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Over the course of the next few letters, I intend to write about Saint Madeleine Sophie Barat. My desire to do so is rooted in the conviction that we all have something to learn about life, love, God and the education of children from this beloved Mother Foundress of the Society of the Sacred Heart. She was the focus of my opening address with our employees a few weeks ago and she is the inspiration for this year’s theme:

Saint Madeleine Sophie’s Educational Philosophy:
Forward Thinking Then,
Forward Thinking Now

Using an overview of the story of St. Madeleine Sophie’s life as a foundation, I will be writing about her passion for God, her vision of education, and perhaps most interestingly, how that vision informs our manner of educating today.

Let’s begin with some basic facts about Mother Barat’s accomplishments:

• She founded the Society of the Sacred Heart in 1800
• She governed the Society for 63 years.
• By the time of her death in 1865 the order she founded numbered nearly 3,400 women with over 100 foundations in Europe, North America, North Africa and South America.
• She was beatified in 1908 and canonized a saint of the Roman Catholic Church in 1925.

Among the forces that formed her are the tumultuous and violent times in which she lived ( i.e. the French Revolution), the extraordinary education she received from her brother and the religious environment of her Burgundian family. Key to her interior formation was her own experience of prayer. As she grew in her personal knowledge of God’s deep and abiding love, she concurrently grew as a woman of wisdom whose own life and loves were reflective of her Beloved.

How Sophie approached prayer is helpful for us to think about as educators in the Family of God’s Heart. (Note the following excerpts are from a presentation by Kathleen Hughes, rscj.)

1. Prayer for Sophie was simple:  It was about friendship, longing and love!
2. Prayer for Sophie was free:  “What difference does it make how you pray, provided that your heart is seeking the one whom you love.” (SMS)

Her union with God and her love for God was the focus of everything for Sophie! This is true even as she was busy managing a multinational corporation, opening scores of foundations, handling enormous finances with facility and skill and negotiating agreements with both church and state.

From this union flowed her vision for her Society whose mission was to reveal the Love of God through coming to know the dispositions of the Heart of Jesus! Her educational institutions were places where that mission could be lived both for the sake of the children and for the sake of the world!

My hope and prayer is that we root everything we do at this school in what we think St. Madeleine Sophie would do if she were here today!

Maureen Glavin, rscj

Dear Parents,

It has been a great beginning! Yesterday’s glorious opening day with our First through Eighth Class students was followed with this morning’s precious arrival of our Primary friends. While exteriorly the weather has been close to perfect, interiorly the climate has been balanced with nothing less than extraordinary exuberance!

Having spent the summer getting ready, waxing floors, manicuring the grounds, cleaning the classrooms, creating new bulletin boards and planning engaging lessons (just to name a few preparatory activities), we were poised on every level to receive your children with open hearts! Preparations from your end were obvious as well; the children arrived with bright white shirts, shiny new shoes, crisp slacks and socks, freshly labeled notebooks and, most importantly, glowing, shining faces (reflective of eager, open hearts and minds)!

During these first days, I know that each teacher is taking time to set a particular tone and lay a strong foundation of routines and procedures. Equally importantly, each teacher is also laying the foundation of trust and reverence while relationships are being renewed and others are being made anew. Attending to the process that’s necessary to build the foundation of a strong relationship is not only good, current educational practice, it is an integral aspect of our educational legacy!

Rooted in that legacy, on Wednesday we gathered as a community of the whole – to connect, to welcome, to honor the presence of each one, to introduce new members and, MOST IMPORTANTLY, to remind ourselves that our educational philosophy is grounded in God’s Love. Our goal is to provide an environment in which each one comes to know the Heart of Jesus (source and symbol of God’s Love). Flowing from that goal, our hope is that each one learns to live a life reflective of that Heart, developing and then using his or her particular gift in the service of others and for the sake of our world.

Through the intercession of St. Philippine Duchesne, the grace of God and the collective efforts of Academy parents and Academy faculty and staff alike, may it be so!

Maureen Glavin, rscj

 

Dear Parents,

It is often said that if a Sacred Heart school is anything, it ought to be relational. Consequently, communication pathways are not only essential components in our collaborative aspirations, they are vital in a Sacred Heart school.

With that in mind, then, I wholeheartedly welcome you to this first in our new format for disseminating information from the Academy! Though we all loved the look of our “old” Thursday Mail, this new vehicle will help us as we work toward achieving our goal of making information more available and accessible for you, our parents.

Inspired by the adage that “Information is always good,” our hope is to provide you, Academy parents, not only with information, but a variety of ways of obtaining that information. Thus, between the weekly Thursday Mail, our website, the parent portal and faculty newsletters, we hope to strike a balance which is accessible, sufficient and helpful.

Besides dissemination of information, another form of communication is inspiration. My weekly letter, which will soon become available as a blog, as one part of our parent communication repertoire, is meant to weigh more heavily on that – inspiration! You will discover that I will try to focus more on the “forest” and less on the “trees.”  What I hope to do is periodically invite us to see something from a broader or higher or deeper perspective, all with the end goal of articulating, clarifying and explaining the mission of this school.

In the spirit of collaboration and communication, please know that communication, if it is to be authentic, is always intended to be two-way. Thus, I invite parents to always be in dialogue and conversation with the school. I invite questions and input. And, as we on this end share our educational vision, our hopes for our children in light of the Society of the Sacred Heart’s mission and our world’s realities, it is essential that we hear about your joys and your concerns as well, so that the living of our vision is solidified in that which is real.

Hope you enjoy this new format, and I’ll see you in a few weeks,

Maureen Glavin, rscj