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With great joy and thanksgiving, we thank all those who celebrated with us, last August 4-5 2007 for the 150th Anniversary of the Sisters of the Congregation of Notre Dame in the Diocese of Charlottetown. The ministry that brought the sisters to Charlottetown in 1857 was to establish a school for the education of young girls. Please visit the Wrap-Up page closing comments.
For over 100 years students from Charlottetown and from across the Prince Edward Island and other areas of Eastern Canada came to Notre Dame to participate in the opportunities provided. Music, singing, art, home economics and the basic courses of reading, writing, mathematics, science as well religious education all formed part of the curriculum. The pupils from Charlottetown were the day students and those from outside the town were known as boarders, because Notre Dame was a boarding school as well.
Young women also came to board at Notre Dame and attend Prince of Wales College in order to become teachers and continue the tradition of Notre Dame in the schools where they taught be it on the Island or in places far away.
In the years following 1857 sisters were invited to establish schools in various areas of the Island from Tignish to Souris including Miscouche, Rustico and Summerside.
While there are no sisters presently teaching in Prince Edward Island schools, the sisters in the Diocese continue to have an interest in former students, a few work in Parish ministry, some are involved in outreach by visiting people in senior homes, others tutor students, three sisters work in The Marguerite Bourgeoys Centre in Summerside and others have a ministry of prayer for the many intentions that come to us by way of phone calls, letters and personal contacts. In these ways we continue the purpose for which we were established in the Diocese, to proclaim by our entire life the Good News of a God of Love.
This great legacy, that is part of the Island history, is what we wish to celebrate. Former teachers, students, boarders, staff and anyone connected with the Congregation of Notre Dame in the Diocese are invited to register and participate in the events which will include on Saturday a visit to Notre Dame Convent, a banquet in the evening at the Murphy Community Centre, and Eucharistic celebration at Saint Dunstan’s Basilica at 10:30 on Sunday morning followed by time to chat and reminisce over a cup of tea at the Murphy Centre.
In this 150th year of the establishment the Sisters of Notre Dame in the Diocese of Charlottetown and the opening of Notre Dame Convent, we pay grateful tribute to all benefactors, former students and college boarders, alumnae, friends, and staff from near and afar and invite you to join with us to re-illumine the lamp of memory, to rekindle the light of friendship, and to proclaim thanks to God for all that has been.
Elizabeth Dunn, CND Notre Dame Convent, Charlottetown
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