As superior general of the Sisters of Notre Dame, Sister Mary Sujita Kallupurakkathu is a respected leader in India and Rome, where she has addressed the Bishop's Synod and is a member of Cor Unum.

Yet when a Southern California student recently asked Sister Sujita to name her greatest accomplishment, she replied: "Knowing that Jesus is in my heart, that he will not let go of me and I will not let go of him."

Sister Kallupurakkathu concluded her recent visit to the California Province of the Sisters of Notre Dame by giving talks to nearly 1,300 students at three local schools: Notre Dame Academy Elementary and Notre Dame Academy, both in West Los Angeles, and La Reina High School in Thousand Oaks.

As an opening meditation, Sister Sujita shared photos of the many children around the world who are ministered to by Sisters of Notre Dame. She explained that she hadn't included the name of each country with the pictures because "it doesn't matter. We are all one world." She observed that the diverse student body at each school provided the children with an opportunity to show the world how to live with differences but not discrimination.

Sister Sujita's pictures of children in native dress interested her young American audiences since the congregation currently serves in 18 countries on five continents. Most of the students were aware of the California Province's work at a mission in Uganda, but Sister Sujita brought them up to date with news of other mission endeavors, including a new outreach in Nicaragua where she recently rode a horse and then walked to a mountaintop village.

The students listened intently to Sister Sujita's witness about her work with the poor. In her home country of India, she lived in a mud hut for 12 years while working among some of that country's most impoverished and disadvantaged people. Later, Sister Sujita led a program for the Indian government and United Nations that helped 60,000 illiterate women and 23,000 illiterate girls gain marketable skills that transformed their lives from dependence to empowerment.

She encouraged the students to not merely improve their lives by becoming doctors and engineers, but to use their talents to change their part of the world and thus create islands of hope. Sister Sujita repeated the challenge that she made to the students on her previous visit six years ago: "Let us try to have less and to be more ... by sharing more."

During their time in California Sister Sujita and Sister Frances Murray, assistant general, visited the ministries of the Sisters of Notre Dame, and said they were impressed by the "dynamic and joyful" efforts of the sisters and their colleagues in schools, hospitals, shelters and parishes around the Southland.

The leaders also met with Cardinal Roger Mahony and visited sisters who work at the Archdiocesan Catholic Center. During a visit to a shelter the province supports for women rescued from human trafficking, she connected the challenges faced in India to fight human trafficking and slave conditions with local efforts to end modern slavery.

Meeting with SND Associates --- lay people who have embraced the charism of the Sisters of Notre Dame --- as well as trustees on the boards of Notre Dame schools, Sister Sujita was impressed by the commitment and enthusiasm of these two groups and the lay employees who are carrying the Notre Dame mission forward. Likewise, many people who met her were inspired.

"When Sister Sujita said 'You have learned to stretch your hearts,' she meant that our hearts have been formed to be compassionate and loving," said La Reina senior Megan DeGennaro.

"Her faith and her love and trust in the goodness and providence of God radiates from her like sunshine, touching everyone," said SND Associate Nora Howells.