Nov 11, 2021
The beginning of November marked the feast day of the seven MSC martyrs of Canet de Mar, who were the first members of the MSC congregation to be declared blessed, in May 2017.
November 6th is the feast day of the seven martyrs, namely Fr Antonio Arribas, Fr Abundio Martín, Fr José Vergara, Fr Josep-Oriol Issern, Br Gumersindo Gómez, Br Jésus Moreno, and Br José del Almo. These seven MSCs lived and worked in the Pequeña Obra in Barcelona in the 1930s; this was a minor seminary in Canet de Mar, where they worked with 65 young people on their spiritual journey to religious life and priesthood. The religious persecution brought about in the course of the Spanish Civil War saw these seven men brought to a cruel and brutal death, murdered for their faith and their devotion to the Lord’s work.
The Spanish Civil War began on July 18th 1936, and just three days later, on July 21st, the parish church of Canet de Mar was set on fire and burned to the ground. On the afternoon of the same day, an armed group approached the seminary and demanded that the community there leave the premises with immediate effect, under the orders of the People’s Committee. Following the command, the community were brought to a park nearby, located near the Shrine of Mercy, and they were kept under close surveillance there for a fortnight.
On August 3rd, the seminary director received a warning from a member of the People’s Committee, forewarning him of the danger to come. The Committee were planning a mass shooting, with the exception of children and elderly priests. In the face of immediate and severe danger, the religious leaders had to leave the seminarians, forming two groups for escape, one of four and the other of seven.
Fleeing under the cover of darkness, the group of seven MSCs travelled towards the French border in great fear and peril. While they were fortunate to receive help from several farmsteads, they travelled in hiding, through unfamiliar territory, without a supply of food or water and through all weathers.
Eight weeks later, on September 28th, the group arrived at the farmhouse of Mont-Ros at nightfall. One of the group approached the house to ask for directions, looking for information about the correct road to take to the French border. Following the instructions they had been given, they had travelled just over a kilometre before they were apprehended by a group of members of the People’s Committee. Their whereabouts had been betrayed, and they were immediately captured and taken to Committee headquarters in a schoolhouse.
At around 10.00pm that night, the MSC group were handed over to the Committee of Sant Joan les Fonts, Girona. A woman in a neighbouring property saw the MSCs as they awaited their fate, pacing in the hallway and praying the Rosary. The following afternoon, the MSCs were removed from the schoolhouse before a watching crowd, bound two by two, with the remaining individual walking alone with his hands tied behind his back. They were silent, and largely appeared to be at peace, although one of the younger MSCs was in tears. The waiting crowd also remained silent in the face of such dignity, though one of the Committee members railed against the Pope, the church, and the clergy.
The prisoners were transferred onto a bus, which came to a halt on the banks of the River Ter. Several men working in the nearby fields saw the bus stop, and four men, bound in pairs, were removed and brought towards a nearby slope. These witnesses were able to hear loud arguing, followed by gunshots, and saw the four bodies fall at the same time. The final three men were then removed from the bus, to suffer the same fate.
“They clung so closely to Christ that they died carrying in their hands crucifixes, bibles, medals, bearing witness to their faith,” reflects the Ametur MSC Facebook page.
Men from the nearby town of Serinyà, known as good Christians, were compelled by the People’s Committee to carry the seven bodies to the town cemetery, where the MSC martyrs were buried in two tombs. They remained at rest here until March 1940, when their bodies were exhumed and brought to the cemetery of Canet de Mar, located close to the MSC community. Their remains now rest in one of the chapels of the Shrine to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in Barcelona, following their beatification in 2017.
In the course of their lives, and through their dignity and devotion in death, the MSC martyrs of Canet de Mar lived and died in the full and true sense of the motto of the Society of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart: “May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be everywhere loved”.
Images via the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart Australia website and the Ametur MSC Facebook page.
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Nov 4, 2021
In September, four MSC students answered a call from the Saigon Archdiocese for volunteers to help at the COVID-19 treatment hospital in Saigon City, due to rising patient numbers and an urgent need for additional care.
Tien Minh NGUYEN, Hung Quoc LE, Thanh Vu NGUYEN, and Vu Thanh NGUYEN were granted permission to volunteer at the hospital, with Australian Provincial Fr Chris McPhee MSC noting, “I am very impressed by their eagerness and their openness to help, to be MSC men who are willing to volunteer, to be on the frontline and to be of service. This makes me very, very proud.”
The Missionaries of the Sacred Heart Australia website posted a recent communication from MSC student Hung, who sent pictures from the front line.
“Vũ and I are well here,” he wrote. “The number of patients with COVID-19 is reducing but it could increase when Vietnam opens again. We hope we can manage this situation.”
The images he sends show the stark reality of the care centre in Saigon City, where our MSC students continue to help in any way they can.
