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

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

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