The Growth
During the early 1900s, as the Congregation grew, the Sisters continued to expand their educational mission. In responding to the needs of the growing Catholic population, the Sisters built Good Counsel Elmentary and High School, as well as Good Counsel College/College of White Plains (which merged with Pace University in 1977), on their White Plains property.
In 1927, the original House of the Holy Family was moved from Manhattan to the Huntington Estate in the Bronx to provide a safe environment for the Sisters and the young girls in their care. This building also offered residence space for Sisters administering and teaching in local parish elementary schools in the Bronx. In 1947, the Sisters founded Preston High School on the property, which, along with the Preston Center of Compassion, continues to serve families today.
Expansion & Diversification
In the 1940s and 1950s, as large groups of women joined religious communities in the United States, the ever increasing RDCs lived and worked throughout the Archdiocese of New York, opening, administering and staffing numerous parish schools in Manhattan, the Bronx, Westchester, Putnam and other northern counties, while also providing education and pastoral ministries to the adults and families.
During the 1960s, the RDCs embraced the spirit and mandates of Vatican II and opened their hearts and homes to expand their mission into social services, parish ministry, immigration work, health care, counseling, bereavement services and spirituality programs.
Some of the Comunity's diverisified ministries included:
- “Summer in the City” in Harlem - Sisters lived and worked among the children and families of the neglected urban poor
- Parish Ministry - Sisters moved to Louisiana to work with African American families living in segregation and poverty
- Hospice Ministry in Tennessee - Sisters moved to Tennessee to work with poor uninsured children and families in hospice ministry
- Ministry with he Appalachian poor in Kentucky - Sisters engaged high school students and young adult volunteers in this ministry
- Mexican Migrant Families - Sisters established a ministry working with migrant workers and their families in Orange County, New York
- Sisters also moved into social work and hospital ministry, pastoral care and parish ministry throughout the country
- Archdiocesan Substance Abuse Prevention programs - Sisters served as administrators and counselors
- Hospice Ministry in New York City - Sisters engaged in Hospice ministry in underserved areas of New York City, always focusing on the original mission to be the compassionate presence of God to those most in need
In the 1970s, the RDC Community created new opportunities for lay women and men to become more involved and committed to our mission and community as lay Associates of the Divine Compassion
New Ministries Evolve
In the 1980s and 1990s, the Sisters continued to expand their mission with five new sponsored ministries:
In response to lay people attracted by the charism and a desire to live a more contemplative way of life, the Sisters of the Divine Compassion expanded its membership to include RDC Companions. Companions commit to a deeper level of communal contemplation and spiritual giving. Each member partners with a Sister who serves as a spiritual advisor/companion and mentor. Companions also participate in Congregational meetings. Both Associates and Companions are involved in Divine Compassion ministries, committees and Boards.
Sisters also connected and collaborated with communities of Sisters and organizations to respond to people living in dire poverty in Haiti and Trinidad, El Salvador, Mexico and Vietnam.