Dec 30, 2014
Take time to walk the Way
You’ve heard about it from a friend. Perhaps you saw the movie. You know, the one with Martin Sheen. Maybe you stumbled across it somewhere online. For whatever reason as the New Year begins you’re thinking of walking the Camino, but you’re not sure where to start. Look no further.
The Camino is about walking each day towards the horizon and seeing what could happen
This summer we’re leading a group of young adults along the last week of the Way from Sarria to Santiago de Compostella. This will be our third year leading groups on the Camino and so far it has been a fantastic experience. It’s both profoundly spiritual and great fun. It’s a wonderful opportunity to try something entirely different, as each morning you take up your backpack and walk to the horizon with the sun rising behind you. You’ll follow in the footsteps of hundreds of thousand of pilgrims stretching back over a millennium. We’ll make our way through he beautiful Galician countryside by roadside, forest path and cobbled lanes, until we reach the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostella. (more…)
Dec 24, 2014
This year it seems that Christmas has crept up on me. In the midst of the busyness of meetings, carol concerts and shopping all my hopes for Advent were quietly forgotten. As I was thinking this morning of something to write about for our vocations blog I came across a letter from Pope Francis sent to a group of prisoners earlier this month.
In it he apologies for not having written sooner and encourages the men there with a Christmas message of hope. He prays that as the feast of the Nativity approaches that Jesus will be born in the crib of their hearts. He asks them to seek those occasions “for genuine growth in order to find peace of heart and the strength to be reborn, a return to living the hope in the Lord who never disappoints.” (more…)
Nov 24, 2014
Vocations ministry in Ireland is busy at the best of times, but it looks like 2015 is going to be exceptional! Pope Francis has continued to revolutionise and encourage the Church by designating November 30th 2014 until February 2nd 2016 the Year of Consecrated Life. He believes that, “Religious life ought to promote growth in the church by way of attraction. The church must be attractive. Wake up the world! Be witnesses of a different way of doing things, of acting, of living! . . . It is this witness that I expect of you. Religious should be men and women who are able to wake the world up.”
A Year for Getting Up and Going!
This year in Ireland we are going to continue and expand our vocations ministry. We will have opportunities to walk the road less traveled along pilgrim pathways to Lourdes, Medjugorge and Santiago de Compostella. We’re going to take part in festivals at home and abroad where you can celebrate what it really means to be a Catholic with thousands of others. We’ll have Samuel groups, discernment weekends and Road Trips for those of you who are perhaps looking to really listen to where God is calling you, whether it’s marriage, the single life, priesthood or a religious vocation. We’ll also have our third year of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart Volunteering Project for people wanting to work in solidarity with the margnialised in South Africa. If the challenge is to wake up the world, then the question must be, ‘Why are you still lying around?!”
Over the coming week we are going to be advertising all of our programmes for 2015. Like our Facebook page or subscribe to our blog to make sure you get all the up to date information for the Year of Consecrated Life.
Oct 14, 2014
Spirit in the City Festival in London
It has been a summer of celebration for the MSC vocations team, filled with festivals, pilgrimages and volunteering. Most exciting of all we opened our new student community in Dublin on September 8th with two candidates, Kevin and Henry. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. In fact we’ll start at the very beginning of summer. It is, as the song goes, a very good place to start.
Arriving after 111Km on the Camino
June opened with a young adult pilgrimage along the Camino de Santiago. For those of you who haven’t heard of The Way it’s an 800km walk across the north of Spain to the resting place of the Apostle James. It has been part of Catholic tradition for well over a millennium. Each year it inspires hundreds of thousands of pilgrims to leave hurry and noise of life behind, to walk or cycle or ride on horseback to Santiago in a spirit of reflection and prayer. Our group this year came from Scotland and Ireland and they were profoundly moved by the experience, in spite of the torrential rain once or twice. June was also a good time for festivals and we took part in Brightlights young adult weekend and the Spirit in the City evangelisation day in Leicester Square. They are at the forefront of engaging young adults and exploring what faith means today. (more…)
Sep 8, 2014
Kevin, Clare, Fr. Alan and Henry
It’s a real day of celebration for the Chevalier Family. Today we have three young adults entering formation in Dublin, two with the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart (MSC) and one with our sister congregation, the Daughters of our Lady of the Sacred Heart (OLSH). It is an exciting new departure, as they take that courageous next step exploring where God is calling them in life.
Meet the Students (more…)
Aug 31, 2014
Clare Brady, a nurse from Monaghan, shares her experience in South Africa with MSC Volunteering.
We arrived in South Africa on 12th June and traveled to Holy Family Care Centre with Fr Frank Bray one of the MSC priests. On arrival to Holy Family we were greeted by the children, Sisters and other volunteers. From the moment arrived we were welcomed into their family and it really began to feel like home.
So far I have really enjoyed getting to know the children and as time goes on I am beginning to learn their routine, their likes and dislikes. At the moment some of the girls are teaching me the games they like to play. I enjoy spending time with the older girls and boys who tell me about their local traditions, and are eager to learn about other traditions. I am having a great time here and I just hope that the children are having half as much fun as the volunteers are. (more…)
