News

Letting Go: Sisters Share Thoughts

Villa Assumpta has been all bustle and commotion lately, with our Sisters packing and preparing for their move to Stella Maris. Recently, I asked four Sisters how they are feeling about their move...

Oktoberfest Weekly Winners - 2025!

Our 3rd Oktoberfest Raffle drawing took place today, Friday, October 17th!! Congratulations to our winners!! Stay tuned for next week's winners!

A Composite of Heartfelt Thank Yous to Sisters

As immigrants, we left our native land to come here. We were scared to live in our old country, and maybe just as frightened to come to this one, with all its new ways of living.

Foundation Day Prayer 2025

Today, we celebrate Foundation Day during the Jubilee Holy Year 2025 with its focus on Pilgrims of Hope. Journeying globally as a universal Church toward Hope calls forth historical and other contemporary examples of Pilgrims of Hope, internationally, nationally and congregationally.

Northeast Associates Celebrate First Covenants

On Saturday, October 4, 2025, Associates and Sisters from the Northeast area gathered at 3030 Park (Senior Living Hospitality) in Bridgeport, CT to celebrate the First Covenants of Helen Ramos and Larry Vitulano.

Pilgrimage of Hope: A Journey of Reflection, Responsibility, and Hope

During the Season of Creation, at the invitation of the province JPIC Pilgrimage of Hope Committee, our School Sisters of Notre Dame, Waterdown, hosted a deeply reflective and inspiring program centered on the theme Peace with Creation. Sisters and Associates gathered to explore their connection with nature, deepen their understanding of ecological responsibility, and reflect on the spiritual call to care for the Earth.

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving Day 2025

On Monday, October 13, our province celebrates Canadian Thanksgiving Day with our sisters, associates and staff in Canada. We give God praise and thanks for all we have received and pray in gratitude for the abundant blessings bestowed upon us, our family, friends and congregation.

Sister Dorothy Mary Leising, SSND - 1924 - 2025

Sister Dorothy's parents, Mary Smith and George Leising, instilled deep faith in their 9 children, with two sons, ordained as priests, and their daughters Dorothy, Blanche, and Florence all becoming School Sisters of Notre Dame! In her words, “I felt drawn to them in a special way. Their whole-hearted, self-sacrificing lives radiated through every day.” May Dottie’s boundless love and energy permeate our SSND life.

Nicholas Black Elk on the Road to Canonization

As we approach Indigenous People’s Day on October 13, you may wish to share the story of Black Elk with your community or family and offer his prayer: Great Spirit, Creating Love, we are made in Your image and likeness...

Looking at God in New and Grace-Filled Ways

Early on in the retreat the question: “Why did God make you?’ received a strong chorus answer right out of our Baltimore Catechism days. “Wrong!” Honora said as she quoted Fr. Charlie Mulholand’s homily, “God made me so that God could know me, love me and be happy with me in this life and in the next.”

New Ministry Leads to New Friends

Nine years ago, I finished my ministry as a Director of Religious Education and pondered what was next in my life. I discovered an organization that welcomes immigrants and introduces them to their new homes and lives. Now I join other volunteers and visit immigrant families each week.

My Graced Adventure of Aging

Over the years, I was asked or offered to move into all sorts of unfamiliar ministerial situations. Having lots of physical and imaginative creative energy, I was quick to respond and act - to do anything, go anywhere. I inherited the spirit of my parents who emigrated from Germany for the adventure of America. The adventurous spirit in all the Theresa and Caroline stories helped to attract me to SSND. My life in SSND has always felt adventurous.

Canadian Sisters Share Personal Prayer Practices

In winding up our series on community prayer practices, we share some final thoughts from Sisters Rose Mary Sanders, Barbara Paleczny, and Celeste Reinhard.

Teaching Math for Deep Understanding in Haiti

Teachers in Haiti are gaining new tools and support to strengthen math instruction, thanks to the leadership of Sister Sharon Slear, SSND, and the expertise of Lisa Pallett, Associate Professor of Elementary Mathematics Education at Notre Dame of Maryland University.

A Pilgrim of Hope

My experience of being a Pilgrim of Hope on behalf of creation started before the official start date of the Season of Creation, in mid-August, on my annual retreat on the Jersey shore. As in past years, I am so grateful for the opportunity to contemplatively walk the beach and communing with the ocean, for the horizon that lifts my gaze from my little problems into the infinite vastness of God’s love, for the sand under my feet and the breeze through my hair. How could I ever pay back creation and the God of Creation for what I am gifted with during this week?

"Mother Abbess": Embodiment of Hope

“Mother Abbess” was the title affectionately given to Sister Alice Donnelly by our young, new SSND member, Sister Rebecca Tayag. Rebecca may have called her "Mother," but she really did have ideal motherly qualities. She was generous, gentle, and caring. She made sure we had fresh fruit to eat, to maintain physical health as well as healthy minds and spirits. She was visionary, determined, and fun.

How We Pray at Marian Village

We sisters in independent living at Marian Village near Chicago gather for community prayer in the afternoon, Monday through Thursday. We take turns leading the prayer, a week at a time. We have agreed that the leader in prayer is free to plan it.

Ordinary Time Gifts Us with Time

Ordinary Time is not ordinary at all... in the Church, Ordinary Time highlights Jesus' ministry of healing and teaching and speaking the truth.

Stepping Out in Faith

As I spent time pondering instances when I experienced a call, a sense of being asked to trust and dare, of needing to stop and consider an invitation to step out in faith. After nearly 60 years as an SSND, I have countless examples, large and small. These calls have come from a variety of sources and imply different consequences.

Visiting a 1927 Canadian Convent

I had the honour of visiting Leipzig, Saskatchewan, a quaint and once active village now reduced to two major buildings. The magnificent St. Paschal Roman Catholic Church, built in 1913 by German immigrants, and the beautiful Notre Dame Convent. It was the first SSND mission in western Canada, which opened in 1927 to teach and minister to the German immigrants.

School Sisters of Notre Dame Announce Election of New Provincial Council

The election assembly convened to reflect on the future of the province and elect new leadership for the next four years. As they spent time in prayer and dialogue, the Spirit moved among the body of SSND Electors and called the electors to be of one heart and soul.

God's Ordinary, Everyday, Radical Gift

First, Ordinary Time is called “ordinary” not because it is somehow lesser than the other liturgical seasons, but - according to church historians - simply because the weeks of Ordinary Time are numbered. The Latin word ordinalis refers to numbers in a series. It marks a time when we are neither feasting nor fasting. (Wikipedia)

Stellar at Stella: A Star-Studded Jubilee!

Heaven to earth: We rejoice in the stellar celebration of Jubilee on August 20, 2025 at Stella Maris in Timonium, Maryland! The stars were Sisters Margaret Marie Giblin (75-year Jubilarian), and Sisters Mary Paulette Doyas, Maria Felipe Lopez, Mary Therese Feeley, and Marie Mack, (70-year Jubilarians). These stars were not light-years away but close to us, especially as they aligned in procession to the chapel at Stella Maris and sat in wheelchairs near the sanctuary.

How We Pray in Waterdown, Ontario, CA

We in Waterdown are a very busy and involved community! We have daily, weekly, and monthly prayers, activities, and events. We continue to be an active community here in Waterdown!

Continued