Apr 9, 2021
Further to MSC’s Centre for the Poor in the Phillipine’s Beat the Plastic and Building for Sustainability effort they sure have kept themselves busy during the pandemic thanks to all the support they received.
” The global pandemic (COVID-19) phenomena, with its imposed health protocol and restrictions on social gatherings, hampered our activities and renovation project of the Center for the Poor. Nonetheless, the Center made small efforts by patiently responding to the present needs and struggles of the people around us. We made some unprecedented adjustments in our operations regarding the budget, personnel, priorities and concerns. Through out this Pandemic period, we were able to focus in developing our Farm and tried to respond not only to pandemic but to the daily survival of the farmers with all the challenges in the estate of Climate Emergency situation.”
“As of November 2020, we have done major renovations of the function hall and dormitories. Now we are ready to provide healthy and safe sleeping quarters to training participants in the District House and in the adjacent building. We also have a venue for worship and a place for large gatherings such as skills training, networking communication, deepening of spirituality of the Heart, raising awareness on environmental issue and livelihood development programs . Our center is open to different sectors in CARAGA region serving civil society organizations, parish mandated organizations, fisherfolks, urban poor, farmers, youth, women, Likha-Karaga Artists, transport groups, Lumads (Indigenous People), Chevalier Lay Associates, etc.”
The Multimedia Hall of the center wherein the Life’s Healing Journey Program was supposed to be held last year is now functioning as well (besides the usual venue at CFA in Manila). They have expanded/ maximized the floor area with awnings made up of Nipa and Bamboo materials to provide space for small group processing such as Focused Group Discussion. This place can also be our Demonstration Area for our Best Green Practices with an alternative Lifestyle introducing 9R’s-Zero Waste Management (Reuse, Reduce, Repair, Refuse, Recycle, Repurpose, Recover, Regift, RETHINK), Bokashi Technology, and sharing of resources to actualize the Spirit of Laudato Si.”
After the installation of the audio-visual facilities and the multifunction hall last January, the MSC Center for the Poor is now expanding the physical development efforts of the Living Museum in our Del Monte property. Fr. Tans and Fr. Richie MSC take turns in manning the Center in Butuan and the farm in Del Monte with the help of “Kuya Buddy” (Mr. Salvador Tursar). We always want to make sure that the center and farm are both important venues in implementing our aspirations to help the poor. At the farm, we are able to set up the Farm House, Nursery, Livestock area, Demo Farms, and Livelihood Programs for the farmers. It is also important to note that we are able to organize our MSC Lay Partners as Cooperative to effectively respond to the needs of the local community. In addition, to sustain our Center for the Poor is to strengthen our Lay Empowerment Programs in every location. “
SUPPORT OUR MSC MISSIONS IN THE PHILIPPINES
Apr 8, 2021
It’s a busy time here in Loreto Rumbek. I have just arrived back from leave and we are straight into Holy Week. As we are a boarding school, we have been able to maintain a rigorous lockdown and this has allowed us to celebrate the Easter Triduum. What a gift! When I was back in Ireland at the beginning of March, I had not realised the inability to join my parish would have affected me as much, but it did. There is something in the coming together; the meeting of old friends and new; and the raising hearts and minds to God as a community of faith that is an integral part of who we are as Catholics. It’s something I don’t think I’ll take for granted again.
Well now I’m back and we’re moving. It’s not just Holy Week that has me running around the place. Our final year students are sitting their Leaving Cert as I write this. It would normally happen earlier in the year, but understandably everything has been thrown up in the air. Each day I pass by the hall to wish them well. As I have explained before, there is a lot riding on the results of these exams. In fact, their outcome will determine the students’ future for themselves and their family. If they can do well and maybe even get a scholarship to university, they could raise an entire family out of poverty, while securing a better future for themselves. Simply put these two weeks will make all the difference in the world. Please do keep them in your prayers.
As the final year girls finish their exams, they begin their journey home, leaving Loreto for the last time as students. We saw a number of them off during the week with plenty of songs of joy and more than a few tears. God willing, they will return to the school when the results are published, but this time they will do so as graduates. Some will take part in the school’s intern programme. Here they work in the various departments for a two-year commitment, including translating for the patients in our clinic, acting as a teacher’s aid in primary school, helping with logistics, supporting the development programme, and working in the secondary school. Once they have completed their time, we fund their university course entirely. Many who are considering a future in teaching, nursing, or business get wonderful hands on training in the field. The intern programme has been a great success to date. It gives people an opportunity to study at third level that would never have been possible before.
