Join Us as an SNDdeN...

Our Congregation - At-a-Glance

The congregation Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur (SNDdeN) was founded by Julie Billiart and Françoise Blin de Bourdon in France in 1804 in the midst of the religious, social and political upheaval of the French Revolution. Their love of the good God and their friendship motivates us to make known in our time, as St. Julie and Françoise did in theirs, that God is good.

We are women in relationship with God, each other, and the people of God working ...

• to stand with the poor especially women and children,
• to celebrate the gifts of many cultures,
• to educate for justice in our ministries, and
• to support one another in a simple, communal and prayerful life.

We are women of vision who are not afraid to take risks to make credible the Gospel of Jesus today.

We minister to and collaborate with co-workers nationally and internationally in order to respond to people who are under-served. We serve as teachers, counselors, social workers, religious education directors, health care workers, lawyers, pastoral counselors and community organizers.

Other programs include Notre Dame Associates (lay association), Service in the City (short-term volunteer program) and Notre Dame Mission Volunteers (longer, term volunteer program).

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Discerning about religious life is a process of prayer, reflection, conversation and listening.

As you think about your call to religious life, we invite you to dialogue with us about our way of living and your desire to respond to God’s call.

• We offer discernment weekends, retreats and informal gatherings to help you discover your call.

• Our SND mentor program offers an inside look into the life of a Sister of Notre Dame as well as provides the opportunity to get to know a SND on a one-to-one basis.

• Other SND resources can help you discover more about Notre Dame—our charism, history and traditions.
  

• Resources to aid your prayer and beginning discernment can also be found at http://askansnd.org.

When you are ready, we can help you enter into a formal discernment process.

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Stages of Membership

	Pre-Affiliation: "Am I called?" (Six months to two years) Offers a period of support while you prayerfully discern your call.
	Affiliation: “Is this Congregation ‘right’ for me?” (Approximately one  to two years) Live in a Notre Dame community and experience life with members of the congregation as you learn more about the SND spirit and mission.
	Novitiate: “Is God calling me to a life of poverty, celibate chastity and obedience?” (Two years) As a novice you will be given the direction and time necessary to deepen and integrate your life of contemplation, mission and ministry and the living of the vows.
	Initial Commitment: “Am I able and willing to make a commitment to Notre Dame?” (Approximately five years) Upon making your first vows of celibate chastity, poverty and obedience in a public ceremony, you will live as a member in one or more Notre Dame communities, participate in ministry and continue to discern your readiness to make a lifetime commitment as a Sister of Notre Dame.
	Permanent Commitment: “How can I continue loving and serving the Good God?” At the time of your final vows you dedicate your entire life to God and God’s people as a member of the Congregation of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. Through God’s faithful love, you will know the grace to live out and grow in that commitment.

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For more information, please contact:
U.S. National Vocation Team
1 888 827-1724
ASKanSND@SNDdeN.org
www.SNDdeN.org

Click here for a list of U.S. vocation team regional offices.

Click here for a list of vocation team contacts outside the U.S.

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In their own words...
Becoming a Sister of Notre Dame

PATRICIA SHEA, UNITED STATES
Patricia Shea is now a novice. She wrote the following when she was an Affiliate with us ...
“The Sisters of Notre Dame whom I know are happy people. Their joy feels radical in our time because it embodies hope. It provides a much needed contrast with the voices of gloom and doom. The Sisters' distinctive life is also radical as a witness to the presence of God. Ultimately, their lives make sense only if God exists. Betting my one and only life on the presence of a good God with Notre Dame is attractive. I love God and I love life. I feel drawn to the particular way the Sisters live out the universal baptismal call of walking with Christ. So I am spending this year as an Affliate living with the Sisters and I feel at home.”

SR. SANDRA ARAUJO DOS SANTOS, BRAZIL

Sr. Sandra Araujo dos Santos, who has taken her FInal Vows, wrote the following after taking her First Vows ...
"My first attraction was to the pastoral work of (the late) Sister Dorothy Stang and her team in the communities along the Transamazonian Highway. I observed the fact that there were young people on the pastoral team and that the whole team had a special way of working. They treated people with great respect and were friendly. They made an effort to visit all the families in their homes. They held community meetings and youth meetings. During my teen years, I participated in these meetings, was a catechist, and worked with the young people in my community. While I was observing their work, Sr. Dorothy was observing me. Her first invitation was to join the pastoral team at Centro Nazare. I spent two years there and learned many new skills. While there, I got to know the mission of the Congregation, grew to love the mission and knew I was called to this work. In February, 2002, I made my first vows. 

SR. PATIENCE MPELA,
DEM. REP. OF CONGO

Sr. Patience Mpela wrote the following after taking her First Vows ...
"It was before I was old enough to go to school when I felt the call to the religious life ... Ever since I became acquainted with the life of St. Julie, she has drawn me and developed my motivation. The love of the poor that Julie had inspires me to look on the poor with tenderness and kindness and to go to their aid by working them and for them."

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Discernment Tools

Vision Vocation Guide
English

¡Oye! Magazine (Listen)
English / Spanish

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Vocation Events

Click here to download The Retreat Brochure for 2012.
(You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader.)

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