Education Overview

Educators from the Beginning of the Congregation

Spiritual formation and professional development have gone hand in hand for Sisters of Notre Dame from our earliest days. Our first Coesfeld sisters were themselves professional educators and began a teacher training institute as one of the original works of the congregation. The sisters who came to the United States in 1874 began immediately to staff parish elementary schools and founded Notre Dame Academy for young women in 1878.

We contributed to the growth of the amazing system of Catholic schools that brought hundreds of thousands of Catholic immigrants into the mainstream of American society. Sisters of Notre Dame have authored textbook series, held diocesan and national leadership positions in Catholic education as well as collaborated with outstanding lay women and men in staffing parish, diocesan and our own Catholic schools including Notre Dame College of Ohio.

Today many sisters are actively engaged in a variety of direct educational ministries, using their experience of classroom teaching to form new generations of children and young people as well as adult learners. We serve as school administrators, counselors, teachers, aides, librarians and tutors. We are college professors, direct catechetical programs, provide literacy and GED training for adults.

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Educational Principles     Sponsored Schools     SND National Office for Education