Sophia Education Ministries (Sophia) is a Ministerial Public Juridic Person of Pontifical Rite (MPJP)* established by the Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) Province of the Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (Society) in 2018.
Sophia was established to ensure the continued stewardship of the charism, spirituality and educational tradition of the Society primarily in the Schools in Australia and New Zealand.
The emphasis on the role of the laity in Vatican II was the stimulus for change in the ANZ Province, with lay people partnering with the Society in governance and as educators, within its Ministry of Education in the Catholic Church.
Responding to the call of Vatican II and faced with the congregational reality of diminishing numbers of the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (RSCJ) in the ANZ Province, a period of discernment was undertaken. This culminated in a Petition to the Vatican, with Sophia being granted canonical status as an MPJP in 2016.
Sophia is also constituted as a civil entity, incorporated under the Corporations Act in 2017.
The accountability once exercised by the Society in relation to the four Sacred Heart Schools in Australia and New Zealand was formally transferred to the Trustees (Directors) of Sophia in November 2018.
* For further information on Ministerial Public Juridic Persons (MPJPs), please refer to About MPJPs – Association of Ministerial PJP’s