I have discovered many people in the Province for whom Centering Prayer is, as it is for me, very important. Especially in this time of tragic divisions in our world, it is, I think, a particularly helpful way not only of focusing on our oneness with God, but also of being taken into the common center of humanity. There is another kind of breath prayer offered us by Buddhism—a practice called “Tonglen”—which can be very useful, particularly when we are feeling overwhelmed by the world’s crises and by our inability to respond to them in meaningful ways.

Madeleine S. Ortman, an administrator with extensive experience in independent school management and a graduate of Sacred Heart schools, will become Executive Director of the Network of Sacred Heart Schools on September 1. She succeeds Marsha Whelan, who has held the post for the past four years.