Mother Marie-Rose’s approach to comprehensive education and the development of each individual helped build the SNJM Congregation’s strong reputation. Just a few years after its founding, the congregation received requests to provide an educational presence in many parts of Quebec and even in the western United States.
In 1859, a group of 12 SNJM missionaries left Quebec for Portland, Oregon (USA). This was followed by requests for SNJM educators in several other North American states and provinces:
| · Manitoba, Canada
· Ontario, Canada · Quebec, Canada · Saskatchewan, Canada · Alaska, USA · Arizona, USA · California, USA · Florida, USA · Idaho, USA
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· Illinois, USA
· Maryland, USA · Michigan, USA · Mississippi, USA · New York, USA · Oregon, USA · Texas, USA · Washington, USA · Washington D.C., USA
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Then, in 1931, the SNJM responded positively to a request to open a mission in Basutoland, a small landlocked country in South Africa, which was under British protectorate. Since its independence in 1966, this country has been known as Lesotho. The SNJM of Lesotho set up a mission in South Africa in 1982. A mission to Japan (1931-1940) was cut short by the Second World War. After war, a few SNJMs resumed some of their commitments.
Although the SNJM were first and foremost involved in education, many of the 7,000 or so religious in the Congregation have gone on to other ministries or found other ways of being educators. Some are involved in health care, others in social work, pastoral care, justice, spirituality and so on. These commitments are also liberating acts meant to contribute to the well-being of individuals and communities.
Without necessarily setting up educational establishments, SNJMs have been involved in solidarity actions in Haiti, Nicaragua, Cameroon and Hong Kong. Some are still involved in Brazil and Peru.
