Educating in Dialogue with Reality

With a history over 400 years, the religious sisters who belong to the Order of the Company of Mary Our Lady have a rich tradition of Catholic education inspired by the charism and vision of the community’s foundress, St. Jeanne de Lestonnac. St. Jeanne’s own familial and vocation experiences helped form her practical application of education in a time when education meant largely memorization of facts and was open only to boys. 

St. Jeanne de Lestonnac school, of which Sister Ernestine Velarde, serves as President, carries on the universal mission of the religious order but in the practical context of California to educate students in dialogue with reality, which is to say to educate students to live practically in the circumstances and conditions of the world, to discern the needs around them and apply what they’ve learned in service to others, and to live in joyful witness to the faith. “We educate by our attitudes,” Sister Ernestine said. “We don’t see education just when we’re in front of the classroom, but also by how we respond to things.” Forming each student, not just for himself or herself, but for communal, social and global good is at the heart of authentic education in the tradition of St. Jeanne de Lestonnac. Personal development with socialization, freedom with responsibility, and personal autonomy with collaboration are the aims of the Company of Mary our Lady in educating the young. 

Sister Ernestine’s leadership of St. Jeanne de Lestonnac’s capital campaign led to a beautiful new building for their upper school, which continues to grow, building on the long tradition of grade school education. The beauty of the building itself educates, Sister Ernestine noted, in that contemplating beauty draws us into mystery and makes us more human.

Guest: Sr. Ernestine Velarde, ODN
Title: President, Saint Jeanne de Lestonnac School, Temecula, CA

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