In the post-Vatican II decades of the 1960s and 1970s, the Society of the

Sacred Heart ended 150 years of living in semi-cloistered, school-centered

communities, freeing its members to engage in a myriad of social justice

initiatives beyond their traditional works. It became obvious in recent

years that unless the stories of these RSCJ pioneers were collected and

told, the history of those initiatives would be lost. Highlighted in these

pages is a representative sample of the creative and courageous work done

by so many RSCJ during the first decades after Vatican II.

Written during the time of Pope Francis, who has supported and defended

the renewal set in motion by Vatican II, the book honors the RSCJ who

embraced the challenge of responding to their call to "reveal the Love of

the heart of God in the heart of the world" by addressing the suffering and

injustices around them.