Jan 13, 2022
Over the Christmas period, we were delighted to receive blessings of the season along with a news update from Bishop Toussaint Iluku Bolumbu MSC, who was ordained bishop of the diocese of Bokungu-Ikela in the Democratic Republic of Congo in July 2019, and who has been working since to improve desperately needed educational facilities in the diocese.
Previously named superior of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart for the French-speaking African region, Bishop Toussaint is the first MSC African bishop. The diocese of Bokungu-Ikela, located in North West of the Democratic Republic of Congo, was founded by the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart in 1961. Covering an area of 42,000 km, the population of the diocese is estimated at 620,000, and a small clergy of 24 priests, incorporating three MSC communities, have been ministering to the 15 parishes in the diocese for over 60 years.
The Democratic Republic of Congo is ranked as one of the poorest countries in Africa, and the majority of parishes in the diocese of Bokungu-Ikela are located in extremely isolated areas, where transport is difficult as the roads are in a severe state of disrepair. Living conditions are tremendously difficult for local people, who largely depend on agriculture and livestock for their livelihoods, and who struggle terribly with poverty.
Since 2020, Bishop Toussaint has been fundraising and working to build a new school in the Yetsi region, with mission friends and benefactors here in the Irish Province lending their support through our MSC World Projects Appeals in 2020 and 2021.
Thanks to the generosity of our mission friends here in the Irish Province following our 2020 appeal, Bishop Toussaint and his team were able to begin funding the initial stages of the construction of a school building in Yetsi. With the help of our 2021 appeal, Bishop Toussaint and the MSC team were able to buy essential basic equipment such as benches and tables. Prior to this, many children spent classes sitting on the floor. âSome of the pupils bring their own chairs from their homes,â Bishop Toussaint wrote at the time. âHowever, many of these children are from homes that have so little, they donât even have a chair to bring to school. Those children who donât have them, they have the floor, where they sit down and follow the teacher.â
This Christmas, Bishop Toussaint writes with news of further developments in the ongoing construction of the Yetsi school, as the MSC community there continue to work towards giving local children the education they need.
âGreetings from our deepest forest centre, Bokungu,â writes Bishop Toussaint. âI wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, full of the blessings of the Lord.â
âWe have been collecting local material for the Yetsi school construction, and the boat we have been waiting for, for so long, finally is close to arriving in Bokungu. Cement, sheet metals (plates), and iron bars will finally reach us here. It is my duty to build a good school for our pupils there. Thank you so much for your support and please keep in your prayers an intention for Bokungu-Ikela, a rural diocese full of challenges.â
In a Christmas letter, Bishop Toussaint writes, âWhile all humanity is facing multiple challenges and fears, the Lord opens before us, through the birth of his beloved Son, Emmanuel, a path of light and life, of hope and love. It is with the Prince of Peace that we can say to all of you: âTrust, do not be afraidâ. (Mk 6:50).â
âI express my deep gratitude to you and to the Promotion Office for the support to our Diocese. May the Lord bless you.â
With the Catholic Church being one of the main sources of hope for struggling families in the region, Bishop Toussaint and our MSCs continue to do their best to lay the groundwork to give local children, and generations to come, vital resources in education and with it, hope for the future.
Jan 12, 2022
As relief efforts continue in the Philippines following the devastating impact of Typhoon Odette in December 2021, MSC Mission response programmes are ongoing.
On January 11th, the MSC Mission Office in the Philippines reported that relief outreach to date has been far-reaching, with 3,791 relief packs, 575 sacks of rice, and 730 gallons of water distributed since the typhoon hit in mid-December, killing over 400 and rendering hundreds of thousands of people homeless.
The Facebook page for the MSC Mission Office in the Philippines shared a collection of photographs of the relief distribution programme based in Guilutongan Island, Cordova, which is one of the most affected communities in Cebu. These images give just some indication of the sheer scale of the damage done by Typhoon Odette as it tore through the country, leaving close to 600,000 people without homes.
Writing from an evacuation centre on Christmas Eve, community leader Fr Richie Gomez MSC told Irish Provincial Superior Fr Carl Tranter MSC how grateful he was for the âoverwhelming supportâ that our Filipino MSC brothers have received from the Irish Province of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. We ask that your continue to keep our MSC brothers and the people of the Philippines in your prayers as they continue to navigate this landscape of loss and destruction.
Images via the MSC Mission Office Philippines, Inc. Facebook page.
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Jan 5, 2022
“Itâs a big shift coming back to South Sudan again. After a few weeks at home in November, sporting a woolly hat, gloves, and my scarf, Iâm now back in my shorts and light shirts. All this week the temperature is around the 38C mark, and it isnât even the hottest time of the year! Still, itâs good to be in Loreto again.
