provincial team Report to the Province

THE UNITED STATES - CANADA PROVINCIAL TEAM

Over the past year, we:

✻ Subscribed to Give Us This Day, a common prayer resource offered to RSCJ and Associates

✻ Created a Formation to Mission Committee for the Province. Purpose: To entrust the mission of the Society of the Sacred Heart to all members of the Sacred Heart family so that each one lives the mission intentionally and fosters its transmission to the next generation. Initially it was a local task force with representatives from RSCJ, Associates, Alumnae/I, Network of Sacred Heart Schools faculty. The Committee will expand to include more geographic diversity, but right now this group is working on some initiatives:

✻ First Friday email reflections on the theology of the Sacred Heart

✻ Mater reflections on the web during the month of October

✻ Scheduled Prayer and Dialogue weekends for the fall of 2014

✻ Offered Society Feast reflections by members of the province

✻ In conjunction with Canada, prepared the Bridge prayer in January as part of the preparation for the new province

✻ Named a coordinator for Busy Person Retreats currently offered in the Network and planned for provincial office staff in the fall of 2013

✻ Sponsored the Stop-Trafficking newsletter

✻ Named the province Publications Committee

✻ Named a Vocation Ministry Team

✻ As part of the plan to explore the future direction of religious life and provide opportunities for living that vision, a member of the team and the vocation director attended the National Religious Vocation Conference (NRVC) on “Religious Life: Women of Hope”

✻ Presented the Formation to Mission and vocation ministry plans to the joint meeting of the Finance Committee, the Investment Committee and the National Development Board

✻ Vocation Team attended the Society’s international meeting of Vocation Ministers in Epernon, France

✻ Supported the work on a lively, creative vocation website, still in progress

✻ Approved “Call Me Back” – a digital vocation outreach project in process

✻ Approved “Welcoming Communities” project, also in process

✻ Collaborated with efforts in the St. Louis Archdiocese, especially the Academy of the Sacred  Heart in St. Charles, but also other educational institutions, in planning the 200th Anniversary of the Society in the United States

 

Reflection:

In reflecting on these initiatives, I think the team has been responding to the Province’s desire to make the spirituality and mission of the Society more available – or as the plan states: “To cultivate and share the gift of the Spirit given to the Society in the tradition of Sts. Madeleine Sophie and Philippine Duchesne.” Part of our goal is to coordinate the various Formation to Mission initiatives and that is still in process. We have concentrated on various projects such as the First Friday email and the Mater reflections.

 

As we go forward how will we integrate the various formation to mission initiatives? How will we communicate the integration of our spirituality and our JPIC goals and initiatives? How will we inspire one another to live our mission with even greater depth for the good of our world in need?