The roots of my commitment to “Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation” grew in the richly textured and culturally diverse environment of New Orleans during the late 50’s and 60’s. Heavily influenced by the traditions of French, Caribbean, African American, Indigenous, and Spanish peoples, my city of origin was a deeply “poly-cultural” place with a wildly unique identity among major American cities. Water defined the physical landscape of my early childhood offering rugged wetlands, bayous, and rivers.
My parents were political and social leaders, influencers, and activists who assumed a variety of public roles and personal stands on many racial, environmental, housing, and human rights issues during my childhood and adolescence. The familial environment was supported by the rigorous educational environment of the Academy of the Sacred Heart-The Rosary which offered a religious, spiritual, and intellectual framework for understanding the complexities of this tumultuous, frequently dissonant and discordant, period.
My home and school environment, years of travel and exposure to many cultures, continents and countries in the world, early experiences of immersion and service, and personal friendships formed in me at a young age a deep consciousness about issues related to justice, peace and the integrity of creation.
This fertile “ground of experience” was foundational to my vocational call, and to my entering the Society of the Sacred Heart in 1978.
After making my final vows in Rome, I returned to the United States for ministry at the Center for Educational Design and Communication in Washington, D.C., now called the Stuart Center Stuart Center |with an expanded program of services.
After 5 years of working with a plethora of partners in mission around social justice issues and assimilating new mindsets and skills, I discerned a return to Louisiana and began work with the Department of Education--working for deep change from within the system. Within six months, I was asked by the Office of the Lieutenant Governor to design and administer the Serve America program, a federal program which would incorporate service-learning into Louisiana’s K-12 public/private schools and community-based organizations. I was invited to design and implement this statewide program as a direct result of the knowledge and experience I had gained through my work in Sacred Heart schools and through the implementation of Goal 3 of the Goals and Criteria: “A social awareness that impels to action.”
After launching this statewide program (which is still in operation today), the Department of Labor invited me to design a statewide career development program targeted to at-risk youth. It was my involvement with the start-up and implementation of these two statewide initiatives that effectively solidified my ministry as an educational and organizational consultant in human and organizational systems.
For the next 15 years, I worked with numerous agencies and nonprofit organizations in the interest of political, economic, and social systemic change as an educational and organizational consultant, mediator and facilitator. Some of these state agencies and organizations included The Office of Women’s Service, Office of Youth Development, The Department of Education, the Department of Labor, Louisiana Housing Alliance, Neighborhood Housing Services, Habitat for Humanity. My client portfolio remained focused on several key issues that directly related to the priorities of the Society: (1) Education of youth (2) Environmental issues (3) Violence/peace and (4) Quality of life issues for women and children. As Senior Consultant for the Louisiana Association of Nonprofit Organizations, I was invited to serve as its President/CEO after the founder resigned. LANO is a statewide networking alliance which “works to educate, engage, and empower the nonprofit community for a stronger Louisiana.” Louisiana Alliance for Nonprofits (lano.org)
Following this service, I served for 4 years on the Provincial Team and staff of the Society of the Sacred Heart. From there, I was invited to serve as Headmistress of the Academy of the Sacred Heart-The Rosary, where I recently completed my service of seven years. Within the entire school community at Sacred Heart, I was able to concretize my commitments to social and micro-entrepreneurship, process and financial literacy, diversity and inclusion, environmental sustainability, immersive and service-learning experiences, cultural fluency, and to embed all these components of JPIC which drive to deep social and structural change.
Throughout each of the various twists and turns in ministry, a very clear thread can be discerned about my path; and that is of a continuous inter-twined strand of passion and dedication to faith, education and justice.
(From Melanie's profile on the RSCJ Website)