The exams are over and the term has come to an end, so most of the students headed off for the holidays. We only have a small group who either live far away or would be in danger of forced marriage if they went home. Itâs quieter around the campus, but there is always something happening. We have already gone on a few day trips to nearby parishes. The rains finished earlier than last year, so the roads are passable, but very dusty. So far, we have taken the students to the parish of Cueibet, which is under the care of Korean, Peruvian, and Egyptian missionaries, and Wulu, where a Spiritan missionary is parish priest. In each place the Church is actively involved in the local community, supporting education through schools, running agricultural projects, working in the hospitals, and of course celebrating the Sacraments with the people.
Christmas Mass for us would normally happen in our usual spot under the neem trees next to the school, but one of the priests in town who was at home for holidays was diagnosed with COVID, so we agreed to help out in his parish. Our Christmas vigil and morning Mass were both special celebrations, with families gathering together to welcome the birth of Jesus once again. As Pope Francis said this year, âJesus is the name and the face of love â this is the foundation of our joyâ. There was no shortage of joy as the people sang, danced, and prayed in thanksgiving for the birth of our Saviour.
Our own Christmas dinner was a wonderful affair. Like any family we set out the extra tables and twenty-two of us shared a dinner of goat, sikumawiki (sort of like spinach, but not really), chapati, Irish potatoes (thatâs what the locals call them), and tamalaka (a peanut sauce), all made by the students. Nothing is wasted when cooking here. I still havenât worked my way up to tripe yet. One day maybe, but not this year!
The Feast of the Holy Family fell on the 26th, and according to tradition here, that is the main day to baptise children. Normally, four baptisms at any liturgy is more than enough for me, but here we had twenty-two. It was chaotic as you might expect at times, but it was a holy chaos, and the babies were just beautiful. People here cannot afford mobile phones, so cameras going off non-stop was not an issue. The baptisms took place within Mass, so the whole affair took two hours. By the end, I was ready for a cuppa, but the babies were probably the quietest there, content in their mothersâ arms. Another unique tradition they have there is to place a tinsel garland on the priest mid-baptism, so while I was busy anointing, I was being festooned like the prize bull at a cattle show.
!["[One] unique tradition they have there is to place a tinsel garland on the priest mid-baptism, so while I was busy anointing, I was being festooned like the prize bull at a cattle show." ~ Fr Alan recalls baptising twenty-two babies, in keeping with local tradition, on the Feast of the Holy Family on December 26th.](https://www.mscmissions.ie/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/FrAlan_December2021_2-Copy-1024x577.jpg "\"[One] unique tradition they have there is to place a tinsel garland on the priest mid-baptism, so while I was busy anointing, I was being festooned like the prize bull at a cattle show.\" ~ Fr Alan recalls baptising twenty-two babies, in keeping with local tradition, on the Feast of the Holy Family on December 26th.")
As I write this on New Yearâs Eve, I look forward to tonight, when we will have a New Year vigil for the Feast of Mary, Mother of God. Previously, people would be wary of being out after dark, because of persistent security problems. Thankfully, this year things are calm and people feel safer. 2021 has certainly been a year of mixed blessings, with more than its fair share of challenges. I think we have all felt a little bit more vulnerable, but perhaps more connected too in spite of our self-isolation. There is no doubt we realise that we are more reliant on each other, and we are conscious that the effects of how we live can impact our brothers and sisters.
This year South Sudan benefitted from global solidarity efforts like the Covax vaccination programme. Loreto as a school has gone from strength to strength. A lot has been achieved, but there is still so much more to do. We have also been impacted by climate change, as rainfalls, which are essential to survival in an agricultural country, are disrupted. People will have to make do with what they harvested and weâll do our part to help too. As we begin this New Year, let us do so with joy and with hope as well. We remember that God came into our world as a vulnerable child, in the simplest of settings, among a people who were struggling, to remind us He came for all of us and that together we are one family.”
Merry Christmas to you all or as they say here, Miet puou dhith banyda.
Fr Alan
Read more from Fr Alan’s missionary journey in South Sudan:
PLEASE HELP US TO TRANSFORM LIVES IN SOUTH SUDAN
Jan 4, 2022
MSCs in the Philippines have been working throughout the Christmas season to bring emergency aid to survivors of Typhoon Odette, which hit the country with devastating consequences on December 16th, 2021.
Super Typhoon Rai, known locally as Odette, was the largest storm of 2021, with 6.2 million people affected in ten regions across the country. 580,000 people were displaced by the storm, and the death toll, as of December 30th, was at 397, with many more injuries. Over 712,000 homes have been badly damaged or destroyed by the storm, while an estimated 80,000 hectares of crops and agricultural land have been ravaged by powerful winds and torrential rain.
