New leader of School Sisters of Notre Dame outlines priorities

Published: 2007-12-27

BALTIMORE (CNS) -- In the face of what she sees as an increasingly polarized and splintered world, the newly elected global leader of the School Sisters of Notre Dame said she hopes to promote a sense of solidarity among humanity. Sister Mary Maher was elected general superior of her international women's religious community during the congregation's 22nd general chapter held in Sao Leopoldo, Brazil, this fall. She had been in her second year as provincial leader of her order's Baltimore-based Atlantic-Midwest province. "The world is fractured by an inability to deal with difference except through violence," said Sister Mary, a native of Oceanside, N.Y., who entered the School Sisters in 1968 and professed her final vows in 1979. "We School Sisters have a mission to bring all to the oneness in God," she said. "Education is our response to the cries of the world." During the general chapter, members of the order approved a directional statement, "Call to Solidarity," that will guide the order during the next five years.

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