Educational conferences brought SSNDs together

By Sister Carol Marie Wildt

The SSND Educational Conference opened on Aug. 9, 1976, with a 3-hour cruise on the SS Admiral. As the steamer made its way down the Mississippi River, the delegates heard a travelogue about historic St. Louis, shared prayer in the ballroom, danced to music provided by the SSND Bicentennial Band, visited with old friends and made new friends.

The participants came from 24 states and the District of Columbia, Canada, England, Italy, Germany, Yugoslavia, Japan, Okinawa, Guam, Sierra Leone, Kenya, Ghana, Colombia, Chile, Puerto Rico, Honduras and Guatemala. They explored two main topics: first, how heritage had shaped the congregation, developed its traditions and gave direction for adaptation to a changing society; second, the impact of heritage on present and future SSND roles within the church, within education and within other service-oriented apostolates.

The educational conference contained a variety of concurrent sessions, sight-seeing tours, evenings for small group discussions, informal sharing, various liturgical services at the Motherhouse at Sancta Maria in Ripa, the St. Louis Cathedral and St. Joseph Church, Manchester, Missouri. Living in convent communities provided more time for personal contact between the host province and visiting sisters.

This School Sisters of Notre Dame Educational Conference was the fourth and the last hosted by the former St. Louis Province. Starting in 1955, the conference had been conceived as a means of interprovincial cooperation and unity. When evaluated in the early 1980s, it was judged to have fulfilled its original intent. The final educational conference was held in Milwaukee in 1983.

For 28 years, the conference had rotated from province to province, usually in the order of their establishment, providing a means of cooperation, unity and professional preparedness for the SSNDs of North America.

Photo submitted by SSND Archivists