About us

Anita Bath, former headteacher of Sacred Heart High School in Fenham, and now Chief Executive of the Bishop Bewick Educational Trust has been awarded an OBE in the New Year’s Honours for services to education. Anita began her role as CEO of the Trust in 2019 which now brings together 39 Catholic schools across Newcastle, North Tyneside and Northumberland including our own Sacred Heart Primary school and Sacred Heart High school in Fenham.

“I am deeply honoured and so happy to receive an OBE in the New Year’s Honours. This recognition is not something I ever expected, and I accept it on behalf of the many dedicated colleagues I have worked alongside throughout my career.”

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The Society was founded on 21st November November 1800, when St Madeleine Sophie and her first companions made their vowed commitment, and keeps this date as its birthday. This year, on its 225th birthday, Lorraine Pratt RSCJ celebrated the 50th anniversary of her own perpetual vows. Lorraine (in the centre of the photo above, dressed in black), whose ministry is leading and being part of workshops and retreats centred on sacred dance, tells us how she spent the day at a workshop in Germany...

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I arrived in Germany on the 20th and straightaway it began to snow!

I had arrived a day early for the workshop so that I could have a quiet day - and the snow added to the silence!

After preparing for Final Vows in 1975 I chose to return to Newcastle upon Tyne to make my vows because it would be in this community that I would live them. I also chose to make them on November 21st, the Society’s Birthday.

The workshop I had come to Germany for was the third of a series of three. Each morning the group begins with an ‘Atunement’ - a time which begins in silence and contains a possible poem, and about seven dances. I had asked if I could prepare the one for the first morning, the 22nd. I used a poem by Ulrich Schaffer, and dances I felt the group would be comfortable with; and during the session I renewed my vows because much of my ministry today is in the context of the dance community in Germany, Spain and Hungary. It was a shared experience of commitment and joy.

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After the workshop I went to stay with the Community in Bonn before going to another dance workshop over the first weekend of Advent. And then I returned to my community in Fenham, Newcastle, and another simple celebration.

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The Name given to my Group, which prepared for profession in Jette (Belgium) was ‘The Body of Christ’

Our devise (motto) was the Society's motto, Cor Unum et Anima Una in Corde Jesu (One Heart and One Mind in the Heart of Jesus)

These continue to be central to my life and mission.

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On Saturday 8th November, RSCJ from England and Wales gathered in Roehampton with our Provincial and her Team, for a day of input, updates and discussion around our new Province of Central Europe and the Islands, and various developments in this country. We ended the day with a Eucharist celebrating two Golden Jubilees: 100 years (and more!) of fidelity, service and loving response to God's everlasting call, by two of our sisters.

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In August, Steph Romaine RSCJ had quietly celebrated her 50th anniversary (golden jubilee) of perpetual vows, as did Mon McGreal RSCJ, who was unable to be with us on Saturday. Lorraine Pratt RSCJ will celebrate hers later this month. During the Mass we prayed for Mon, and for all the RSCJ from across the world with whom they had prepared for their profession of vows - including some who are now celebrating in heaven. We ended the day with a celebratory tea, including a cake covered in colourful tulips - very appropriate for two keen gardeners!

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Whenever we renew our vows we do so 'with all my heart'. Please pray for Lorraine, Mon, Steph and all of us, that we may continue to live 'with all our hearts' our vows and our commitment to our mission, to glorify the Heart of Jesus by discovering and making known his love.

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November is traditionally the month when we remember all those - especially our loved ones - who have gone before us, and whose memory is a blessing and inspiration for us. This year, though, our remembrance began five days early...

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On Monday 27th October, eighteen RSCJ were joined by Fleur Anderson MP, Gillian, Countess Castle Stewart (a relative of Janet Stuart), representatives from our Network of Sacred Heart Schools, and leaders from Roehampton University and Wandsworth Council, for the unveiling of a Green Heritage plaque celebrating the life and work of Mabel Digby RSCJ and Janet Erskine Stuart RSCJ. The plaque has been awarded by Wandsworth Council and is located on the exterior wall of Digby Stuart College, close to the original doors on Roehampton Lane. The ceremony therefore took place on the road - it was a lovely sight to see bus drivers and pedestrians travelling past peering over to see what was taking place.

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For just over forty years Mabel and Janet had a profound influence on the mission and expansion of the Society of the Sacred Heart, in this country and across the world. They both spent many years living at the convent in Roehampton, where, in 1874, Mabel founded our first teacher training college. In 1946 this was renamed Digby Stuart in their honour, and is now part of the University of Roehampton.

Fleur Anderson, MP for Putney spoke beautifully about the remarkable achievements of Janet and Mabel, and reminded everyone that their legacy continues to this day – even in her own field, as a friend and colleague of the four Sacred Heart Members of Parliament! Their former schools, in Hammersmith (West London) and Fenham, Newcastle, were founded by Mabel and Janet respectively.

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Fleur spoke about the transformative power of education and concluded her speech with these words from Janet:

'Aim at the very highest and the best, but understanding that to get this is a life's work, not the work of a day, so never let failure cast down or disappoint you, but always begin again with great courage and especially great confidence.'

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Twenty-eight educators from across the new Central Europe and the Islands province gathered for the first time at the Centre Sophie Barat, in Joigny in October. Teachers from England, Ireland, Malta and Austria gathered to learn more about Sophie’s life, experiences and vision of education as expressed now in Sophie’s Gift.

Before returning home, the group visited Sophie in Paris and prayed for all Sacred Heart communities in our new province. One delegate wrote: “It brought the story of Sophie’s life to life for me. ..her experiences reflect many things that ordinary people go through… The courage of Sophie also came to life when looking at the social and historical circumstances of her time.”