Our MSC Centre for the Poor, located in Butuan, has been carrying out relief efforts over the Christmas period. Headed by community leader Fr Richie Gomez MSC, the volunteer team have been working to bring vital emergency aid to families and communities in the south of the country.
As of December 30th, it was reported that some 580,000 people had been displaced by the storm, with 356,000 people dependent on the services of evacuation centres, while a further 227,000 were staying with family or friends. Writing from an evacuation centre on Christmas Eve, where he and a group of volunteers were handing out meals to the indigenous Badjao community, who had been âwashed outâ of their homes on the shoreline, Fr Richie told Irish Provincial Superior Fr Carl Tranter MSC how grateful he was for the âoverwhelming supportâ that our Filipino MSC brothers have received from the Irish Province of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart.
âIt is quite emotional, on my part, celebrating Christmas Eve in evacuation centres, when Jesus became the bread of life, the Emmanuel, for all of us,â wrote Fr Richie.
âI thank God for this great privilege⊠He has used me on a Christmas Eve to feed hundreds of evacuees with mushroom burgers made by our scholars at the Centre for the Poor.â
âThank you for your overwhelming support!â
Our MSC brothers and Sacred Heart sisters are working tirelessly to provide essential support to the survivors of the typhoon as clean-up operations continue. We ask that you please keep our Sacred Heart family, and the communities they serve, in your prayers at this time of great need.
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Dec 27, 2021
On December 22nd, the MSC Missions Office in the Philippines hosted a day of community sharing and togetherness, with the Share a Christmas Basket Project in Sta. Quiteria and St Francis of Asissi Parish Church.
On December 20th, local volunteers worked together to pack hundreds of baskets of food and Christmas provisions in preparation for the programme, which benefitted a total of 1,000 families who received care packages on the day.
The MSC Mission Office Philippines, Inc. posted their gratitude on their Facebook page:
âOn behalf of the beneficiaries, we would like to thank all the donors, the SFSQ Parish who helped us facilitate and organize this activity and to all volunteers who helped us, in one way or another, made this activity possible. To all of you, MARAMING SALAMAT PO!â
MSCs in the Philippines are currently running several emergency response programmes, following the terrible damage caused by Super Typhoon Odette on December 16th. We at the Irish Province of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart continue to offer our prayers and our support, and with the spirit of Christmas in our hearts, we send every blessing to our MSC brothers in the Philippines and the communities they serve there.
Click here to watch a video of the Share a Christmas Basket Project preparations.
Images via the MSC Mission Office Philippines, Inc. Facebook page.
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Dec 21, 2021
Super Typhoon Rai, known locally as Odette, hit the Philippines on December 16th, and has proved to be the largest storm of the year to date. Over 300,000 people were evacuated from their homes in anticipation of the typhoon, with 10,000 villages predicated to lie in its path.
Homes, businesses, farms, and livelihoods have been torn to shreds by powerful rain, and winds reaching up to 260 kph/160 mph, with gusts of up to 300 kph/185 mph. While millions have been affected, the full extent of the damage caused by Typhoon Odette is not yet known, as many lines of communication are still down and the immediate focus is on rescuing and caring for those in urgent need. As of Monday, December 20th, the national police service announced that at least 375 people had been killed, with 500 more injured and 56 missing. Trees and buildings have fallen, many areas are badly flooded, roofs have been ripped from houses, and survivors are in urgent need of food and clean drinking water.
âPlease keep the MSC, FDNSC (Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart), MSC Sisters, and all of the people of the Philippines in your prayers,â wrote Fr Carl Tranter MSC, Irish Provincial Superior.
âThe central and southern parts of the country have been badly hit by the very powerful typhoon Odette, which has caused massive destruction.
We are aware of significant damage across our parishes and the schools/clinics of our sisters on Mactan island and Cebu in the central Philippines, and in Surigao and Agusan in the south.
We stand in solidarity with our Chevalier family in the Philippines and with all the Filipino people.â
As opportunities for communication are minimal in the wake of the storm, we have yet to understand the full impact of the typhoon on our extended Sacred Heart family in the Philippines. The Irish Province of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart have sent emergency funds to assist in the immediate aftermath of the storm, as MSC and FDNSC communities undertake the initial clean-up and search and rescue operations. We will continue to provide help as it is needed in the new year, and we ask that you please remember our Sacred Heart family in the Philippines in your prayers in the coming weeks, as they pick up the pieces of lives and livelihoods that have been demolished by this mighty force of nature.
