“As members of an international congregation, we recognize our obligation and opportunities to develop a world vision and a sense of
global responsibility.”
(Constitution of School Sisters of Notre Dame)

This sense of global responsibility has led School Sisters of Notre Dame since the beginning of the congregation in 1833 to cross cultural barriers in ministry. The congregation was barely 14 years old when sisters crossed the Atlantic Ocean to begin missions in North America.

Immediately following World War II, sisters from the St. Louis Province crossed another ocean – the Pacific – and established missions in Japan in 1948. Around that same time, a few sisters began teaching bible school during the summer in Honduras.

In 1961, when Pope John XXIII asked communities to commit 10% of their membership to working in Latin America, sisters generously answered the call, and the first missions were opened in Honduras.

Mother Theresa, foundress of the School Sisters, had wanted in her lifetime to establish a mission in Africa, but that was a dream fulfilled by her daughters 150 years later. The first sisters from the St. Louis Province opened missions in Sierra Leone, West Africa, in 1973. Today, sisters are working in Kenya, Ghana and Nigeria.

Bridging cultures does not necessarily take a sister out of her own country. Sisters of the St. Louis Province can be found crossing cultures in the U.S. We have sisters working on Native American reservations, going into packing plants in rural Missouri to meet the needs of Mexican-American workers and assisting new immigrant women to find their place in South St. Louis.

All of this demonstrates the global vision that is the heritage of the School Sisters. “Like Mother Theresa, we are ready to serve wherever we are called.”