During the conference, there was time for reflection, led by Sr Margaret Wilson RSCJ. This was based on the northern saints associated with Holy Island, their spirituality and search for space to pray and reflect. This was an opportunity to take time out for themselves, making space for God.

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Sr Cath Lloyd RSCJ also shared present themes in the province and the Society related to the Special Chapter, legacy and our 180 years’ celebration of the Sisters arriving in England in 1842.

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There was also plenty of time to be together to share ideas.

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The school has had a very successful Lenten Mission called “Return to me with all your Heart. This culminated with a beautiful Lent service.

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Wishing a happy and blessed St Patrick's Day to all our RSCJ, friends, co-workers and students in and from Ireland, Nigeria and Montserrat! May we all know and recognise the presence of Christ, and His gift of peace, in and around us.

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On the first Friday of March, RSCJ and members of the Sacred Heart family (associates, co-workers, students and others) across the world prayed this prayer, from the Novena of Confidence, for Ukraine. We invite you to join us in prayer, wherever you are, whatever the day

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“When one part of the body is wounded, the whole body feels the pain.”

A statement of solidarity from the Provincials of Europe, click here to read the full statement.

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Click here to learn about the Society of the Sacred Heart’s History in Ukraine

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In the early hours of Monday 31st January 2022 God called Amy Micallef Eynaud RSCJ to the fullness of life, at the age of 103, and after more than 82 years of religious life.

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Born in Sliema, Malta in October 1918, in the final weeks of World War I, Amy lived through a century of seismic changes – in society, Church, politics, technology, women’s rights - as well as two global pandemics, at the beginning and end of her life.

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Amy first encountered the Society of the Sacred Heart as a pupil at our school, St Julian’s, and it was here, during a school retreat, that she first felt called to give all she had – her whole life – to God in religious life. After leaving school she completed a short course in nursing and considered joining an order dedicated to this, but she realised that the spirituality and ethos of the Sacred Heart were what she really wanted her life to be about.

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In July 1939 Amy left Malta, to enter the noviciate in Roehampton, where she received the habit seven months later. By then plans were already being made to evacuate the novices to avoid wartime bombing raids: Roehampton having been the noviciate for England and Malta since 1850, Amy thus became the last in a very long line of RSCJ to enter there.

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The noviciate was evacuated to Kinross in Scotland, where Amy made her vows in February 1942 – had she lived only three weeks longer she would have celebrated her 80th anniversary. She spent the next three years in West Hill, before returning to Malta – and to a long-awaited reunion with her family - after the war had ended in 1945. Throughout her life, Amy remained very close to her parents and to her brother and his wife, who became regular visitors to whichever community she lived in, along with their children.

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Amy and another sister set about establishing a Junior School, before she left Malta again, to spend five months in Rome preparing for her perpetual vows, which she made in February 1948. She then lived in England – working in the schools at Tunbridge Wells and Brighton – before returning to Malta in 1954. She spent the next twenty-three years teaching at St Julian’s, becoming Head of the Junior School in 1969. A naturally humble, diffident woman, she found this, and other positions of authority difficult, but she embraced them with generosity, as she also embraced the many post-Vatican II changes. These included moving from the main convent into a small community house with only a few other sisters – the first of many small communities she was able to adapt to, after more than thirty years in large institutions. Those who lived with her recall a kind, loving, cheerful and wise woman, but one who also lacked confidence in herself and her gifts, and needed reassurance.

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Amy returned to England in 1978, where she spent most of the rest of her life, initially moving between Southall, Roehampton, Bexhill, Acton and Hammersmith – plus a renewal course in Rome, in 1985. In Roehampton she provided support to and later led Duchesne House, the Society’s new community for infirm sisters; in Hammersmith, she focused on providing hospitality to the many visitors to London, and in her other communities she engaged in activities in the parish.

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In 1995 Amy moved to Hayes, where she remained for eighteen years, apart from two spent in Floriana in Malta, living her retirement as actively and enthusiastically as possible. She knew all the bus routes – and regular drivers and passengers! – and was well-liked by parishioners, whom she welcomed at post-Mass tea and coffee, and the elderly people at a club where she volunteered.

