Mission
Vision
Inspired by the Holy Spirit
As a French woman who also read Greek and Latin, Sophie understood the word spirit as esprit, which comes from the Latin word spiritus (courage, vigor, breath) Innate to all of us, spirituality speaks to our intuition that there is more to life than what we encounter on the surface, to our urgency to connect with a larger universe or truth, and to our intuition that this connection for which we long is with mystery or transcendence. It is a way of expressing our search for meaning and encounter with Beauty, with Ultimate Truth, with Mystery. Sophie experienced her spirituality, and relationship with Mystery as the Risen Christ. Her quest for meaning and truth became anchored in her relationship with Christ in and through whom she experienced the tenderness and warmth of God. The image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus best conveyed to her the depth of God’s love for all.
Sophie’s life was a journey experienced during a complex, volatile moment in history. Over time and amid successes and failures as a founder and as an educator, Sophie came to see that ultimate truth is encountered through relationships and in prayer. Wholly committed to the work of education, Sophie underscored the absolute need for silence and for contemplation. Her life illustrates how fully living in the Risen Christ allows one to see the world with new eyes, eyes of compassion and hope. This is the perspective from which Sophie envisioned Sacred Heart education. It is from this experience of being loved and loving that Sophie received and developed her vision of education.
Sophie considered the service of education as 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. The end was to rebuild the fractured world around her in hope; the means was forming young people to intelligent faith, compassionate action, and courageous hope.
Saint Madeleine Sophie Barat
"Let us respect childhood; let us honor the soul of that small creature of God who can already make choices of the best if we take the time to awaken her reason and make her use her judgment."
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.