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Foundation
Founded in Germany by Blessed Theresa Gerhardinger, School Sisters of Notre Dame are a vibrant international congregation of vowed apostolic women with nearly 2,000 members, living and ministering in 27 countries.
Love and Unity
We are women of hope, committed to bringing Jesus’ message of love and unity to our world. Our life in mission integrates prayer, community life and ministry. Believing that our international presence gives us a unique global responsibility, we address urgent needs of our time, particularly those of women, youth and those who are poor.
Educators at Heart
Engaged in a variety of ministries, we are educators at heart, believing the world can be changed through the transformation of persons. Some of our ministries include formal education, social services, parish and retreat ministry, health care and missionary service.
Vocation ministry theme
“God’s cause is the only concern of our hearts.”
~Blessed Theresa Gerhardinger, Letter #895
May 16, 1850
Since the beginning of the congregation, God’s cause has always been at the heart of who we are and how we respond. Our foundress, Blessed Theresa, responded to God’s call in her time, hearing it in the urgent need of education for girls who were poor. That call became her cause because it was God’s cause, for the God whom she loved had captured her heart and impelled her to respond. God’s cause and her cause became one and the same. It was the cause that urged her into loving service for an urgent need. God’s cause was the only one and singular concern of her heart and was echoed in the hearts of her sisters who followed.
The critical and urgent needs of the world today continue to cry out God’s cause to School Sisters of Notre Dame. In this oneness of cause, God’s cause and ours, we find expression of our strong desire for unity, treasuring unity in diversity, struggling for unity and seeking always to direct our entire lives toward the oneness for which Jesus Christ was sent. God’s cause is our concern … the only concern of our hearts.