The Schools Networks of Central Europe and the Islands intend for this to be an annual conference, knowing that those who experience this valued time together in Sophie’s home, return to their schools energised and even more committed to Sophie’s vision.

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On Sunday 5th October God very gently called our dear sister Monica (Mon) to the fullness of life. Mon, who was 95, had been a vowed RSCJ for almost seventy years.

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In 2011 Mon and two other sisters, Frances Lynch (RIP), and Mary Barrow, celebrated the Golden Jubilee of their perpetual vows, made in Rome in July 1961. In this short video, they reflect on their experience of God, and of living our mission, in different contexts and countries...

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Shortly before her death, our Provincial was able to visit Mon, and prayed beside her, using a prayer from the Hebridean Altars, which begins: I do not think that I shall fear thee when I see thee face to face. We have many happy memories of Mon's warmth, humour and cheeriness, and pray that, as she finally sees God face to face, perpetual joy is now hers, with the God whose love she so faithfully and happily made known for so many years.

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A fuller obituary will be published in due course

For the past few years, the Society has been engaged in reconfiguring its existing Provinces into new entities. On the Feast of the Sacred Heart this year, Central Europe & The Islands (CEI) became the first new Province to be formed, bringing together Central Europe, England-Wales, Ireland-Scotland and Malta.

Today, 1st September, the second new Province, NEANZ (NE Asia, Australia & New Zealand), was born on the other side of the world. Their Provincial-to-be, Anne Corry RSCJ, pictured here with our own Provincial Margaret Wilson, spent some time this summer in London, and at St Beuno's retreat centre in Wales. Our love and prayers accompany Anne, and all the RSCJ and members of the Sacred Heart family in Australia, Japan, Korea-Chinese and New Zealand, as they continue to find new ways to make known the love of Jesus' Heart.

On Saturday 2nd August Sisters Mon McGreal RSCJ and Steph Romaine RSCJ quietly celebrated their Golden Jubilees of perpetual profession of vows, made in 1975.

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Mon writes:

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I found it difficult to believe that 50 years had passed since final profession. It became a day filled with memories and gratitude, bringing together all that has been and all that will be. I have this most beautiful sunflower in the garden which is saying it all.

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“The Good News of the Kingdom.”

“I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for hiding these things from the wise and prudent and revealing them to mere children.”

On Saturday 2nd August Sisters Mon McGreal RSCJ and Steph Romaine RSCJ quietly celebrated their Golden Jubilees of perpetual profession of vows, made in 1975.

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Here, Steph, who is part of our community in Fenham, Newcastle, shares how she spent the day...

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I began my Jubilee Day with Mass in the Cathedral, and to my surprise the first reading from Leviticus (25:1, 8-17) reminds us of the origin and meaning of Jubilee. God owns the land and for a whole year it was to remain uncultivated, unworked on, so that the land itself had a holiday! So, after coffee and a scone at the Oak and Iron Heritage Centre I went for a walk at nearby Gibside.

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The first thing that showed itself to me was the beginning of a new leaf on a twig - it told me that this is the beginning of a new stage of my life. As I walked on it felt as though I was walking back through my life again, through the woods of my life:

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Babies in buggies, young children playing….older children making dens. I remembered the woods of my childhood on Putney Heath; the woods at Woldingham when I was a novice – the Dark Night where I had an illegitimate cigarette or two; and the woods at the top of St Michael’s Mount when I was teaching in the school at Woldingham, taking a walk on a day off from the boarding school. On I walked in the Hollies near Leeds and Roundhay Park, on a Saturday with Vivien Bowman. On and on, until surrounded by woods and mountains at Llannerchwen. A few sedate walks around Bolam Lake and Wallington here in the North East, until today the woods at Gibside. I’ll come again now I’ve found the bus route!

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Woods hold so much, speak with so much symbolism of my 80 years of life and now 50 years of Final Profession: so much variety, so much contrast, so many beginnings and endings, and handing’s over; so much darkness and light and dappled light and deep shade. There was deadness, dead leaves, dead trees, dead ends; and yet fresh greenness, new buds, new leaves, and fresh fruit, hollows and vistas... and always stillness with rustling leaves and silence, silence broken only by birdsong; clear paths and brambles with no way through and yet always The Way.

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So much to be grateful for, so many companions on the way, and through it all, invisible and everlasting arms holding and guiding, picking up, comforting, never letting go and always loving:

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‘The Good news of the Kingdom’ (my Probation Name)*

And my devise (motto)

‘I praise you, Father, because you have revealed these things to little ones
and hidden them from the wise and prudent.
You have put all these things in my hands.’
Lk:10:21

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We send our congratulations and prayer to Steph and Mon, and to the other RSCJ around the world for whom this is a Jubilee year.

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* 'Probation' is our preparation for final vows, a process done in an international group, lasting almost five months. At the end of this time, as per a long Society tradition, the Superior General will give the group a name and devise which give them a communal and individual new identity and call as professed RSCJ.

On a very hot day at the beginning of July, the Head Girl teams from Sacred Heart in Fenham and Hammersmith joined their fellow students leaders from Woldingham School for two days of student leadership training. The conference, titled “ Leading from the Heart” gave them the opportunity to consider their leadership styles, their role within a team as well as important skills such as effective communication and using your initiative.

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It was a delight to see how quickly the students bonded and enjoyed sharing their experiences of leading in a Sacred Heart school. In the evening, a poignant moment was had in Woldingham’s new vineyard as we learned more about the symbolism of the different parts of the vine and the importance of the vines to St Madeleine Sophie Barat.

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