News
August, 2, 2019
Today, The New York Times published “The Nuns Who Bought and Sold Human Beings: America’s nuns are beginning to confront their complicity in slavery, but it’s still a long road to repentance.” online.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Religious of the Sacred Heart (RSCJ), Associates and members of the Society of the Sacred Heart community alongside Catholic leaders, advocates and activists held prayer and later held witness to an act of civil disobedience Thursday, July 18, 2019. Those present raised their voices for an end to the inhumane treatment of immigrant and refugee children and families by the United States government.
Among those present were Bridget Bearss, RSCJ; Meg Causey, RSCJ; Linda Kato, RSCJ; and Ellen Nelson, RSCJ.
Saint Madeleine Sophie Barat stated that she would have founded the Society of the Sacred Heart for the “sake of a single child.” This commitment is at the heart of our mission. Committed to the well-being and safety of all children, the United States – Canada Province strongly opposes the separation and detainment of children seeking asylum with their families at the United States Southern Border and the inhumane conditions under which they are being held. The current government policies terrorize and traumatize children, and must be stopped.
Carol Bialock, RSCJ, is not a traditional nun. She is a poet, an activist and a student of Sufism, and she has spent her life deeply devoted to those in need. And now she is a published author as well, seeing her vivid book of poems, Coral Castles, released by Fernwood Press on her 90th birthday.
The 2016 General Chapter articulated this intention for Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation (JPIC) and provided the impetus for convening the International JPIC meeting in the Philippines, November 14-25, 2018.
In preparation for this meeting, the entire Society and members of the Sacred Heart family engaged in a reflection process that held three goals:
Come celebrate with us the memories on Bayou Road as we give thanks for sharing in our ministry of hospitality and transformation.
Monday, August 5, 2019
In April 2019, students and educators from Network of Sacred Heart schools gathered at Woodlands Academy in Lake Forest, Illinois, for an intensive dialogue training with the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change.
Sharon Karam, RSCJ, received the Woman of Conscience Award at the 42nd annual AASH (Associated Alumnae and Alumni of the Sacred Heart) National Conference, held in New Orleans, April 26–27.
The following remarks, presented by Jan Dunn, RSCJ, illuminate the love and heart Sister Karam so graciously gives to those she encounters.
This past March, Irma Dillard, RSCJ, joined the faculty, staff and students at Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart for their “Social Action Day.”
Social Action Day focused on examining racism in light of the Chapter Calls, the work that the Society has done to explore and address its past with slavery, and what that means for all of us today.
This past March, the United Nations (U.N.) Headquarters in New York hosted the 63rd Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), bringing together more than 5,000 delegates from around the world, including several RSCJ from the United States – Canada Province.
Sheila Smith, RSCJ, the international Society of the Sacred Heart’s U.N.-NGO (nongovernmental organization) representative, along with Anne-Marie Conn, RSCJ, and Bridget Bearss, RSCJ, among other RSCJ in the New York metro area, attended the commission, which took place March 11-22, 2019.