O'Neil D'Amour Award 2006 - National Catholic Educational Association

Sister Lourdes received the 2006 O'Neil D'Amour Award on April 19, 2006, at NCEA's convention in Atlanta from Dr. Regina Haney, executive director of the Department of Boards and Councils, and Dr. Art DeCabooter, chair of the department's executive committee.

Just as Pope John XXIII opened wide the windows of the church through the Second Vatican Council to let in fresh air so that it could meet the needs of the time, Sister Lourdes Sheehan, RSM, opened the door for Catholic education boards.

Sister's doctoral research, A Study of the Function of School Boards in the Educational System of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States, is one of the foundational pieces for Catholic school boards nationwide. Her findings and recommendations paved the way for collaborative leadership. She encouraged administrators, bishops and clergy to share their leadership of the Catholic schools with boards that operate within the authority of the church. The findings led to her publication of Building Better Boards (1990), the guidebook that continues to provide the acceptable models of authority: advisory, consultative and limited jurisdiction.

Sister Lourdes stands beside Monsignor O'Neil D'Amour, the Father of the Catholic Board Movement in the United States, in paving the way for collaborative leadership, so it is fitting that she receives the 2006 O’Neil D’Amour Award. She continued his advocacy for boards as she served as the executive director of the boards division of the National Catholic Educational Association, which Monsignor was instrumental in establishing – now known as NABCCCE. Long after her departure from that office, Sister Lourdes continued to promote and educate boards to assume their collaborative leadership role in the church's educational ministry.

Other national positions that she held in Catholic education included executive director of the Department of Chief Administrators of Catholic Education (CACE) from 1985 to 1990. Earlier in her career, she served as director of secondary education, superintendent of schools, and director of Christian formation for the Diocese of Richmond. Sister Lourdes has served the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas as provincial and as a councilor.

Sister Lourdes served as Secretary for Education of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) until her retirement in 2006. Her service concluded with being awarded the Holy Cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice Medal by Pope Benedict XVI. The medal is bestowed to lay people and clergy who have given zealous and outstanding service to the church.