In order to better reflect the mission of the Society of the Sacred Heart, particularly the principles set forth in the documents of Chapter 2000, and the realities of today’s world as viewed in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, the Sacred Heart Commission on Goals spent a year giving new expression to the 1990 version of the Goals and Criteria for Sacred Heart Schools in the United States.

“The implications of the new goals and criteria have been revitalizing for the administrators, trustees and faculty of the Network of Sacred Heart schools,” according to Paula Toner, RSCJ.  “They realize that the new criteria have the power to transform our educational work by making it more deeply challenging on the level of living out our values.”

Sister Toner is a member of the U.S. Provincial Team and the team’s representative to the Sacred Heart Commission on Goals which spearheaded the revision process. Ann Taylor, RSCJ, heads the commission. The goals and criteria express the educational values and expectations of the 21 schools around the country that belong to the Network of Sacred Heart Schools.

In a homily delivered during the formal inauguration of the revised document, Kathleen Hughes, RSCJ, said the five goals and their associated criteria “capture five ways of naming God and thus present us with five ways of being transformed into the divine image, a transformation which the reading from Second Corinthians just hinted at, a transformation we have never before claimed explicitly in the living of our mission.”

While the goals remain unchanged, the criteria by which Sacred Heart schools will evaluate themselves in light of those goals, has been strengthened, according to Sister Toner. Further, she said, the foundational principles on which the goals and criteria are based have been made more explicit, ensuring that the educational mission of the Religious of the Sacred Heart is understood and lived out by the lay educators who are responsible for embodying the mission in the schools today.

At Chapter 2000 , held in Amiens, France, to commemorate the Society’s bicentennial, Religious of the Sacred Heart reaffirmed the educational mission and set it in the context of the needs of the world today. The theme of the Chapter was: "Our educational mission: a pathway to discover, a space to announce the love of the Heart of Jesus." Key aspects of the documents included the following calls: to an education that transforms, to reciprocity in relationships, to a dialogue of cultures worldwide, and to a spirituality rooted in contemplative prayer, community, service and love.

The Network of Sacred Heart Schools, based in St. Charles, Missouri, connects 21 member schools around the United States that are rooted in the educational philosophy of the Society of the Sacred Heart.