Our celebrations for Holy Week were especially beautiful. On Holy Thursday for the Mass of the Last Supper we had the washing of the feet, with our builders, cooks, nurses, staff, students, and interns acting as the apostles. Good Friday was suitably quiet and reflective. The girls led the Stations of the Cross in the morning across the compound, finishing up at a large, simple metal cross we have by the clinic. In the afternoon we were well up towards 40C, but we still had the Passion and adoration of the Cross. On Holy Saturday our students spent a time of quiet prayer, waiting at the tomb of Jesus. Finally, for our Easter Vigil we began with a truly spectacular bonfire for the blessing of our Paschal candle. Then, under a perfectly clear African night, we processed by candlelight to begin our Mass. It was joyous, with all the readings, hymns, and rich liturgical symbolism. This time of Resurrection marks a new beginning, as we commit ourselves to be an Easter people of hope and joy. Alleluia is our song!
Happy Easter or as they say around here Miet puou jot rot Yesu Kristo,
Fr. Alan
Read more of Fr Alan’s journey:
– Looking for a Sign on the Way to South Sudan
– Building a Better Future in South Sudan
– Chirstmas greetings from Fr Alan in South Sudan
– A Cup of Sugar and Maybe a Goat
– Mock Exams and Real Life in South Sudan
– As Easy as Baking a Cake
HELP US TO TRANSFORM LIVES IN SOUTH SUDAN
Mar 25, 2021
MSC Easter Draw 2021
Congratulations to the winners of this year’s MSC Easter Draw!
Prize Winners:
1st Prize: €2,000 Cruise Travel Voucher
C & C Clarke
Donnybrook,
Dublin 4
2nd Prize: €1,500 Sun Holiday Voucher
B Ryan
St. Augustine’s Place ,
Limerick
3rd Prize: €1,000 City Break Voucher
J O’Connor
Killarney
Co.Kerry
4th Prize: €1,000 TV/Audio Voucher
R McGrath
Dillion Street,
Co Tipperary
5th Prize: €1,000 TV/Audio Voucher
S Gallagher
Drogheda
Co Louth
6th Prize: €1,000 Home Furniture Voucher
May Fagan
Dunboyne
Co Meath
7th Prize: €1,000 Home Furniture Voucher
Z Conroy
Naas
Co Kildare
8th Prize: €500 Weekend Break Voucher
E Scully
Naas
Co Kildare
9th Prize: €500 Weekend Break Voucher
L McGinty
Letterkenny
Co Donegal
10th Prize: €500 Computer/Tablet Voucher
M O’Brien
Bantry
Co Cork
11th Prize: €500 Computer/Tablet Voucher
J Lupton
Midleton
Co Cork
12th Prize: €500 Home Decor Voucher
J Quirke
Rathfarnham
Dublin 16
13th Prize: €500 Home Decor Voucher
D Murray
Castlerea
Co Roscommon
14th Prize: €500 Garden / Outdoor Voucher
E Murphy
Douglas
Cork
15th Prize: €500 Garden / Outdoor Voucher
M Rogan
Ennis Road
Limerick
16th Prize: €500 Home Appliances Voucher
M Hughes
Tuam
Co Galway
17th Prize: €500 Home Appliances Voucher
R Carney Bekan
Claremorris
Co Mayo
18th Prize: €500 Hot Air Balloon Voucher
F O’Connell
Knocknacarra
Galway
19th Prize: €500 Driving Lessons Voucher
M Keatley
Dunlavin
Co Wicklow
20th Prize: €500 Cookery Class Voucher
M O’Donoghue
ManorShannon
Co Clare.
View €200 Shopping Voucher Winners
View €100 Shopping Voucher Winners
All winners will be notified individually.
We would like to extend our sincere thanks to everyone who took part in this year’s draw.
This year’s MSC Easter Draw took place on Wednesday, March 31st 2021.
Feb 22, 2021
As we begin our Lenten season and journey this year, we do so after already a long year of limitations and lockdowns. It feels like we have already given up so much. It has been hard. Yet these coming weeks can be a precious time to open our hearts to the Lord who loves us intimately and has compassion on his people; to be renewed, restored, healed and converted. In opening our hearts to Him, so also we open our hearts to one another and to our world. We pray, we fast, we reach out in selfless giving.
Despite our continued physical isolation from one another, may this Lent be a graced time for us; that we each may yield fruit in due season (Communion antiphon for Ash Wednesday). For these 40 days we journey together.
Have a blessed journey.
Fr Carl Tranter
MSC Provincial Leader.
Feb 9, 2021
The biggest dilemma at the start of the month was figuring how to fit the words ‘Celebrating Religious Life’ across a cake. It was for the second of February, the World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life, when the Church acknowledges in a special the contribution of sisters, brothers, and religious priests in the building up of the Kingdom of God.
