Mission
Goals and Criteria
Goals and Criteria
The Goals and Criteria of Sacred Heart education defines the mission of Sacred Heart schools as part of the Society’s educational mission in the Catholic Church. This mission finds its source in the vision of Saint Madeleine Sophie Barat who began her work as an educator in 1800 when she founded the Society in France.
In that historic moment of complexity, change and uncertainty
Sophie responded from the depths of her relationship with Jesus Christ whose image and love were so deeply a reality to her that the Spirit remained infused in all she did. It is from this love and spirit that Sophie received and developed her vision of education.
She believed the service of education was the primary means by which the Society would carry on its mission of communicating the love of the Heart of Jesus. For her education was never the end. Rather it served as the means for educators and students to come to know and experience God’s love.
Sharing in the mission of the Society of the Sacred Heart to reveal God’s love in the heart of the world, Schools of the Sacred Heart commit to educate to:
I. A personal and active faith in God;
II. A deep respect for intellectual values;
III. A social awareness that impels to action;
IV. The building of community as a Christian value;
V. Personal growth in an atmosphere of wise freedom.
For over 200 years, the timeless principles embodied in the Goals and Criteria have endured while the context of the world within which they operate has changed. The current pace of demographic, social and technological transformation, the information explosion, and new forms of competition challenge all schools in ways never before encountered. Sacred Heart schools today face the additional challenge to educate to values rooted in faith.
Related Links
Schools of the Sacred Heart share in the educational mission of the Society of the Sacred Heart as articulated in the Goals and Criteria. The structure supporting Sacred Heart education in Canada and the United States includes the Conference of Sacred Heart Education and the Network of Sacred Heart Schools. Together they provide services and programs to ensure vitality of mission for the member schools sponsored by the Society of the Sacred Heart.