by Danny Heitman Originally appearing in the Wall Street Journal on October 15, 2025, the following piece is reprinted here with permission We live in an age of wonders, so perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised to come across an online service that helps people find nuns. It happened after a glance at my personal library prompted memories of my...Read more

In the United States, National Vocation Awareness Week (NVAW) is celebrated each November, this year from November 2-8, 2025. NVAW is a time to highlight and promote vocations to ordained ministry and consecrated life and renew our prayers and support for those who are considering one of these particular vocations. Follow SSND on Instagram and Facebook for special posts throughout NVAW. There are several ways...Read more

by Dan Stockman reprinted with permission from Global Sisters Report Debra Sciano was taught by Sinsinawa Dominican sisters in high school, but never wanted to enter religious life. She was going to be a lawyer. But then a friend invited her to go with her on a vocation retreat with the School Sisters of Notre Dame. Sciano didn’t even know what...Read more

Reprinted with permission from The Catholic Messenger: The Catholic newspaper of the Diocese of Davenport By Rachel Luppens For The Catholic Messenger (Editor’s note: Rachel Luppens, St. Wenceslaus Parish in Iowa City’s director of community engagement, recently interviewed Sister Anna Marie Reha, SSND, and her parents, Deacon Dave and Donna Reha. The interview was originally printed in the parish newsletter....Read more

by Sister Ndukeobong Clement Head of Administration, Caritas Makeni, Sierra Leone, Africa In 2023, I was entrusted with the care of 20 young children through the ANCOP-CARITAS Sponsorship program, I felt both honored and humbled. Each child carried a story, some marked by poverty, others by broken families or quiet struggles. I was asked not just to manage their sponsorships,...Read more

Decades ago, it was common to walk the halls of any Catholic school in North America and find a sister in almost every office and classroom. At that time, School Sisters of Notre Dame (SSND) served as principals and administrators in SSND, diocesan, and archdiocesan schools. They taught, staffed education offices, sat on boards, and led SSND outreach service organizations....Read more

Like many eager young students, Tahirah will be starting college this September. Unlike most co-eds, however, she will be kicking off her college career just 18 months after arriving in the United States from her native Bangladesh with a ninth-grade education. Tahirah was 21 years old when she first set foot in the U.S. in January of 2024. Resolute in...Read more

by Sister Meg Umoh Ministering with the people of Sierra Leone, particularly among the youth at the University of Makeni as the head of the Public Health Department (HOD) and director of the Center of Excellence in Maternal and Child Health Education and Research, has filled my heart with deep affection for the people I work with and a sincere...Read more

Sister Joan Pikiell has begun her term as the School Sisters of Notre Dame (SSND) representative to the United Nations. Her work will focus on bringing the urgent needs of the global community to the attention of UN member states and bringing the SSND charism and Gospel values to bear on the deliberations and decisions of the United Nations. Sister...Read more

Alumnae files from Academy of Our Lady (AOL), a Catholic girls’ school owned and operated by the School Sisters of Notre Dame (SSND) for nearly 125 years, will be transferred this fall to the SSND North American Archives (NAA) in Milwaukee. The school, known informally as Longwood Academy from the name given to the area in Chicago’s Beverly neighborhood where...Read more