Cor Unum Legacy Society member profile

Sacred Heart from birth

By Flávia Bader

In 2011, when Susan “Sue” Whalen presented the Associated Alumnae and Alumni of the Sacred Heart (AASH) Cor Unum Chairperson Award to her sister, Judy Whalen Conley, she stated, “I supposed if your grandmother is a founding member of the Tabernacle Society at the Academy of the Sacred Heart on 8 Prince Street in Rochester, New York, and if your aunts were all part of the school and three of them (Madeline “Pat” Howe, Margaret “Kelly” Howe, and Ruth Whalen) became RSCJ, and if your mother attended the school and you also graduated from Prince street and Manhatanville, I supposed you become part of the Society of the Sacred Heart by osmosis. We were just Sacred Heart from birth.”

Three of Sue’s aunts – two of her mother’s sisters and one of her father’s sisters – were Religious of the Sacred Heart (RSCJ). Another aunt was a School Sister of Notre Dame (SSND). She grew up taking family vacations often to visit her “nun aunts.” As a little girl, she recalled, one highlight was going on a summer trip to visit her aunts and having the chance to go to “Reverend Mother’s cupboard.” “It was a big deal, the closet was full of toys and games and you got to choose what you wanted, it was like Christmas in July,” she recounted. Sue knew from a very young age how special the RSCJ are. “They are extremely intellectual, welcoming, giving and faith-filled. They just have an aura about them,” she said. Sue, a former novice in the Society herself, is now an Associate of the Sacred Heart in Albany, New York. For her, being an Associate allows her to deepen her connection with the Society and provides a source of encouragement and support while living and promoting the Society’s mission. In addition to being an Associate, Sue had been very active with her former school’s Alumnae Association. Her school (the Academy in Rochester) closed in 1969, but Sue, her sister and a few other alumnae kept the school’s Alumnae Association going for 49 years. She believes deeply that active faith in God and maintaining social awareness lead to action. Sue has remained connected to the Society’s ministries through projects like those of Irene Cullen, RSCJ, who works to support schools and students in Uganda and Kenya. She also helps raise funds for Friends of Borgne, a group that helps educate and feed children in Haiti; she volunteers for Dress a Girl Around the World, an organization that makes dresses and works to prevent sex trafficking of girls, and she is co-chair at a local nursing home that provides discretionary funds for residents in need. As a Cor Unum Legacy Society member, Sue has chosen to leave a bequest to the Society, a gift made in gratitude for the many ways in which the Society's mission has informed and touched her life.

Cor Unum Legacy Society member Susan “Sue” Whalen shares a moment with Arcadia Cotto, RSCJ.

To learn more about joining the Cor Unum Legacy Society visit: https://rscj.org/bequest