An Advent reflection by Kathleen Hughes, RSCJ, appears in the November 27 issue of America magazine. The article begins by describing the origins of Advent and offers a fresh interpretation of Advent spirituality. The introduction, along with biographical information about Sister Hughes, can be found at www.americamagazine.org. (The full article is unavailable online, so if you are not a subscriber, watch for it at a library or a coffee table nearby.)

A newly-created bronze bust of St. Rose Philippine Duchesne was given a grand send-off on November 17 – an unveiling at the school Philippine founded in 1818, and a Mass celebrated by Archbishop Raymond Burke of St. Louis.

Diana Wall, rscj, was presented the special St Madeleine Sophie Award on behalf of the Rosary Sacred Heart Alumnae Association, New Orleans. October 21, 2006. Many of her friends and rscj sisters were present with her.

The Global Academy for the Neo-Renaissance of the Kyung Hee University hosted a conference titled "Reinventing Universality for the 21st Century: Beyond Freedom and Equality." Invited by the Rector of the Global Academy,  I went to Seoul, Republic of Korea, for October 26- 28. On the 26th I gave the Keynote Address for the Youth Forum to 500 students.

There was much celebration when Melanie Guste was awarded a PhD from Fielding Graduate University this July. Her Doctorate was in Human and Organizational Systems and her dissertation study was "A Study of Success through Microentrepreneurship among Minorities and Immigrants with Poverty Backgrounds in Lousisana."

As of mid-May, five RSCJ had formed a community at Teresian House, a skilled care facility in Albany, New York, operated by the Carmelite Sisters of the Aged and Infirm. Although Teresian House is a large facility – 300 residents – it is divided into "neighborhoods" of fifteen to twenty residents, each with its own living and kitchen/dining area. Daily activities take place in these areas. They are comfortably furnished in various styles to simulate home environments. Each resident has a private room and bath. A large, bright chapel is situated on the first floor.

Elizabeth White, RSCJ, will receive an honorary degree from Boston College on May 22 in recognition of her lifelong commitment as a Religious of the Sacred Heart to the ministry of teaching. Sister White, a specialist in English literature, has spent more than five decades in higher education at Newton College of the Sacred Heart in Boston and at Boston College. She holds a doctoral degree from Catholic University in Washington D.C.

"Deus Caritas Est has been a happy surprise in every way both for what it contains and what it does not," wrote Kathleen Hughes, RSCJ, in a reflection on the first encyclical by Pope Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas Est, or "God is Love," promulgated on December 25, 2005.

"As President Bush hustled through town Thursday morning, the proper young ladies of the Academy of the Sacred Heart were in Jackson Square, wearing life jackets over their plaid-skirt uniforms, and politely but firmly demanding better levees." So begins an article in the New York Times on Friday, January 13, about a demonstration in New Orleans' French Quarter by more than 200 students from Academy of the Sacred Heart ("the Rosary").

Friends of Virginia O’Meara and members of her religious community in St. Louis organized an exhibition and sale of her art work at Maryville University, where Sister O’Meara taught for many years. More than $10,000 was raised at the November 5 event in a silent auction of framed works and sales of collages, prints and art books.