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By 2013 Amy’s energy was beginning to diminish, and she moved to Duchesne House, across the road from the convent where she had entered the Society 74 years earlier. She missed Hayes very much, but gave herself generously to her new community and its very different life and schedule, attending and supporting as many community gatherings as she could. In 2018 she celebrated her 100th birthday with a big party; there were smaller parties for her next three birthdays, but by October 2021, she had begun to grow weary. Amy died very peacefully, accompanied by the prayers of her community. Maybe in her final journey to God, and at the end of such a long life, she could know the truth of words from her favourite hymn, which were sung at her requiem Mass:

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O Lord, with your eyes set upon me, 

gently smiling, you have spoken my name; 

all I longed for I have found by the water, 

at your side, I will seek other shores.

Amy Mary Anne Micallef Eynaud RSCJ, 17th October 1918 – 31st January 2022

Amy speaking in 2016 about her early years in the Society and experience of wartime.

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Doreen Bell RSCJ celebrated her 90th birthday on January 24th – and the celebrations have lasted more than a week!‍

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Doreen began by celebrating her milestone birthday with the other RSCJ in Newcastle. A few days later a party in her honour was hosted by FAR (Fenham Association of Residents), the group with whom she has been involved for 42 years. During the celebrations, Doreen received a letter from the Lord Mayor of Newcastle, Habib Rahman…

Dear Sister Doreen

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I am writing to wish you a very happy 90th birthday, and to offer you my sincere congratulations!

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I understand that for the past 42 years you have been the driving force of community development work. As the founding member of Fenham Association of Residents, you have overseen the group’s transformation from a group of local women needing help, support and guidance to steering them forward into a successful organisation.

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Your impact on the community cannot be overestimated and you have touched many people’s lives. You have promoted the rights of local people and championed the Fenham community on a number of local issues. Your determination has seen the organization grow from a nomadic existence to the present-day community building, the FAR community Centre. The fact that FAR now supports 100’s of residents on a weekly basis is testament to your dedication and your massive commitment to our city.

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I know your public service has been far reaching and I want to thank you on behalf of the City Council and residents, for being a tireless advocate for Fenham and your unparalleled commitment and enthusiasm for over 40 years.

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What a wonderful letter of appreciation for many years of service in the name of the Society. Well done Doreen!!

On the 14th December 2021, Silvana Dallanegra RSCJ celebrated her silver jubilee of vows. Here’s what she had to say…

So, today's the day I officially become a Silver Sister! My silver jubilee: twenty-five years since I made my first vows to God, in the Society of the Sacred Heart. No profound words; just profound gratitude... for God's enduring and unlimited fidelity, patience and grace; for Love's irresistible call, and for the mystery of this gift and grace of vocation. I remain utterly bowled over and amazed at God's choice and call, even as I remain utterly convinced that this is what I was made for. 

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But I will add a few more words. Yesterday I received a Twitter notification: someone had liked a reply I'd tweeted two months ago to a question asked of the Carmelite nuns about how long it takes to become a nun. And on the eve of my jubilee, it was so good to be reminded that I'd written: You start becoming a nun the day you enter. You think you've "become a nun" when you make your vows. And in many ways you have. But actually, you discover you go on becoming a nun for many more years, as you can never stop growing, deepening, discovering, learning.

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And it's sooo true! And that is the wonder of it, and the joy. I can never stop this journey into Love, through the open Heart of God in the heart of our world. A jubilee, like any milestone, is an opportunity to pause, rejoice, reflect and give thanks - and then, renewed, to continue moving forward. You will see greater things... Jesus promised Nathanael, and says to me, today. 

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The best is yet to come. The journey, and the jubilee, continue... 

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Someone recently asked me for the date of the Feast of the Sacred Heart. I began to explain that it's a moveable feast, coming at the end of a whole series of moveable feasts, which begin with Pentecost... no, with Easter... no, Lent... Ash Wednesday... And as I heard myself describe this liturgical continuum, something within me broke into a gleeful little dance. Wow, I thought... Wow... from Ash Wednesday to the Sacred Heart, in one unbroken movement!

From the day when we turn to God with all our hearts, seeking grace and forgiveness and mercy... through Lent, when we yearn and learn to love, and Easter, that greatest of all feasts of Christ's love... and then Pentecost, the love of the Trinity, and of Corpus Christi... to the day when we celebrate the Heart of God, the fathomless source of all that tender, overflowing, compassionate and merciful love.

In a pastoral letter for Ash Wednesday, Cardinal Vincent Nichols once wrote that Ash Wednesday is the doorway into this season of renewal. And so it is... And it's also a doorway into God's wide-open Heart, a sure companion on our journey. And this is the hope and the assurance which strengthen me as I enter this time of growth and renewal, and this Lent which is, as always, filled with a promise which holds as much blessing as it does challenge.

Have a happy, grace-filled Lent, everyone!

