The voice of the Society of the Sacred Heart—the Constitutions, the Chapter of l988, the Working Paper of the International Education Commission—and the voice of the United States Province in our ongoing reflection continually reinforce the following convictions.
First, we strongly affirm the centrality of prayer and contemplation in our lives. They guide our response to human need, enabling us to see the face of God in the painful realities of the world and to respond wholeheartedly in faith. As we deepen our life of prayer and the desire to make known God’s love, we strengthen the foundation from which we act together, in union with the international Society and in solidarity with each other and those we serve.
Second, throughout the whole Society and clearly reflected in this country is a renewed conviction that at the heart of our contemplative vocation is a call to be educators, women whose apostolic service is marked by faith, love, compassion, and a capacity for relationship. Our approach to and understandings of our educational vocation are lived out in a wide spectrum of ministries and settings.
Third, the internationality of the Society reminds us constantly that the challenges we face in our own country, with its problems and urgent social issues, are part of a greater reality. We have access to a global perspective and network that draw us beyond our limited boundaries and call us to determine our course of action within the mission of the Society worldwide.
Fourth, communal discernment is a vital element of our life together that will not end with the naming of priorities and the development of a strategic plan. Dialogue and discernment must be ongoing as we seek ways to integrate the priorities into the living out of our charism in diverse ministries, even as the priorities themselves invite us to move beyond what seemed possible given our personal and corporate limitations.
The call to contemplation, education, internationality, and discernment are constant. They mark our vocations and touch our lives at all times. Our priorities are time-bound expressions of what they ask of us today.
