Welcome! We at the Joshua Casteel Foundation want to welcome you to the ‘official’ launch of the website. We hope you’ll take the time to explore the site, which we hope will be an interesting, thought provoking, and inspiring journey. We also hope to provide enough interesting content to keep you coming back for more! […]
Let Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Continue To Speak
Last month we celebrated Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day and April 4th will be the 50th anniversary of his assassination, two very important days but obviously for very different reasons. One celebrates his life while the other mourns his senseless and violent death. February, being Black History Month, brings him to mind again and […]
Happy Birthday Joshua
Today is Joshua’s birthday. In past years we have had celebratory balloon releases or gone out to eat as a family to celebrate his birthday as we would have had he’d been with us. This year I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do. But, as it turns out God had something very fitting […]
VETERANS DAY: HONORING OUR VETERANS IN THE BEST WAY POSSIBLE
How do I, a mom of a veteran turned conscientious objector, turned advocate for peace, justice, and non-violence honor our veterans in a way that is consistent with not only his transformed beliefs concerning violence and war but also my own? Showing love and concern for all the men and women who have put their […]
Five Years … But Who’s Counting!
Not unlike other years, this August and especially this week has been difficult. Yes, it has been five years since Joshua passed away but time is pretty meaningless when we lose someone significant in our lives. Hours at times feel like days, feels like months, feels like years and vice versa. I’m sure […]
August 25th Four Years Later
Each August since Joshua passed has brought with it such a mixture of emotions, memories, and thoughts. And thankfully they are changing and becoming more hopeful and redemptive with each passing year. I have tried to honor him by carrying out some kind of special project each year that expresses love and compassion to others, […]
My Day with Robert
As promised I am writing to let you all in on the very special day I had with Joshua’s friend, Robert, whom we decided to honor this year with our “Love in Action” initiative which we began on the first anniversary of Joshua’s passing. “Love in Action” so fits what Joshua was all about in […]
THE LEAST OF THESE AND THE POWER OF LOVE
Today, the 25th of August, will have been three years since Joshua left this life for another, one that will have no end and is beyond any and all of our imaginations. He is without pain, sorrow, fear, or anything that would make his world less than perfect. How very hard it is to conceive […]
Perspective is Everything
Two years ago on a very sad day in August, as Joshua lay sick and dying in a hospital in New York City, a very special woman who also bore cancer in her body and whom Joshua and I were extremely privileged to meet and eventually call our good friend said to me: “We both […]
The Joshua Casteel Foundation: Update
It has been a while since we updated, but a lot has been going on behind the scenes of the Joshua Casteel Foundation! We are now an official non-profit and are working hard to realize the legacy that Joshua left for us and thus, the mission ahead of us, which is to promote peace, justice […]
The Call for Peace Continues…
I received the following homily by Pope Francis from our good friends at Catholic Peace Fellowship at Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. We are so grateful for all that they do day in and day out, year in and year out to promote the cause of peace, justice, and non-violence. We are also so […]
Armistice Day…Joshua’s Witness Continues On
A few nights ago a friend sent me a link to the November 7th edition of the National Catholic Reporter Magazine. The article was encouraging discussion of the role of militarism in our country and in our churches. I was shocked to see that the article featured Joshua. It offered him as an example of […]
Memorial
August was the month we said good-bye to Joshua last year and we did our best this year to focus on the reality of his life going on through what he left behind in his works but especially in the lives of those he touched with our Faith In Action Project. I’m sure we all […]
Faith in Action: Life and Love Go On
There is so much I would like to say about this month of Faith In Action and all that it has accomplished in people’s lives, some that we could see and much that we’ll never see until heaven. I just can’t thank God enough for inspiring those of you who took part, whether we heard […]
For it is in Dying that We Live
“Truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat dies and falls into the ground it remains alone, but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” John 12:24 One year ago today Joshua stepped into eternity to be with his earthly and heavenly Father. It has been a year of sadness and grief beyond imagination. […]
August 19th: Faith in Action
This week we’ll be posting from several of Joshua’s female friends and family…some great projects and inspiring commentary. Elizabeth M.: I wanted to pass on the first reading from Mass today from the 31st chapter of Deuteronomy that speaks about Joshua. The full text is below, but I was moved when I read the words […]
August 11th: Faith In Action
We want to provide weekly updates this month to help document all of the actions taken to remember Joshua and also hopefully inspire others! The first is a memory that was shared with us shortly after Joshua died. Please continue to send me descriptions of your actions as no act of kindness, compassion, or peacemaking […]
August 5th: Faith In Action (Excerpts From My (Kristi) Journal)
Aug.5th…Excerpts from my (Kristi)journal…Faith In Action “Having the Faith In Action project is helping me immensely to deal with this month in a more positive way, remembering Joshua’s life more than his death and seeing it continue on through the lives of others. Last night I had a rare dream, with Joshua in it. He […]
FAITH IN ACTION: IN MEMORY OF JOSHUA
We wanted to make a slight revision to our Faith In Action project (please read the preceding post) in memory of Joshua during this month of August. We asked that you would consider one act of kindness and compassion or acts promoting peace and justice in your sphere of influence to help continue carrying on […]
Faith in Action: In Memory of Joshua
On August 25, 2012 Joshua passed from this world to the next after a life filled with purposeful actions to help make this world a better place. It is not unusual or unexpected that he took the confirmation name of James (“faith without works is dead” James 2:17) indicating his great desire to live a life […]
