2024 - 2025 Sacred Heart Spirituality Speaker Series
The Sacred Heart Spirituality Series is sponsored by the Mums of Alums at Villa Duchesne for the benefit of the entire Sacred Heart community. This series represents the Mums' effort to participate in the stewardship of the vision of Saint Madeleine Sophie Barat - a second sowing of the Sacred Heart mission by parents who gave to their children the gift of a Sacred Heart education, and who continue to cherish life at the Sacred Heart. All are most welcome!
About the theme
The timeless mission of the Society of Sacred Heart — to discover and to reveal the love of God through the Heart of Christ to the world — is rooted in Saint Madeleine Sophie’s foundational vision for the Society. It is through the lens of her Eucharistic vision that the service of education in the Church is revealed as the means by which the Religious of the Sacred Heart (RSCJ) live out their charism of glorifying the Heart of Jesus. “As I was praying before a tabernacle: we must dedicate ourselves to the education of youth, renew in souls…a living faith in the Blessed Sacrament…to the ends of the earth.” (Saint Madeleine Sophie Barat)
From Madeleine Sophie’s inspired vision for the Society flows the RSCJ apostolate: “Consecrated as we are to education, ours is an apostolic institute whose life has its source in intimate Union with Christ and serves ‘Christ Himself in His members.’ Love of the Incarnate Word must inspire it, not only in our life, but in its structure, and these should be oriented to our service in the Apostolate.’” (Society of the Sacred Heart, Special Chapter of 1967)
Entrusted to the Society and its lay partners-in-mission, this mission has been lived for almost 225 years, articulated in the timely expressions of the Society’s Constitutions, Society General and Special Chapter documents, documents from Society commissions and committees, and in the Goals and Criteria of Sacred Heart schools. This series will explore the apostolates expressing the mission of the Society of the Sacred Heart through new RSCJ ministries and initiatives in response of Vatican II, expanding the Society’s historic work of education, retreats, and response to community needs and through the Goals and Criteria of Sacred Heart schools.
Presentation Dates
The first two presentations will be given in-person at the Villa Duchesne Lenke Center, and streamed on Zoom. The final presentation will take place via Zoom with an in-person gathering to watch the stream at the Lenke Center.
Friday, November 1, 2024, 9 AM CT: "An Evolving Mission: What Remains, What Sustains" by Lynne Lieux, RSCJ
Friday, February 7, 2025, 10 AM CT: "Unchanging Charism: Stories from the Past, Lessons for the Present" by Diane Roche, RSCJ & Bonnie Kearney, RSCJ
Friday, March 7, 2025, 10 AM CT: "Saint Madeleine Sophie and the Sacred Heart Commission on Goals" by Ann Taylor, RSCJ
Click here to access the presentation via Zoom.
The same Zoom link will be used all three presentations and available 30 minutes ahead of the start time. Recordings of each sister’s presentation will be posted to this page by the second Friday of the month when the presentation is given.
An Evolving Mission: What Remains, What Sustains
On November 1, Lynne Lieux, RSCJ, launched the series with a reflection on the roots and evolution of the Society of the Sacred Heart Mission. For almost 225 years, the vision and charism of Saint Madeleine Sophie Barat has guided members of the Sacred Heart family as each has tried to discover and to reveal the love of God through addressing the needs of the current times. "Times change and so must we" (Madeleine Sophie Barat), but the mission continues to remain and sustain. Sister. Lieux will share the evolution of the articulation of the mission and provide some thoughts on the Society's Apostolic Priorities (Education, Spirituality, JPIC, and Formation).
Sister Lieux, attended the Academy of the Sacred Heart in Grand Coteau as a boarder. After receiving her bachelor's degree in mathematics from Maryville University in St. Louis, she spent her first year in the Society at Villa Duchesne School of the Sacred Heart in St. Louis teaching math and physics. She received her master’s degree in physics from Washington University in St. Louis and her doctorate in educational administration from the University of New Orleans.
She has spent most of her time in ministry working in the Network of Sacred Heart Schools as a teacher, dean of students, upper school head, and head of school. She has also served as an adjunct professor in the graduate education program at the University of New Orleans and has worked with the Jacobs Institute on Innovation in Education at the University of San Diego. She is currently a trustee of the Academy of the Sacred Heart in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, the Academy of the Sacred Heart in New Orleans, the Regis School of the Sacred Heart in Houston and Maryville University. She has served on the provincial team of the United States – Canada Province since 2021.
Upcoming Presentations
Unchanging Charism: Stories from the Past, Lessons for the Present
Friday, February 7, 2025, 10 AM CT
From the recently published book Transformed: One Congregation’s Response to the Second Vatican Council and the Calls of the World, Sister Roche and Sister Kearney will share journeys of RSCJ in the United States as they navigated the transition from semi-cloistered life to living in the outside world where they hoped to become closer to the people of God. The Society explored new ways to engage in its historic apostolic work of education and experimented with new ministries, all in response to the call of the Second Vatican Council to engage more deeply with marginalized communities. RSCJ and the schools expressed an expanded understanding of the Society’s educational mission. While Sister Kearney and Sister Roche shepherded the book over seven years, many other RSCJ contributed their expertise and their stories to the narrative.
Sister Roche currently serves as a case manager with the Catholic Charities Office of Refugee Services in Washington, D.C. Her training and deepest interest is in the field of affordable housing. She has spent the better part of four decades living and working in low-income, urban neighborhoods in the United States and Haiti. Prior to her work with refugees, Diane was a member of the United States – Canada (USC) provincial team from 2018-2021 and served as the director of the Society's Office of Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation (JPIC) in the USC Province. She was director of ministry for the Society’s former United States Province from 1994-2000. She has served on the boards of trustees of Villa Duchesne, the Regis School of the Sacred Heart in Houston, Texas, and Princeton Academy of the Sacred Heart in Princeton, New Jersey.
Sister Kearney’s passion is education, especially for those who live on the edges. She attended Sacred Heart Academy, Lake Forest, Illinois, and Manhattanville College before entering the Society of the Sacred Heart. After graduating from Barat College in Lake Forest, she earned a master's degree in education from Northwestern University and a master's of professional studies from Loyola University, Chicago. She has worked in Sacred Heart schools as well as numerous other schools in a variety of cities, teaching English, Theology, and Art, mostly on the high school level. She also taught at Atma Jaya University in Jakarta, Indonesia, and at Our Lady of Guadalupe School in Houston, Texas. Additionally, she ran Duchesne House for Ministry, a former Society ministry in New Orleans.
Saint Madeleine Sophie and SHCOG (the Sacred Heart Commission on Goals)
Friday, March 7, 2025, 10 AM CT
Ann Taylor, RSCJ, will speak on Society of the Sacred Heart founder Saint Madeleine Sophie and SHCOG (Sacred Heart Commission on Goals). The Sacred Heart Goals and Criteria are the contemporary articulation of Madeleine Sophie’s foundational vision of education and timeless mission for the Society – to discover and to reveal the love of God through the Heart of Christ to the world to transform society. This third talk will conclude the series on the Timely Expressions of the Timeless Mission of the Society of the Sacred Heart.
Sister Taylor, served as head of the Sacred Heart Commission on Goals (SHCOG), from 1998-2021, following two terms as a member of the Network Commission on Goals (NCOG). Prior to these roles, she was head of school at Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart in Miami from 1978 – 1998 and head of the middle school at Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart in Bethesda, Maryland from 1968 – 1978. Currently, she is a trustee on the Carrollton Board of Trustees.
Past Series
Spirituality Series 2023-24 (Click here)
