Over the past 50 years, as new knowledge has vastly increased and our experience of life has changed, we find our sense of our place as human persons in the world changing, too. We may feel out of step, confused and overwhelmed at times, and less in control than we thought as we find that many of our previous assumptions are no longer true. Meanwhile, the pace of life has accelerated. We are exposed to more because of information technology, travel, and urban living, making it difficult for us to integrate all that is new with what life has taught us up to now.

Mary Charlotte Chandler, rscj, has been appointed Director of the Center for the Study of Religious Life. The center, established in 1988 by the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, the Conference of Major Superiors of Men and Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, serves as a resource for religious congregations in the United States.

Margaret M. Caire, rscj, received the Lifetime Achievement Award in a recent celebration honoring women of achievement in St. Charles County, Missouri. Sister Caire has served as headmistress of the Academy of the Sacred Heart in St. Charles since 1984. She was among 10 women from St. Charles who received Dove Awards for leadership in a variety of categories.

A century and a half ago, people in the frontier town of St. Joseph were surprised by the arrival of four strangely garbed women. The newcomers were members of the Religio de Sacre Couer de Jesu (Religious of the Sacred Heart) who came from St. Louis to open a school for girls here. Since then, thousands of young women were educated here by the nuns, whose long black-skirted habits, including a white coif, edged neatly with a starched, fluted border, topped with a black veil, made them an unusual sight in the wild and wooly town.

An attic stuffed with old letters, cherished photographs, even canceled checks can tell a lot about a family, a city or a nation. When the "family" is a group of nuns and students with convents and independent schools from Miami to Seattle, from San Diego to Boston, the "attic" is called an archives. When the order's pioneer leader is one of the few U.S. canonized saints, the archives is a lode for American and church historians.

Recently, I was asked to give a talk at a Spirit Alive Retreat for colleagues, friends of RSCJ and those interested in the Society of the Sacred Heart. The theme was our life and mission. As those who know the Society are aware, St. Madeleine Sophie founded the Society in the midst of the French Revolution, when the fabric of society and religion were in disarray. Madeleine Sophie felt called to bring the light of faith through education to a time in history when darkness seemed to prevail.

Esperanza Jasso, rscj, was among five people who received awards July 24 for their commitment to community service in Riverside County, California. Sister Jasso was honored for her involvement with an after-school program, for tutoring and helping parents.