In the Diocese of Rumbek, we are a broad church with missionaries from around the world working alongside local diocesan clergy and our lay teams. There are sisters from the Missionaries of Charity and the Evangelising Sisters in Cathedral parish, as well as our own Loreto Sisters, along with the brothers from De La Salle community just up the road in their new school for boys. You also have the Jesuits, the Spiritans, and of course one Missionary of the Sacred Heart who wandered in a few months ago and everyone has been too polite to ask what he is actually doing there in the first place.
In all we have over thirty religious sisters, brothers and priests from all across Africa, Asia, Australia and Europe. The ministry that they are involved in includes the usual schools and clinics that are usual in name only. The issues they face and the challenges they meet are well outside the norm of what we typically deal with in the West. This morning the Missionaries of Charity are going to a leper colony an hour outside of town. The Jesuits are setting up an English language course for their adult education programme and are trying to encourage as many women as possible to enrol to improve their future employment prospects. The Loreto sisters and the team in our clinic are getting ready for a possible surge in Covid cases, even though we have no testing kits and there are only four ventilators in the whole country of 11 million people. None are in Rumbek.
As for myself, I’m still working away on the local language. We had our first Children’s Liturgy last Sunday morning and when I enthusiastically greeted the kids in Dinka there was stony silence. Not a single word. Nothing. Then when one of the students said 100% exactly what I said they were beside themselves with excitement. When I said it again, I got nothing! Afterwards the student said I was doing well, but politely recommended that my accent needs a bit of work. I suspect she is going to be an excellent, if somewhat demanding, teacher one day!
Last Friday we had another wonderful celebration. The children from Year 8 graduated from Loreto Primary School and this very week they will sit the national exams. They are another group you will need to add to your prayers. Seventy-two boys and girls successfully completed their studies. When I spoke with them during Mass, they talked about how their first lessons took place under a large tree in junior infants. It has been a long road and a tumultuous few years, but they persevered. Despite the school’s best efforts many students dropped out along the way due early enforced marriage or the need to go and work to support their family. Still the number of those who persevere continues to grow and education is increasingly seen as the key pathway out of poverty to a better life.
At the graduation Sr. Orla, the Director of Loreto, and Mr. Yuga, the Compound Manager, presented the children with some stationery supplies for their exams and a Bible. In the homily of the Mass, I explained that in life they could go anywhere and do anything as long as they remembered that their education was their passport and their Bible was their guide for the journey. It was day of real thanksgiving for all that was achieved and touched by sorrow as the students will now go on to different schools.
We hope that most of the girls will continue into Senior 1 in Loreto Secondary School. Many of the boys will join the De la Salle Brothers in their school or go to the Comboni school in town run by the Evangelising Sisters and the Diocese. Education is a foundational ministry and one of a number that the sisters, brothers, and priests carry out. As for the cake, well the decorator ran out of space and decided that Celebrating Holy Life was grand. On reflection we all agreed.
“Ben Nhialic areer keg a way!”,
Fr. Alan
Read more of Fr Alan’s journey:
– Looking for a Sign on the Way to South Sudan
– Building a Better Future in South Sudan
– Chirstmas greetings from Fr Alan in South Sudan
– A Cup of Sugar and Maybe a Goat
Images via Fr Alan & Loreto Rumbeck on Facebook
HELP US TO TRANSFORM LIVES IN SOUTH SUDAN
Feb 4, 2021
We extend our heartfelt congratulations to Miguel Ibarra MSC and his fellow novices, Erik Bryan de Mattos MSC and Witalo Souza de Jesus MSC on their First Profession on Tuesday night.
Miguel is a member of our MSC Region in Venezuela and has just completed his noviciate in Itajubá, Brazil. He began his formation in Maracaibo with Vicente Buitrago and then Tom Mulcahy before transferring to the Pre-Novitiate in Sao Luis, Brazil. We are particularly grateful to his formators in Brazil, Everton da Silva MSC (Pre-Novitiate) and Getulio Saggin MSC (Novice Master) for their welcome and close accompaniment of Miguel.
Miguel will now move to the MSC Scholasticate in Sao Paulo to continue with his theology studies. We had hoped that he would be able to go the MSC International Scholasticate in El Salvador but because Venezuela has closed consular services during the Covid-19 Pandemic it has not been possible for him to obtain the necessary documentation.
For those of you who may wish to watch the celebration you can do so on YouTube here
We welcome Miguel as a professed member of the Province and assure him our support and prayers as he continues his formation journey.
