by Sister Therese Marie Dougherty Making a historic trip to the United Arab Emirates, Pope Francis will address the United Nations Climate Conference, commonly known as COP28, in Dubai on December 2. On the following day, the first Sunday of Advent, he will join other religious leaders from a wide variety of faith traditions to inaugurate the first ever Faith...Read more

This year, the School Sisters of Notre Dame (SSND) celebrate the 50th anniversary of the founding of their mission in Sierra Leone. In 1973, what was then the St. Louis Province sent four sisters to Yengema in Sierra Leone to start a girls’ section at Yengema Secondary School. Sisters were sent to Port Loko in 1976, Kabala in 1979, and...Read more

Pope Francis thanked the School Sisters of Notre Dame for their great contribution to the Church, especially in education, service, and spirituality, as he welcomed the congregation during its 25th General Chapter, taking place October 24 – November 17 in Rome. The Pope urged sisters to continue making Christ visible by effectively bearing witness to the joy of the Gospel...Read more

by Sister Sylvia Nyaboke Nyamira As members of a Laudato Si’ community, School Sisters of Notre Dame (SSND) have begun seeing aspects of our mission and ministry through the lens of the Pope’s 2015 encyclical. The document asks many things of us, including that we act in solidarity with the most vulnerable among us. As a former primary school teacher...Read more

National Vocation Awareness Week (NVAW) in the U.S. is celebrated the first full week in November every year. The SSND North American Vocation Team invites everyone to consider what can be done to increase the awareness and understanding of religious vocations during NVAW and beyond. 10 ways to help promote a culture of vocation: Pray for all young people to...Read more

We are happy to be a part of the fifth annual Meet Our Sisters Tour during National Vocation Awareness Week (NVAW) November 5-11, 2023. The “tour” highlights the life, mission and ministries of Catholic sisters living and serving throughout Illinois. Learn more here. School Sisters of Notre Dame (SSND) were founded in 1833 in Bavaria by Blessed Theresa of Jesus...Read more

Laudato Si’ and Community Resilience & Empowerment By Sister Judith Herold Goal 7 of Laudato Si’—Community Resilience & Empowerment—emphasizes community involvement and action aimed at caring for our common home. It asks each of us to organize and activate our communities to work toward solutions to the ecological crisis we all face. This goal reminds us that, although our responsibilities...Read more

By Sister Mary Heather MacKinnon The Season of Creation – What is it and how did it begin? The Season of Creation is a theological and liturgical time designated to celebrate our human relationship with all of creation. It is now a global and ecumenical movement that began in 1989 when Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitrios I declared September 1 as a...Read more

By Sister Helen Galadima The Laudato Si’ Action Platform, Goal One: Cry of the Earth holds a special place in the lives of the School Sisters of Notre Dame Province of Africa and the entire congregation. We become a Laudato Si’ congregation the moment we commit ourselves to the seven-year goals of Laudato Si’. In Laudato Si’, the concept of...Read more

By Sister Kathy Schmittgens “The Response to the Cry of the Poor is a call to promote eco-justice, aware that we are called to defend human life from conception to death, and all forms of life on Earth. Actions could include projects to promote solidarity, with special attention given to vulnerable groups such as indigenous communities, refugees, migrants, and children...Read more