The Sisters of Notre Dame (SND) reunited their four North American provinces, or administrative units, on July 5, 2020. The new national province includes sisters from Thousand Oaks, California; Covington, Kentucky; Chardon, Ohio and Toledo, Ohio. 

Congratulations to the 2019 SND Distinguished Graduate Award recipients from the Covington Province.

The countdown has begun! While not a space capsule readying to launch into the awe-inspiring atmosphere, the Sisters of Notre Dame are equally as excited to announce the launch of their four U.S. provinces into one “SND-USA” in 2020.

On Tuesday, December 19, 2017 the Sisters of Notre Dame welcomed Michelle Blevins as a postulant.  Michelle will move to the national postulancy in Covington, Kentucky on January 2, 2018 to continue in formation in preparation for entering the national novitiate.

From October 20 through October 22, 2017 approximately 200 Notre Dame Sisters and Associates from all four U.S. provinces will gather at the Chardon Provincial Center for fellowship, prayer and presentations. 

This year as Holy Week begins, I find myself reflecting on the fears present in Scripture. We hear often from Jesus, "Do not be afraid." There must have been a lot of fear if he had to say it so often. Now that I think of it, it seems as if fear is a human quality. Fear arises when the illusion of control is dismantled in our lives. Ironically, our fear often ends up controlling us.

During evening prayer on February 21, 2017, the Covington Province celebrated the start of Sr. Nicole Marie Varnerin's apostolic year. Sr. Nicole, a Notre Dame novice, concluded her canonical year of theological study and will now spend her apostolic year putting what she learned into practice.

by Sr. Mary Margaret Droege

For two years or more, we Sisters of Notre Dame have been hearing about “SND-USA.”  Each area of our life is being reviewed as the four SND provinces in the USA prepare to become one by 2020.  Committees consider provincial policies and procedures and there have been opportunities for the sisters to meet one another through retreats, conferences, renewals, and jubilee celebrations.  But some of us have really taken this with great gusto.  I literally “fell for SND-USA.”

Sisters of Notre Dame postulants, Mayra Martinez from the California SND province, and Nicole Varnerin from the Cleveland SND province entered the novitiate of the Sisters of Notre Dame on February 20. A simple ceremony was held at the Covington province during community Evening Prayer.

Watch the SND Novitiate Entrance Ceremony that took place on Saturday, February 20, 2016 in Covington, Kentucky.

Before convening with more than 400 fellow Sisters of Notre Dame in Columbus, OH, the four U.S. vocation directors came together in Covington, Kentucky.  Sr. Valerie Marie Roxburgh (Thousand Oaks, CA), Sr. Kathleen Mary Hine (Chardon, OH), Sr. Mary Teresita Richards (Toledo, OH), and Sr. Mary Ruth Lubbers (Covington, KY) met from July 20-22 to review and edit the in-the-works SND vocation website. This has been an ongoing collaboration between the four provinces’ vocation offices and communication staff.

by Sr. Mary Rita Geoppinger

SND-USA as an event is over but, in reality, SND-USA has been happening and will continue to happen, grow and change as the years go on. For this reason it was delightful to view an old video (1989) showing the anniversary celebration in Toledo of Sr. Aloysia's death. This ran on jumbotron screens during lunch breaks in the assembly area. It was fun to see how we were then and to muse on how much we have changed. It made us very conscious of how far we have come in 25 years, which doesn't seem all that long ago.

by Sr. Mary Dolores Giblin

What a blast—of Spirit action, openness to that action and to others encountered.  Altogether an enriching and motivating experience! I think we all walked away from the SND*USA gathering feeling like it is truly a blessing to belong to the Notre Dame family in the United States.

by Sr. Marla Monahan

Today was the first full day of the SND*USA National Gathering. The morning began with a liturgy led by Monsignor Charles Singler, who is Director of Priestly Vocations/Office of Divine Worship for the Diocese of Toledo and was educated by the Sisters of Notre Dame in Sandusky, OH. Appropriately, his focus for us was joy and courage.

The SND*USA National Gathering is July 23-26 in Columbus, Ohio.

428 Sisters of Notre Dame from the four US provinces will gather in one hotel to plan and pray as we work toward becoming one US province. Click here to follow updates from the national gathering. 

by Sr. Mary Margaret Droege

Today is the day:  The day we’ve been anticipating for weeks – no, months!  In a few hours we are off to Columbus to meet with sisters from our three other USA provinces: Thousand Oaks, CA, Toledo, OH, and Chardon, OH.  This “Gathering” as we call it, is one of the major steps as we move forward to form one SND-USA province.

Sisters of Notre Dame from each of the four U.S. provinces are planning for the future in order to maintain the dedication to Jesus’ mission set forth by sisters of the past.