Who we are
We are the United States – Canada (USC) Province of the Society of the Sacred Heart, part of an international congregation of Catholic women. Founded in 1800 by Saint Madeleine Sophie Barat, the Society of the Sacred Heart has more than 1,400 members (Religious of the Sacred Heart) in 43 countries. In the United States and Canada, we have 183 members in a wide variety of ministries.
Currently, the USC Province is one of 28 provinces, or established regions, that make up the international Society of the Sacred Heart.
Out of the international Society of the Sacred Heart Special Chapter of 2021 came the call to reorganize for life and mission and to find ways to share resources across boundaries. The provinces of the Society are in the process of coming together to form eight new provinces. Our future province is the combination of three provinces: United States – Canada, Mexico and Antilles (Puerto Rico, Cuba and Haiti).
Members of the Society, Sisters who have taken vows, are known as Religious of the Sacred Heart, or RSCJ (Religieuses du Sacré-Cœur de Jésus, the name in French.)
Our charism
Charism is a theological term for the extraordinary graces given to an individual for the good of others. Religious congregations refer to their “charism” as the animating spirit behind their mission. Our charism comes from our founder Saint Madeleine Sophie Barat, who desired nothing more than to share God’s love with students and, through them, the world.
Thus, from our charism comes our mission to discover and reveal God’s love in the heart of the world through the service of education.
Our way of life
As RSCJ, we are called to live lives that are both wholly contemplative and wholly apostolic, to be people prayer and of action. Our actions are shaped by our prayer and vice versa.
Who we are today
Today, we continue in Sophie’s mission and our work and ministry is done with the heart of an educator.
In the USC Province, RSCJ are teachers, administrators, lawyers, nurses, doctors, artists, writers, therapists, pastoral counselors, spiritual directors, and social workers. We can be found in a wide variety of ministries and settings, including universities, secondary and elementary schools and popular education centers; in hospitals, shelters, parishes, retreat centers, and prisons. We work with students of all ages; migrants, indigenous people and refugees; women and children; the poor, the sick and the searching.
As RSCJ, we collaborate with vast community of partners in mission who share in and live out our mission of revealing God’s love in communities throughout the United States and Canada and beyond.
In particular, our Network of Sacred Heart member schools — 25 total in Canada and the United States — provide education to approximately 12,500 students each year.
The Society of the Sacred Heart shares in this mission (of the Church)
by making known the revelation of God’s love,
whose source and symbol is for us the Heart of Christ.
We participate in the mission of the Church
through the service of education
which is our way of continuing the work of Christ.
— Constitutions of the Society of the Sacred Heart, §3