Our Mission-Lestonnac.org

OUR MISSION

SISTERS OF THE COMPANY OF MARY
IN THE SERVICE OF EDUCATION

Serving in a way that is always new and creative

Jeanne de Lestonnac, from her personal experience of salvation teaches us how to contemplate reality and to allow ourselves to be moved by it.

The Sisters of the Company of Mary Our Lady
Moved by their contemplation of the world reality according to its charism finds new ways at each moment in history to live out their call as educators.

Our world today has become and is God´s cry and call to us. Youth, women, the family, they are each given a face with the color and features of all cultures; as followers of the poor and humble Jesus, we believe we are called to offer ourselves as life-bearers of humanity and to discover the saving force of the Gospel hidden in the heart of each person. To extend our hand through our educational mission is to have faith in the women and men of all times, in our own time as well, to enter into their culture, to tenderly contemplate their possibilities, and, filled with hope, to accompany the growth of seeds of resurrection. (OFE, n. 7, XIV General Chapter)

The mission of Education takes place :

· In Schools, as special places where children can   grow and find a home.
· Among Youth, in their circles of intellectual growth,   and as well as in their isolation.
· Among Women, feeling a special affinity towards   their marginated sector of society.
· In poverty-stricken Countries, Places, and   Circumstances which are most in   need of   salvation.
· In those Institutions which reflect upon and   make significant decisions regarding social ethics,   economics, and religion...

The educational philosophy of Jeanne de Lestonnac harmonizes:

· Jesuit Pedagogy
· Humanistic influence of Michael de Montaigne
· and the unique insights of the Foundrees.

The educational focus of the Company of Mary
is the PERSON in all their uniqueness and specialness.
Its form of education is integral and integrating.
It is carried out by a family of educators who hold the same vision.

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JEANNE - Educator

A reflection on the statue of Saint Jeanne located at the entrance of a Church in Bordeaux.

Two hands intertwined, free yet connected.
St. Jeanne's hand rests lightly on the shoulder of the child, expressing affection.
It leaves an open space for the child to confidently insert her own hand a young life entrusted to Jeanne.
Serene, strong yet tender, searching and encountering;
two distinct persons, in mutual support.

Their other hand is placed on their hearts.
Jeanne firmly holding the Constitutions;
they express a mission fulfilled, an impelling passion, and a vision inherited by the Company of Mary since 1638.

The child embraces her personal identity in the mystery of the life bestowed on her.
Jeanne and the child, side by side.
Two women, an adult and a child, emerge from the same block of stone.
The image of Jeanne fills the empty space that surrounds her, supportive, ...in the background,
the place of a true educator,
who is present in such a way to assist in the growth towards personal freedom and in the confrontation of challenges at each step.

The childs walks towards the open space before her.
She beholds a world yet to be explored.
Two images, intertwined and complementing one another on the path of life;
on a road formerly trodden, yet waiting to be discovered, a life lived and integrated, yet on the threshold of becoming, a person shaped and formed by life experiences, and one in the process of growth.

"She knew deep in her heart that it was she
who must reach out her hand to them"