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Adapted from a reflection by Silvana Dallanegra RSCJ, which first appeared in All this Life and Heaven Too

On Saturday 2nd August Sisters Mon McGreal RSCJ and Steph Romaine RSCJ quietly celebrated their Golden Jubilees of perpetual profession of vows, made in 1975.

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Here, Steph, who is part of our community in Fenham, Newcastle, shares how she spent the day...

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I began my Jubilee Day with Mass in the Cathedral, and to my surprise the first reading from Leviticus (25:1, 8-17) reminds us of the origin and meaning of Jubilee. God owns the land and for a whole year it was to remain uncultivated, unworked on, so that the land itself had a holiday! So, after coffee and a scone at the Oak and Iron Heritage Centre I went for a walk at nearby Gibside.

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The first thing that showed itself to me was the beginning of a new leaf on a twig - it told me that this is the beginning of a new stage of my life. As I walked on it felt as though I was walking back through my life again, through the woods of my life:

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Babies in buggies, young children playing….older children making dens. I remembered the woods of my childhood on Putney Heath; the woods at Woldingham when I was a novice – the Dark Night where I had an illegitimate cigarette or two; and the woods at the top of St Michael’s Mount when I was teaching in the school at Woldingham, taking a walk on a day off from the boarding school. On I walked in the Hollies near Leeds and Roundhay Park, on a Saturday with Vivien Bowman. On and on, until surrounded by woods and mountains at Llannerchwen. A few sedate walks around Bolam Lake and Wallington here in the North East, until today the woods at Gibside. I’ll come again now I’ve found the bus route!

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Woods hold so much, speak with so much symbolism of my 80 years of life and now 50 years of Final Profession: so much variety, so much contrast, so many beginnings and endings, and handing’s over; so much darkness and light and dappled light and deep shade. There was deadness, dead leaves, dead trees, dead ends; and yet fresh greenness, new buds, new leaves, and fresh fruit, hollows and vistas... and always stillness with rustling leaves and silence, silence broken only by birdsong; clear paths and brambles with no way through and yet always The Way.

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So much to be grateful for, so many companions on the way, and through it all, invisible and everlasting arms holding and guiding, picking up, comforting, never letting go and always loving:

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‘The Good news of the Kingdom’ (my Probation Name)*

And my devise (motto)

‘I praise you, Father, because you have revealed these things to little ones
and hidden them from the wise and prudent.
You have put all these things in my hands.’
Lk:10:21

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We send our congratulations and prayer to Steph and Mon, and to the other RSCJ around the world for whom this is a Jubilee year.

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* 'Probation' is our preparation for final vows, a process done in an international group, lasting almost five months. At the end of this time, as per a long Society tradition, the Superior General will give the group a name and devise which give them a communal and individual new identity and call as professed RSCJ.

On a very hot day at the beginning of July, the Head Girl teams from Sacred Heart in Fenham and Hammersmith joined their fellow students leaders from Woldingham School for two days of student leadership training. The conference, titled “ Leading from the Heart” gave them the opportunity to consider their leadership styles, their role within a team as well as important skills such as effective communication and using your initiative.

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It was a delight to see how quickly the students bonded and enjoyed sharing their experiences of leading in a Sacred Heart school. In the evening, a poignant moment was had in Woldingham’s new vineyard as we learned more about the symbolism of the different parts of the vine and the importance of the vines to St Madeleine Sophie Barat.

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The Society of the Sacred Heart around the world celebrated 100 years of St Madeleine Sophie Barat on May 24th. The schools and college in our province marked this very special occasion with liturgies and special assemblies, heart-shaped lollies and prayer cards. Students and staff also came together to watch a new film made by the Schools Network to tell the story of Sophie's life and share some of her most loved quotations, read by our RSCJ Sisters. You can watch the film here:

75 students and staff from across all of our schools and college gathered at the end of September to celebrate HeartFest 6, our biennial student conference at the Emmaus Youth Village, County Durham.

For three days, students worked collaboratively on a range of tasks linked to all 5 Sacred Heart Goals of education, as we are celebrating this school year, the 50^th birthday of the Goals which launched in the United States in 1975.

Despite the torrential rain, spirits were high as creative skills were used to express each of the Goals in workshops such as friendship bracelet making (for the Goal of Community) and re-imagining our ideal world in art (for the Goal of Social  Awareness)

HeartFest 6 concluded with a moving liturgy at Sacred Heart High School, Fenham where all those in attendance were commissioned as the first Sacred Heart Network Student Team, who will now take an active role in leading Goals based activities in our schools and college.

