Windsor Jubilarians Celebrated | | |
On September 12, we celebrated four Jubilarians at a beautiful Liturgy at St. Robert Bellarmine Parish in Windsor Locks, Conn.
Sisters Josita Colbert, Maureen O’Brien, Claire Pierz and Maureen Toomey, SNDdeN, were surrounded by Sisters, family, friends and the community as they marked 70 years of religious life.
Sisters also lovingly remembered another 70-year Jubilarian, Sister Sheila Palmer, SNDdeN, who returned to God earlier this year.
God bless all this year's Jubilarians — thank you for your faithfulness!
| | Front, from left, Jubilarian Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur Maureen O’Brien, Josita Colbert, Maureen Toomey and Claire Pierz, SNDdeN, are accompanied by members of our Leadership Team (back row, from left) Sisters Roberta Rzeznik, Maria Delaney, Ginny Scally and Patricia O’Brien, SNDdeN. | |
Celebrating 175 Years in California-Oct. 4
Excitement continues to build for our 175th Anniversary Luncheon on Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026, in Foster City, California.
This special gathering will celebrate 175 years of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur's ministry, educational leadership and service throughout California.
In the meantime, please enjoy our social media video series featuring community members who use one word to describe this celebration and explain why.
What word would you use? Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Bluesky, and join the conversation!
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DAF Day
Mark your calendar for DAF Day on Thursday, Oct. 8, and join us in making a meaningful difference!
A Donor-Advised Fund (DAF) is a simple and effective way to support the causes you care about while maximizing your charitable impact.
If you already have a DAF, we invite you to recommend a grant to the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, U.S. East-West Province on DAF Day.
If you'd like to learn more about how a Donor-Advised Fund works and how it can support the Sisters' mission, please visit the DAF guide located on our website.
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EW Leadership Statement on 9/11 25th Anniversary
On the solemn anniversary of 9/11, the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, U.S. East-West Province, joined with all people of goodwill in prayerful remembrance of the nearly three thousand lives lost on September 11, 2001.
We give heartfelt thanks to the firefighters, police officers, paramedics and countless first responders who ran toward danger to save others.
Their courage remains a model of the love our world still needs.d text and link it
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Season of Creation: Living Water
The Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur are participating in this year's Season of Creation, observed from September 1, the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, through Oct. 4, the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi.
Under the theme "Living Water," Sister Isabelle Izika, SNDdeN, the Congregation's UN representative, invites us to take one simple action this month to care for God's Creation:
- Repair a leaking faucet
- Take shorter showers
- Avoid letting water run unnecessarily
- Keep chemicals and pollutants out of storm drains
- Learn where your community's drinking water comes from
As followers of St. Julie Billiart, we recognize that caring for Creation is one way we make God's goodness visible in our world.
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Award of Excellence for NDNU
Notre Dame de Namur University's School of Psychology received the 2026 Excellence in Mental Health and Well-Being Award from Insight Into Academia magazine.
The Excellence in Mental Health and Well-Being Award recognizes an institution's programs and initiatives that significantly advance the core values of student and employee mental health and well-being and that are deserving of national recognition.
NDNU will be featured, along with 37 other recipients, in the September 2026 issue of Insight into Academia magazine. Congratulations!
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Come and See Retreat
Dec. 4-6, 2026
In collaboration with Sisters Stephanie Thompson and Meg Walsh, SNDdeN, and the Ohio Province of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, we are offering a Come and See Retreat, "Choose to See and to Be the Goodness of God," for single Catholic women ages 22-45.
This Phoenix-based retreat invites participants to prayerfully explore God's call in their lives while learning more about the mission and spirituality of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur.
The retreat is free to attend, but participants are responsible for their transportation to and from Phoenix.
Additional U.S. East-West Province Come & See Retreats are planned for April 30-May 2, 2027, in Carmel, California, and October 1-3, 2027, in Boston.
We ask for your prayers for all who are discerning and for the Sisters who will accompany them as they seek to recognize and respond to God's goodness in their lives.
Please submit an expression of interest for this December retreat by November 6.
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Sister Phyllis D'Anna, SNDdeN
Sister Phyllis D'Anna unexpectedly returned home to her good God on Monday, Sept. 21, after more than 60 years of religious life. She was 81.
Sister Phil shared God’s goodness through her joyful spirit, compassionate presence, and deep commitment to education, spirituality and service.
She taught young children in California and Washington, later becoming a Montessori educator.
Her ministry also led her to help build and staff an interfaith Zen Monastery Peace Center in California, minister among elderly Sisters, serve Province leadership, and volunteer in Zambia, where her work with local women and children helped create opportunities that continue to bear fruit today.
A Celebration of Life will be held at the Province Center in Belmont at 11:00 am on Tuesday, October 6, 2026, followed by a light lunch. The burial will take place at Santa Clara Mission Cemetery at 2:30 p.m.
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