Several years ago, the archives received a call from a man looking for information about a sister. His father stuttered as a child and was often teased by classmates. His first-grade teacher at St. Martin of Tours School in St. Louis told him to see her after school, because she thought she could help. Sister would have the child do...Read more

By Ethel Howley, SSND Something is afoot in our world and also in the Universe. There is a growing sense that the networks involving ecology, economics, politics, and technology are all interconnected. At the same time, Laudato Si’ is calling everyone to explore our common home and respond to both the cry of the earth and to the cry of...Read more

By: Michele Levandoski Dorothy Lillian Hensgen was born on November 18, 1914, in St. Louis, Missouri, the oldest of Jules and Louise Hensgen’s three children. According to her autobiography, “three times before the age of four, she lay at death’s door.” The third instance occurred in 1918 at the height of the influenza pandemic when Dorothy and her father contracted...Read more

The Use of Natural Resources at Notre Dame Girls Senior High School By Sister Emelia Ayambire Agana  The presence of the School Sisters of Notre Dame at Notre Dame Girls Senior High School in Sunyani, Ghana, has made a great impact on the lives of both staff and students. The influence has come not only through classroom knowledge but also...Read more

From May 21 to 28, we celebrate Laudato Si’ Week 2023! This year’s guiding theme is “Hope for the Earth. Hope for humanity.” What is Laudato Si’ Week? Laudato Si’ Week began as a way to celebrate the first anniversary of Pope Francis’ papal encyclical letter, “Laudato Si’: On Care For Our Common Home.” Since then, the annual celebration has...Read more

Each year on May 9, School Sisters of Notre Dame celebrate the feast day of our foundress, Blessed Theresa of Jesus Gerhardinger, who died on this day in 1879. A woman of faith, longing for the oneness for which Jesus Christ was sent and ever seeking God’s will, Blessed Theresa founded the School Sisters of Notre Dame in Bavaria in...Read more

By Sister Maxine Pohlman The Laudato Si’ Action Platform’s goal of ecological education holds a special place in the lives of School Sisters of Notre Dame as we strive to be a Laudato Si’ congregation. In the prologue to You Are Sent, our SSND Constitution, we are reminded that from the beginning our congregation has been about “educating with a...Read more

By Tim Cary, Archivist The series of articles over the past year acknowledging the 175th anniversary of the School Sisters of Notre Dame arrival in North America has sought to explore interesting SSND “firsts.” A discussion of such firsts would be incomplete without Mother Ambrosia Roecklein, who accomplished many firsts. She was the first North American sister to be elected...Read more

By Sister Catherine “Missy” Gugerty It was near perfect timing! I arrived just as the shuttle bus came rolling onto the campus filled with excited children ranging in age from 8–12 years old from an outreach center in an economically depressed area of Baltimore. The bus came to a stop at one of my favorite spots on campus – an...Read more

By Sister Mary Heather MacKinnon As School Sisters of Notre Dame, associates and colleagues, we have made a public commitment to respond to Pope Francis’ call for us to be a Laudato Si’ congregation.[1] This seven-year commitment requires that we support and do our best to carry out the seven international goals proposed by Pope Francis and the Laudato Si’...Read more