"Our Mission is our raison d'être. Our Mission is the horizon that keeps us moving forward. ‘Sophie’s Gift’ and our Apostolic Priorities: Education, Formation, Spirituality, Justice, Peace, and the Integrity of Creation, braided together, offer us the grace to deepen our charism and give us a map to invent our future together, in response to the expectations and needs of the young people of our time.”

— Claire Castaing, RSCJ, Closing Conference, Chapter 2024

This year, as we mark the 50th anniversary of both the Network of Sacred Heart Schools and the Goals and Criteria, as well as the 100th anniversary of the canonization of our foundress, Saint Madeleine Sophie Barat, we find ourselves at a pivotal moment—one that calls us to reflect on how the four apostolic priorities of the Society of the Sacred Heart: Education; Formation; Spirituality; and Justice, Peace, and the Integrity of Creation have been, and continue to be, deeply interwoven in our shared mission. These priorities are reflected in the theme of this issue of the Stone Ridge Magazine.

As we reflect on our legacy, we are reminded that our mission is rooted in the conviction that education is not merely the transmission of knowledge but a transformative force in our world. This belief was made explicit in 1975 when the first Goals and Criteria boldly articulated the commitment to “a social awareness which impels to action”—a phrase that continues to challenge and inspire us today.

The Vision of Catherine “Kit” Collins, RSCJ, and the Birth of the Network

It is impossible to speak of this anniversary without recognizing the visionary leadership of Catherine “Kit” Collins, RSCJ, Stone Ridge Headmistress from 1968 to 1971 and a key architect of what is now the Network of Sacred Heart Schools. In the early 1970s, as the Society of the Sacred Heart navigated the period of renewal in the wake of Vatican II, lay leadership became an increasingly vital part of the mission. Sister Collins and other pioneering educators saw the need for a structured network that would sustain and deepen the charism of Sacred Heart education across the United States.

Her vision was one of organizational unity and solidarity—of schools bound together by a shared commitment to educate students for purposeful lives of faith, intellect, and action. She understood that the Goals and Criteria would serve as both a compass and a challenge, ensuring that Sacred Heart Schools would uphold their identity and actively respond to the needs of the world.

Justice at the Core

Justice has always been a Sacred Heart value. The articulation of Goal III placed it at the center of our educational mission. More than an aspiration, this Goal demands engagement—it insists that education be a means of transformation; and that students learn to see the world’s injustices clearly and respond with compassion and courage.

Over the past five decades, our School has embraced the call of Goal III in ways that reflect the changing realities of our time. From the early years of service programs to today’s Social Action program—framed by the question, “How is my well-being bound up with yours?”—we have sought to form students who serve and seek to understand, who recognize their responsibility not just to do good but to work toward justice. Over the last fifty years, the interconnectedness of the Network of Sacred Heart Schools has provided opportunities for building relationships across the Network, deepening our understanding of our Sacred Heart heritage, and collaboration and service—all of which strengthened our collective impact.

Education, Community, and the Future

As we look ahead, we must ask: What do the next 50 years require of us? How will we continue to educate in ways that uphold the dignity of every person? How will we shape communities that embody the justice we seek?

The answers will not come from any individual or school but from our shared commitment to the mission we have inherited. Sister Collins’ vision was not just about connecting schools—it was about strengthening a movement. Today, that movement calls us to be ever more faithful to our identity as educators of the heart, builders of just communities, and seekers of truth in a world desperately needing it. As Sister Collins noted at the Stuart Conference in 1974, “This is our moment and time… to reflect together, to plan together, to build together, and to hope together, seriously—because our times demand it of us, and enthusiastically—because our faith asks it of us… Our response…must be to seek, to work in our schools for the establishment of justice and the purification of power, and to do so in the double context of: who we are, and what the structures of learning are that we create.”

As we celebrate this milestone year, let it be a moment of nostalgia and, more importantly, a renewal of purpose. The work is unfinished. The vision continues. And we, together, are called to shape the next chapter.