Please keep our MSC volunteers in your prayers as they continue their volunteer work in assisting the medical team and caring for COVID-19 patients in Saigon City.
PLEASE SUPPORT OUR GLOBAL MSC COVID-19 RELIEF MINISTRY
Images via the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart Australia website.
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Oct 28, 2021
We are delighted to be able to share these wonderful images from Tulang Diot in the Philippines, where the country’s MSC Mission Office, in conjunction with the MSC Mission Office Australia, facilitated the installation of new water tanks for the collection and storage of rainwater.
Tulang Diot is located in San Francisco, Camotes, where many local families struggle with poverty and hardship. The people of the region are hugely dependent on rainwater, with 90% of the area’s water source coming from the rain. 185 families in Tulang Diot will now be able to benefit from the installation of the water system, which will allow for easier access to safe, clean water for everyday use. With the coronavirus pandemic showing no signs of abating in the immediate future, the availability of clean, safe water and access to the best hygiene practices possible is truly vital, particularly in regions where local communities have very little.
The Facebook page for the MSC Missions Office in the Philippines posted pictures of the new water system, along with a message of gratitude. “We thank the MSC Mission Office and all the donors who have been so kind and generous to our mission to help the underprivileged communities in the country,” they wrote.
We echo their gratitude in our shared mission; please keep our MSC brothers and the communities they serve in the Philippines, and around the world, in your prayers.
PLEASE SUPPORT OUR MSC MINISTRY IN THE PHILIPPINES
Images via the Facebook page for the MSC Mission Office Philippines, Inc.
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Oct 21, 2021
At the beginning of September, four MSCs in Vietnam requested permission to volunteer as assistants at a COVID-19 treatment centre in Saigon City.
As reported by the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart Australia website, the Saigon Archdiocese had called for volunteers from religious congregations in the area to volunteer their services at the COVID-19 treatment hospital in Saigon. “Personnel are desperately needed as the number of patients increase every day,” the MSC Australia site reports.
Tien Minh NGUYEN, Hung Quoc LE, Thanh Vu NGUYEN, and Vu Thanh NGUYEN have all finished their studies and are currently in pastoral ministry. Following a period of prayer, discernment, and discussion, these four MSCs asked for permission to volunteer at the hospital.
Australian Provincial Fr Chris McPhee MSC wrote to grant the request, noting that their desire to help in a time of such desperate need highlights that these are “truly men of the heart”.
“You know, I am really concerned for the wellbeing of our men, and the risk that this could lead them into catching COVID-19,” Fr Chris wrote to Fr Hoàng, MSC Superior in Vietnam. “However, I am very impressed by their eagerness and their openness to help, to be MSC men who are willing to volunteer, to be on the frontline and to be of service. This makes me very, very proud. Truly men of heart.”
His letter continued, “Please, Hoàng, please let Tien Minh NGUYEN, Hung Quoc LE, Thanh Vu NGUYEN, and Vu Thanh NGUYEN, know how proud I am, please let them know that they can go with my blessing, love and support, and please let them know that they will be very much in our prayers.”
Please keep our MSC volunteers in your prayers as they minister to those in need in Saigon City, continuing in our shared mission to be on earth the heart of God.
PLEASE SUPPORT OUR GLOBAL MSC COVID-19 RELIEF MINISTRY
Images via the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart Australia website.
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Oct 14, 2021
In response to the continuing needs of people affected by the coronavirus pandemic in the Philippines, the community at the MSC Centre for the Poor initiative have established a new campaign which aims to help those in real and urgent need in a sustainable way.
The new campaign calls for participants to “Be a Food Security Frontliner,” encouraging supporters to respond to the needs of the poor and hungry while protecting and nurturing the land and the environment.
“People go hungry not because there is insufficient food on our farms, but because they are poor.”
“With two years of the COVID-19 pandemic and more years of uncertainty predicted to come, we have seen the gradual collapse of the Philippine health system, our domestic economy, social services, environment, and food system,” writes Fr Richie Gomez MSC, community leader at the MSC Centre for the Poor. “Soon, we will be witnessing a massive escalating hunger crisis due to food insecurity. People go hungry not because there is insufficient food on our farms, but because they are poor. Agricultural products go to those with the greatest capacity to pay, not to the most vulnerable people. As our farmers say, ‘Kami ang nag tanim, kami ang walang makain’ (‘We plant, but we have nothing to eat’).”
In addition to the COVID crisis, several other factors have severely impacted on the ability of poorer families to put food on the table. “Violent conflicts here in Mindanao, extreme weather due to climate change, biodiversity loss, and the economic downturn cause by the COVID-19 pandemic and varying degrees of community lockdowns have worsened the situation of vulnerable people,” explains Fr Richie. “In addition, water becomes increasingly scarce for smaller farmers when bigger investors use it in intensive irrigation schemes. All of these crises limit poorer people’s capacity to buy food, or to produce enough to be self-sufficient.”
