Sacred Heart schools, affirming their place in the Roman Catholic tradition, have always welcomed students and faculty of all faiths. In a world where sensitivity to religious differences enables people of good will to live in peace, the religious education of the Sacred Heart schools fosters an open-mindedness, a love of Jesus, and a reverence for difference. Madeleine Sophie Barat, foundress of the Society of the Sacred Heart, recognized that in the midst of change only one reality remains constant: that each person is loved by God. It was her dream that schools be founded throughout the world that would ground girls in that certainty and provide them with a rigorous program of studies that had been available only to boys. The vision of Madeleine Sophie Barat flourishes in schools that are strong in studies, serious in purpose, and rich in a spirit of life and love. The Network educates to the values that have formed the framework of Sacred Heart education since 1804, when the first Plan of Studies was written.