Madeleine Ortman
(Photo courtesy sofie.org)

Approximately seventy-five heads of Sacred Heart schools and other representatives of Sacred Heart schools around the world will gather at Academy of the Sacred Heart in St. Charles, Missouri, for the Society of the Sacred Heart International Heads of School meeting April 25 to 28. Nineteen countries will be represented.

The conference, “Collaboration for a Transformed World,” will be only the third such meeting in the Society’s 2007-year history, and the first in the United States. Previous meetings were held in France in 1998 and in Australia in 2002.

Countries expected to be represented in St. Charles include Australia, Austria, Canada, Chile, France, India, Ireland, Japan, Kenya, Nigeria, Spain and Taiwan.

The meeting will feature addresses by Patricia Garcia de Quevedo, RSCJ, former superior general of the international Society; Cecile Meijer, RSCJ, who represents the Society of the Sacred Heart at the United Nations; Joan Kirby, RSCJ, who represents the Temple of Understanding at the UN; and Patrick Bassett, president of the National Association of Independent Schools.

The goal of the conference will be to seek new ways to strengthen international relationships among Sacred Heart schools and increase sharing of resources; to share emerging global educational trends, and to enhance ways to share the Society’s richness internationally.

Madeleine Ortman, executive director of the Network of Sacred Heart Schools in the United States, said, “Sharing this historic moment with our members of the international network of educators on six continents provides an extraordinary opportunity for each school to fully embrace the culture and spirit of our founders, as lived and experienced throughout the world. Global education will take on a whole new reality for our students as a result of this gathering. Experiencing Sacred Heart education within this global context both expands and enriches our world view and our ministry together.” Participants will be invited to tour the Shrine of St. Philippine Duchesne, which is housed at the academy.