RSCJs Women of Wisdom
Society of the Sacred Heart - RSCJ
Foundresses and Foundations
CLICK HERE for a detailed document in pdf on St. Madeleine-Sophie Barat, St. Philippine Duchesne, Phil Kilroy rscj and many more.
New Province Begins as Two Become One
It is with much joy that we announce the creation of the Society of the Sacred Heart, United States - Canada.
As of July 8, 2013, the provinces of Canada and the United States have become one. The two provinces have a shared history and after many months of consultation and planning, have determined that their future will be stronger as one province.
The new entity – the Province of the United States – Canada – will have 330 members and will be based in St. Louis, Missouri. “A province does not ‘become’ a province only on the day it officially begins,” said Superior General Kathleen Conan, RSCJ. “We look forward to how we grow into that reality, live the vision, adapt it where needed and continue to let it be created by the Spirit and by the hearts and hopes of those on the journey.”
Barbara Dawson, RSCJ, who has served as provincial for the United States Province since August, will continue in that role in the new province. Her leadership team of Sisters Margaret Causey, Sheila Hammond and Diana Wall will gain a new member, Anne-Marie Conn, RSCJ, from Canada. Sister Conn was nominated by the members of the Canadian province and approved by the Society of the Sacred Heart general council in Rome. She will continue to live in Canada and will serve as liaison between the provincial council and Canadian RSCJ.
“I have great hope that the life and mission of the Society of the Sacred Heart will be stronger and deeper as we discover the Heart of God within the people and lands of our new international province,” said Sister Dawson. “I am sure that the joys and struggles of our two countries, cultures and peoples will call us to contemplate the pierced heart of Jesus with new eyes and respond to God’s calls with new energy.” Sister Conn said, “My hope for our new Province would be to become “one branch on the vine,” born from the risk that St. Rose Philippine Duchesne took when she sailed for North America. I look forward to living creative new ways of revealing the Love of the Heart of Christ in our two countries.”
The plan for the creation and governance of the new province was approved by the general council in April. The transition period will last until 2015. The Sacred Heart Schools in Canada, one in Halifax, and one in Montreal, will become part of the Network of Sacred Heart Schools. This merger of provinces is a reunification of sorts because the first Religious of the Sacred Heart in Canada came from the United States and were part of the American Province.
In 1842, the superior of the recently established house in New York, Mother Bathilde Sallion, left for St. Jacques de l’Achigan to make the first Canadian foundation. She was accompanied by two French-born religious and one from Louisiana. After 1852, all the houses in America, both North and South, were under Reverend Mother du Rousier, the vicar, who lived in Chile. The end of the Civil War occasioned the reorganization of the vicariates of North America, and Canada became a separate vicariate. Vicariates are comparable to today’s provinces. The autonomy of the Canadian vicariate preceded the British North American Act, which in 1867 created the Confederation of Canada, operating from then on with a parliamentary system and an independent government. The Act recognized the establishment of religious schools. In recent years Canadians and U.S. novices have shared the same formation experience.
Janet Erskine Stuart rscj
Celebrating JANET ERSKINE STUART rscj's legacy one hundred years after her death
www.societysacredheart.org.uk/janet-erskine-stuart-centenary-celebrations.html
Click here for the information flyer to follow the special events of the centenary celebrations as well as read reflective and biographical material.
Janet Erskine Stuart was born November 11, 1857 in the Anglican Rectory of Cottesmore, Rutland, England. As a child of thirteen, she set out on a solitary search for Truth, having been urged to this venture by a casual remark of one of her brothers that every rational creature must have a last end. The search for this last end took, she said, seven years and brought her to the Catholic Church at the age of twenty-one. In 1882, she entered the Society of the Sacred Heart at Roehampton, outside of London, where she was to spend 30 years of her religious life. Named Mistress of Novices soon after her profession, she became Superior in 1894, and 17 years later was elected the sixth Superior General of the Society of the Sacred Heart. While Superior General, Janet Stuart set as a goal to know all the religious personally and visited every community in the Society throughout the world.
Janet Stuart's influence extends throughout the world primarily through her writings. Religious of the Sacred Heart as well as many other congregations and individuals committed to spiritual growth and educational excellence have been inspired by her conferences, essays, and poetry. Among Stuart's best known works are Highways and Byways of the Spiritual Life (1909) and The Education of Catholic Girls (1912).
Janet Erskine Stuart died a few months after the outbreak of World War I, on October 21, 1914.
St Rose Philippine Duchesne rscj
Born in Grenoble, France, in 1769, Rose joined the Society of the Sacred Heart. In 1818, when she was forty-nine years old, Rose was sent to the United States. She founded a boarding school for daughters of pioneers near St. Louis and opened the first free school west of the Missouri. At the age of seventy-one, she began a school for Indians, who soon came to call her "the woman who is always praying". Her biographers have also stressed her courage in frontier conditions, her singlemindedness in pursuing her dream of serving Native Americans, and her self-acceptance. This holy servant of God was beatified by Pope Pius XII in 1940 and canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1988.
Feastday: November 18 Died: 1852 Canonized By: Pope John Paul II St. Rose Philippine Duchesne, Virgin http://rscj.org/Philippine
A Reflection on St. Philippine from the Society of the
Sacred Heart
Philippine dreamed big and listened wide for the voice, the call, of God. Whether working with those in need closer to home in Grenoble, or giving herself to a pull that would take her away from that which was physically familiar and ever deeper into the diverse terrain of the Heart where she made her true home, Philippine responded with disponibilite , creativity, and a broad, inclusive desire to make God's love known.
With fervor, she talked and wrote openly of her desires, her thoughts, her discernment with God. My contemporary imagination easily hears her saying year after year "and, oh, by the way ... if you need someone to cross an ocean and start something new ... I'm still open because that is where I believe God is calling me to go." It is one thing to have the dream. It is another still to voice it. But it is something else altogether to drop everything and go forward once approval comes ... to go when the cost is dear and the unknowns looming; to go prayerfully and with courage; to say Yes and walk on knowing that doubt, fear, and challenge will be probable companions and might sometimes even gain the upper hand temporarily; to say Yes above all else to sharing the Love to which I too have given my life. That level of freedom, that intensity of commitment to dreaming and discerning, to the Society, to God, and to God's people, is one of the qualities I admire most about Philippine.
A Prayer of Dedication to Saint Rose Philippine Duchesne
When we are asked to be bold and courageous,
You are our inspiration
When our imaginations dream and see beyond the limits of our sight,
You are our hope
When we fail to meet a challenge and need to accept our limitations,
You are our model
When we pray with the desire for deep union with God,
You are our Saint
And with your blessing, to the greater glory of God, we seek to be loving
people who live and serve others with your same purpose, vision, and
quiet humility.
Amen.
Kimberly M. King, rscj