Mission DEI

Our students are our mission

We exist to educate young women for a life of faith, integrity and truth. Compelled by our Catholic Dominican charism of Veritas to seek truth, we act for a just world for the sake of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Our fidelity to our mission calls us to work constantly towards becoming a more just, equitable, diverse and inclusive school community.

A Community Committed to Right Relationship

If one word captures the animating spirit of Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy, it is VERITAS. Veritas, Latin for “truth,” is both a touchstone for our Dominican Catholic identity and the mission we seek to live each day. How does a school committed to Veritas integrate the value into the fiber of its institution? For Flintridge Sacred Heart, the answer is found in the intentional practice of “Right Relationship.”
RIGHT RELATIONSHIP IS THE STATE OF BEING IN WHICH OUR INNER DISPOSITIONS OF MIND AND HEART ARE IN ALIGNMENT WITH OUR ACTIONS.
—Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose

Our commitment is rooted in our Catholic, Dominican identity & key to our mission.

Right Relationship and the Dominican Pillars

A commitment to Right Relationship clearly expresses the mission of the Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose. The worldwide Dominican Order promotes holistic education and the pursuit of truth in service of the preaching mission — spreading the Gospel through words and actions to inspire change. Specifically, our Sisters’ Mission Statement expresses their gospel commitment by “evangelizing, preaching, educating and promoting justice and peace.” And the four pillars of prayer, study, community and service inform all our initiatives for Right Relationship so necessary for our times.

The pillar of prayer corresponds with all phases of growth towards Right Relationship.

Through prayer, we are called to give ourselves to God in humility. As we reflect on our dispositions of mind and heart we can gain clarity to learn, question, and act in new ways that correspond to the invitations of grace we receive through our prayer. In prayer we can bring our total self to a loving God whose only desire is that we know and grow in our identity as God’s beloved child. This is the first truth that informs and guides all other identities.

In study, we can approach reality with discerning eyes. Right Relationship calls us to think about how we respond to new information about ourselves and our world.

Through assiduous study, deep introspection, and observation we learn about our place in the world as co-creators of God’s dream for God’s world. What am I curious about? Where do I find joy in learning? What assumptions and biases distort how I see reality? Can I recognize where study is guiding me to ask new questions for myself and my community, and then learn how to respond with courage and grace?

We do not pursue Veritas in isolation. We come to know Veritas only in the company of others, in community.

Because the search for truth is demanding, we need good companions who will listen with us, share their experiences and challenge our horizons. We can only do this well within an authentic community where we see and center the humanity of each other. This is a challenging call to action, to become a reconciling community where human beings, simultaneously “fabulous and flawed,” can find grace to-gether and flourish in an environment of dignity and mutual respect. Restorative practices that center accountability to one another in contrast to practices that blame and shame are an important way forward for us as we seek to live the pillar of community.

The pillar of service invites us to live our values “out loud” and guides our calling to build the kingdom of God.

Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy is centered in the commitment of Dominican women who have generously served on the Hill for nearly 100 years as instruments of gospel hope. As a community, Sisters and lay partners together, we respond wholeheartedly to human need and offer support not only to our own community, but also the greater Los Angeles area, and to the global community through domestic and international service initiatives.

List of 6 frequently asked questions.

  • Dominican Justice Community

    To grow the equitable and inclusive culture our Catholic, Dominican mission demands, we will initiate the Dominican Justice Community (DJC), a multi-constituency group within Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy. Guided by Catholic social teaching, DJC members commit to train together in order to initiate, implement and evaluate our progress towards equitable practices, processes and systems among our Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy community.
    Statement of Purpose
    We convene as a multi-constituency group within the larger Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy community to serve the greater mission of the school:  called to faith, integrity and truth.  As a Dominican school guided by the principles of Catholic Social Teaching, we will take systemic, equitable steps to catalyze our emerging future as a safe, brave and inclusive space, where the dignity of every human is honored.
    We embrace the invitation to deepen our understanding of Veritas and commit to:
    • growing in personal knowledge and practice of cultural competency, deepening our capacities of inclusion, equity and diversity;
    • initiating, implementing and progress monitoring equitable practices, processes and systems among all constituents of our Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy community to advance the work of institutionalizing an antiracist, anti-bias school culture;
    • becoming a model community exercising mutual respect, authenticity, collaboration and trust.
    DJC Members
    DJC members are committed to train together in order to initiate, implement and evaluate our progress towards equitable practices, processes and systems among our Flintridge Sacred Heart community. Their primary purpose is to advance the work of institutionalizing an antiracist, anti-bias school culture at Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy. 

  • Student Life

    Our Commitment to Our Students
    As we grow through this time of pandemic and social action for racial justice, we, your teachers, staff and administration want you to know our commitment to you, our Flintridge Sacred Heart students.

