Getting to know you RSCJ Q&A By Flávia Bader
SHIRLEY MILLER, RSCJ, is the founder of the mission advancement office for the Society of the Sacred Heart, United States – Canada Province, and served as its director from 2004 to 2019. Prior to her mission advancement role, Sister Miller was headmistress at Network of Sacred Heart schools in Omaha, Nebraska, and New Orleans, Louisiana, for a total of 25 years. After making her first vows in 1968, Sister Miller was actively involved in Sacred Heart schools, serving as a teacher, in administrative roles, and as a trustee. A native of Iowa, she is a graduate of Duchesne College in Omaha and holds master’s degrees in religious studies from the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas, and in educational administration from the University of Notre Dame.
Q. When you entered the Society in 1965, the congregation was still cloistered and you received the habit and white veil of a novice. However, five years later, by 1970, times had changed and Religious of the Sacred Heart (RSCJ) started to wear street clothes. Can you tell me how you viewed the change and how you think it changed the Society as a whole? A. The changes happened rapidly with the end of the Vatican Council. We entered in 1965 in regular clothes; six months later we were in the traditional habit and white veil. From 1967-1968, while teaching as a novice at Kenwood, I wore a modified habit. Shortly after that, we began wearing traditional street clothes. It was a dramatic change for everyone, probably more welcomed by us younger ones. The Society itself also changed dramatically. We went from being semi-cloistered – no home visits to see families – to being uncloistered and able to move about freely, including going home to visit families. This was one of the most welcome changes for me and for most of us. Q. Can you tell me about your experience at Duchesne College from 1959 to 1963? How did your time there influence your discernment of a vocation to the Society? A. Being surrounded by extraordinary RSCJ who were so relational, smart, and kind with one another and with their students during those years was transformational. My older sister, Mary Dell, had just graduated from Duchesne before I went, and my younger sister Carolyn went a year after my graduation. We all had great experiences. Many of the RSCJ there at that time have been some of my most influential mentors and friends. I began to discern a vocation to the
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2021 | Vol. 18, No. 3
Society during my junior year. The RSCJ were a great help in the process. I loved the way they were together, their education, the vows they made and the community they created among themselves and with their students. I decided to enter late in my senior year and was accepted, but I had financial aid loans to pay off and we couldn’t enter with debt. So, I worked two years as assistant to the college president, Mother Connie Campbell, and I had a second job, typing doctoral dissertations for students at Creighton University. After two years, I sent in my final payment. Q. How did the many years you spent in Sacred Heart education influence your mission advancement work? A. Teaching and administering in Sacred Heart schools for over 25 years were the best preparation I could have had for beginning the mission advancement office. I had been involved in three campaigns at Duchesne and the Rosary and knew the fundamentals of fundraising. I also knew a lot of people; I had been active in the Associated Alumnae and Alumni of the Sacred Heart (AASH) conferences and made frequent contact with alums. All of them were very helpful in our initial fundraising efforts and continue to be today. Q. How was the need for the creation of an office of mission advancement first identified? A. In 2002 we did an actuarial study that indicated that the Province would be out of assets by 2017 unless serious changes were made in decreasing expenses and increasing income. At the time, the Province had never done any serious and coordinated fundraising, partially because it was hard to convince the RSCJ of the need for fundraising for ourselves.