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UPDATED 29th JULY - We send our prayers and best wishes to the Alumnus of Sacred Heart Schools around the world who are competing in the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris this summer:

(clockwise from top left)

Tierna Davidson from Sacred Heart Schools, Atherton, California (Class of 2016) will compete in soccer for the USA

(photo credit: Wikipedia)

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Lanihei Connolly from Baradene College of the Sacred Heart, Auckland, New Zealand (class of 2023) is competing in swimming (100m Breaststroke) for the Cook Islands.

(photo credit:www.birmingham2022.com)

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Gaby Lopez from Collegio Sagrado Corazon, Mexico (class of 2012) will compete in Golf for Mexico

(photo credit: Wikipedia)

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Mary (Daisy) Mazzio-Manson from Newton Country Day School of the Sacred Heart, Boston (class of 2016) will compete in Rowing fours for the USA

(photo: LinkedIn)

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Georgia Bell from Sacred Heart High School, Hammersmith (class of 2010) will compete in Athletics (1500m) for Great Britain

(photo: Michael Steele / Getty images)

Isabella Russekoff from Sacred Heart Greenwich, Connecticut (class of 2018) will compete in Equestrian Showjumping for Israel.

(photo credit: @shgreenwich Instagram)

Katie Ledecky from Stone Ridge Sacred Heart, Bethesda, Maryland (class of 2015) will compete in Swimming (400m freestyle, 1500m freestyle, 4 x 200m freestyle relay, 800m freestyle) for the USA.

(photo credit: Gregory Shamus / Getty Images)

Carlota Ciganda from Sagrado Corazon, Pamplona, Spain (class of 2008) will compete in Golf for Spain

(photo credit: Wikipedia)

Erin Gemmell from Stone Ridge Sacred Heart, Bethesda, Maryland (class of 2023) will complete in Swimming (200m freestyle and 4 x 200m freestyle relay) for the USA

(photo credit: Jack Splitser / Splitser photography)

Phoebe Bacon from Stone Ridge Sacred Heart, Bethesda, Maryland (class of 2020) will complete in Swimming (200m backstroke) for the USA

(photo credit: Wikipedia)

Paige Greco from Sacre Coeur Glen Iris, Victoria (class of 2015) will compete in Paralympic Cycling for Australia

(photo credit: Paul Harris)

Mewen Tomac from Lycée Sacre Coeur, Amiens, France (class of 2020) will compete in Swimming (100m and 200m backstroke) for France

(Photo credit: Faugere / L’Equipe)

Annabelle Smith from Sacre Coeur Glen Iris, Victoria (class of 2010) will compete in Diving (3m synchronised) for Australia

(Photo credit: @annabellesmith Instagram)

Beth Yeagar from Sacred Heart Greenwich, Connecticut (class of 2021) will compete in Field Hockey for the USA

(Photo Credit:www.teamusa.com)

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NEWLY ADDED (centre left)

Marie Simon from La Perverie, Nantes, France (class of 2018) will compete in Field Hockey for France.

(photo credit: www.ffhockey.org)

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NEWLY ADDED (above centre)

Blanca Hervas from Sagrado Corazon, Rosales, Madrid (class of 2021) will compete in Athletics (4 x 400m relay) for Spain.

(photo credit: www.worldathletics.org)

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NEWLY ADDED (centre)

Elizabeth Dekker from Duchesne College, University of Brisbane (class of 2022) competing in Swimming (200m butterfly) for Australia

(photo credit: Delly Carr)

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NEWLY ADDED (centre right)

Noe Jouin from La Perverie, Nantes, France (class of 2020) will compete in Field Hockey for France.

(photo credit:www.ffhockey.org)

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We send our congratulations also to Samantha McGill (former Head Girl from Kilgraston Sacred Heart, Scotland) who joins the Team GB support team for Tennis.

Please let us know if we have missed anyone on our Sacred Heart Team sheet  – and consider following our Schools Network Instagram account for schedule updates and results: heart_filled_year

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As part of our 1842 celebrations and in recognition of the Year of Community, schools across our Network raised a phenomenal £12,374.08 for the building of a new Sacred Heart Primary School in Eldoret, Kenya. Schools took part in a range of creative fundraising activities including sponsored walks, bake sales and singing competitions. Their collective efforts will make a huge difference to this exciting project which will provide an education for young children, many who are orphaned and living in poverty on the outskirts of the city of Eldoret. It is hoped that once the school opens, links can be made with primary schools in our network in order to set up some joint student projects.