    You are the reason we are here.  You are at the center of our mission.  We exist so that you may come to know and experience the gifts and talents that you alone can offer this world.  At Flintridge Sacred Heart we are committed to your full flourishing as young women within this Catholic, Dominican context.  As you grow, we are here to support, guide, encourage and challenge the very best YOU that seeks to come to being.  Relationships are at the heart of our human becoming, so we commit to being a community of “right relationship” where we all grow into the best version of ourselves through our practice of VERITAS:  connection, belonging, truth-telling, and compassionate accountability.  Read more.
    Co-Curricular Programs
    Student experiences dedicated to issues of equity and inclusion occur through the co-curricular program that includes affinity groups, clubs and (non-affinity group/club) co-curricular groups that reflect the diversity and diverse interests of our students.

    Latinas United in Action
    Latinas United in Action at the Club Fair
    Veritas Circles
    Veritas Circles allow varied constituencies within our community to come together in smaller groups to share their stories as part of the healing and reconciliation process. Christina Hale-Elliott facilitates these sessions.
    Residential Life
    The residential life staff created and continues to implement culturally competent and relevant programming for students living on the Hill that build the foundation of belonging and inclusion. Translation services are now available for individual parent/student meetings as well as for live and online events. In 2020, an English Language Learning Specialist joined the staff to support students whose native language is not English and to meet the academic needs of students with language differences.

  • Parents, Our Partners in Veritas

    In this webinar, parents and caregivers are given an overview of the work that Flintridge Sacred Heart has been doing, and plans to do, to support our emerging identity as an anti-racist, anti-bias school community. Key ideas and terms related to the work will be unpacked, with opportunities offered for participants to consider their own understandings. Finally, tools and tips are provided for supporting and continuing conversations about diversity, equity and inclusion at home.
    Partners in Veritas Parents' Inservice - Feb. 4, 2021
    Partners in Veritas Parents' Inservice - March 18, 2021

  • Faculty & Staff

    In-Services
    Led by Christina Hale Elliott
    • Cultivating Diverse, Equitable and Inclusive Learning Spaces
    • Listening, Learning and Leaning in Towards Justice
    • Meeting the Moment:  Creating Opportunities for Learning and Healing to Combat Anti-Asian Racism
    Led by Sister Teresa Maya, CCVI '85
    • We Are All Connected Retreat 
    Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Professional Learning Community
    A professional learning community dedicated to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI PLC) convened in 2017 for study and reflection on practice. PLC members as well as selected faculty and school administrators participate in professional development through the National Association Independent Schools (NAIS) People of Color Conference, the Independent School Alliance for Minority Affairs and the SoCal People of Color in Independent Schools. Their recommendations have improved curricula and contributed to the ongoing evaluation of broader campus practices.
    Educational Therapist
    Flintridge Sacred Heart hired an Educational Therapist in 2010 to support neurodiverse students and to create equitable practices for all learners in our community.
    Faculty & Staff Affinity Groups
    More information coming soon
    Curriculum Review
    In consultation with the faculty and staff DEI Professional Learning Community (PLC), the faculty will embark upon a curriculum audit during the 2021-22 school year that will focus on three areas: pedagogical practices, policies and procedures, and curriculum and content. Academic departments, grade-level teams, and other stakeholders will examine everything from homework policies to textbooks to instructional methods to ensure the Flintridge Sacred Heart academic program aligns with the instiution’s anti-bias, anti-racist goals. Using the groundwork laid by both the PLC and the Dominican Justice Committee in the 2020-21 school year, faculty will engage in ongoing collaborative conversations and professional development.
    Human Resources
    Employment opportunities are posted on Nemnet, a website dedicated to recruiting BIPOC applicants. The HR Director and hiring managers attend annual independent school hiring fair(s) to recruit diverse candidates, and prospective employees are interviewed to assess the candidate’s level of cultural competency.

  • Alums

    Alumnae Association
    The Alumnae Association created two additional leadership chairs for the Alumnae Association Executive Board: two DEI chairs and an international relations chair.

  • Voices for Veritas

    Acknowledging our need to seek forgiveness and reconciliation, we hosted “Voices for Veritas,” a whole Flintridge Sacred Heart community virtual gathering. At this gathering we named and apologized for past and present hurts caused by inequities. We grieve our failure to live our Catholic, Dominican mission and we sincerely wish to make a way forward with our students and alumnae by sharing specific steps on our journey to become a safe, brave and inclusive space, where the dignity of every human is honored.
The dignity of others is to be respected in all circumstances, not because that dignity is something we have invented or imagined, but because human beings possess an intrinsic worth superior to that of material objects and contingent situations
—Pope Francis
Veritas is not a goal, it is a standard.
—Flintridge Sacred Heart Alumna

Mission DEI Directors

Sister Colleen Mary Mallon, O.P.

Director of Adult Mission Formation


Colleen Mary Mallon, OP, is a theologian, educator, and animator of mission formation. She holds a PhD in systematic and philosophical theology from the Graduate Theological Union and has taught systematic theology at the university level. She currently serves as a director of adult mission formation for the Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose.

FLINTRIDGE SACRED HEART

440 St. Katherine Drive
La Cañada Flintridge, CA 91011
626-685-8300

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Flintridge Sacred Heart, a Catholic, Dominican, independent, college-preparatory, day and boarding high school, educates young women for a life of faith, integrity, and truth.

Flintridge Sacred Heart admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in the administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, financial aid, and athletic and other school-administered programs.
 

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