people due to their tardiness, she said. And late at night, Joshua receives calls from refugees asking her for things that are out of her scope.
“I’m still learning patience,” Joshua said with a laugh. “It’s a virtue. I try too (be patient), but sometimes I feel like, ‘My God where is my patience.’”
If she’s not in her quaint office in the International Center of Kentucky, she’s working in the community assisting refugees at hospitals, doctors' appointments, in their homes and trying to find sometimes desperate people food.
Once a month, Joshua drives throughout the Bowling Green area, delivering food from the non-profit Feeding America. In a typical month, Joshua estimates that she delivers food to 70 to 80 households a month. Joshua said that, at one point, she was assisting about 150 families with food.
Sister Anne Marie Joshua says the Lord’s Prayer under a statue of Mary during mass at Holy Spirit Catholic Church before serving as a Eucharistic Minister on Sunday, March 23, 2025. Eucharistic Ministers are appointed by Catholic priests to administer communion.
Parishioner and refugee Anjela Biaba asks Joshua for assistance directly after Mass at Holy Spirit Catholic Church on Sunday, March 9, 2025. “Working with refugees requires a lot of compassion because sometimes they will keep calling you for things they are not even supposed to be calling you for,” Joshua said. She went on to explain that she gets calls well after her work hours from refugees seeking her assistance.
“She (Joshua) was one of the first welcoming people that made me feel home,” Hughes said. “ [She] makes you feel special no matter who you are.”
-Parishioner Debbie Hughes-
Joshua walks with her friend Judy Siniremera, left, while holding Michail Siniremera, five months, after mass at Holy Spirit Catholic Church on Sunday, March 23, 2025.
At Mass — (St. Joseph’s Catholic Church or Holy Spirit) Joshua displays her love for people through her actions. Before Mass, she greets people with a gentle wave or a hug. It’s not uncommon to see Joshua holding a parishioner’s child and waving at or fist-bumping those around her.
Every Sunday following mass, Joshua attends Bible study with her good friends the Berinyuy family. During the study, when she isn’t reciting scripture or participating in discussion, she’s tenderly loving the Berinyuy children.
Rev. Randy Howard, a priest at Holy Spirit Catholic Church, said that Joshua provided great help to him when he first arrived at the parish. Howard said that Joshua ensured she introduced him to the African community at the church, even bringing him to their homes.
“She’s just so warm, friendly and welcoming,” Howard said. “Just a joy to be around.”
Joshua attends Bible study at Holy Spirit Catholic Church on Sunday, March 9, 2025 with her church family the Berinyuys. “They are very close friends,” Joshua said.
“I love to pray,” Joshua said. “That has always been my thing.”
Joshua walks off the altar with a chalice to serve Communion during mass at Holy Spirit Catholic Church on Sunday, March 9, 2025.
Though she finds community with parishioners at her church, Joshua only gets to spend time with other nuns when she travels to other towns, such as the Diocese of Owensboro, Kentucky, about 70 miles from Bowling Green. Two nuns are expected to come work with Joshua from Africa but are still waiting for the proper immigration approval, she said.
“I know God is always with me, so I never feel like I’m alone,” Joshua said. “I’m hoping to have more sisters very soon.”