“Let us not wait for the situation to further deteriorate, when it is already too late to act.”
“Let us not wait for the situation to further deteriorate, when it is already too late to act,” Fr Richie encourages. “Let us create a food system that protects the health of both humans and the environment – providing a healthy diet for 120 million Filipinos without destroying the planet.”
The food system is one of the singular most important social and economic concerns in the Philippines, where some of the most vulnerable people, including those in farming and fishing, are ultimately the foundation. Now, the MSC Centre for the Poor Agriculture Cooperative (MSC-CEPAGCO) is focusing on building its capacity for “a more resilient, diverse model of farming and food production… based on community decisions and open-source ideas can help to develop local food systems”, eliminating dependency on larger corporate endeavours.
The Food Security Frontliner enterprise looks at developing alternative models of agricultural production and marketing, which focus on being sustainable and fair as well as generating income. This will involve “the organisation of people’s cooperatives, the use of organic agriculture and modern technology for post-harvest production, ‘the farm-to-table’ marketing strategy, and the continuing formation of the Spirituality of the Heart through the works of Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation”.
“We will be green producers, bringing our produce to green consumers.”
Pope Francis has highlighted the need for a fair-trade system in an “inclusive economy,” and this is the essential aim of the Food Security Frontliner campaign. “This means that no-one will be left out in the cycle of economy,” says Fr Richie. “We will have a daily harvest from our coop members’ farms; we will be green producers, bringing our produce to green consumers.”
Together with disadvantaged youths on their scholarship programme, the MSC Centre for the Poor Agriculture Cooperative is implementing a programme on Environmental Management Systems, and creating income-generating projects to raise the quality of life for both rural and urban communities who use the two MSC Centre for the Poor locations, one in Butuan City and one in Del Monte Agusan del Sur.
“Our model farm in Del Monte Agusan del Sur has just been approved by the Department of Agriculture as a learning site for organic agriculture, and is soon to be a farm school for the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority,” Fr Richie says. “We want to empower small-scale farmers, the indigenous Lumad community, rebel returnees, people struggling with drugs and addiction, disadvantaged youths, and repatriated overseas Filipino workers.”
Currently, the MSC Centre for the Poor Agriculture Cooperative is working to raise funds to build three large greenhouses for organic vegetable production at the MSC Centre for the Poor Living Museum in Del Monte, Talacogon Agusan del Sur, in the Philippines, at a cost of 5,000,000 Philippine pesos, or approximately €85,500. This investment will provide the prospect of self-sufficiency and food security for generations to come.
“As an accredited cooperative organisation by the Cooperative Development Authority, our focus right now is to produce affordable, healthy food for all, producing healthy/organic farm products on a day-to-day basis.”
“This initiative is a concrete response to the needs of the poor,” concludes Fr Richie. “It is a concrete action that needs the support of our mission friends everywhere, in whatever capacity, including prayers and goodwill to promote a spirit of solidarity.”
PLEASE SUPPORT OUR MSC MINISTRY IN THE PHILIPPINES
Oct 6, 2021
This year’s annual Masses for deceased MSCs and Daughters of the Lady of the Sacred Heart will take place around the country in November, as we remember those who have gone before us in the light of the Lord.
Irish Provincial Superior Fr Carl Tranter MSC writes:
“Sadly, this year, because of COVID-19 restrictions, our usual manner of gathering is not possible. We have, therefore, arranged for a Mass to be celebrated on Sunday, November 7th at 3.00pm in the Sacred Heart Church, Western Road, Cork, which will be live streamed on the internet to allow everyone to participate. All are welcome to access this mass on a computer, laptop, tablet, or smartphone by visiting our website’s live stream page.
In addition to the live-streamed mass from Cork, the MSC communities in Woodview, Dublin, and Croí Nua, Galway, will be celebrating their own community Mass for our deceased members that Sunday morning.
Mass will also be celebrated on Sunday, November 14th in St Patrick’s Church, Ballybay at 2.00pm. This will be live streamed and can be accessed by visiting the live stream at www.churchservices.tv/ballybay.
Unfortunately, it is not possible to invite family and friends to attend any of these Masses in person this year. We look forward to the possibility of coming together once again next year to remember and celebrate the lives of those who have gone before us. In the meantime, we hope that you will be able to join us virtually on November 7th and 14th this year.”
With my prayers and very best wishes,
Fr Carl
We invite you to join us for live-streamed Masses on the following dates:
Sunday, November 7th at 3.00pm:
Sunday, November 14th at 2.00pm:
We would like to invite you to pray with us during the month of the Holy Souls as we remember the MSCs and Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart who worked so hard to ensure that the Sacred Heart of Jesus is known and loved everywhere, and by everyone.
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