Apr 5, 2023
MSC Easter Draw 2023
Congratulations to the winners of this year’s MSC Easter Draw!
Prize Winners:
1st Prize: €2,000 Cruise Travel Voucher
J. Woods,
Artane,
Dublin 5.
2nd Prize: €1,500 Sun Holiday Voucher
M. Martin,
Mullingar,
Co. Westmeath.
3rd Prize: €1,000 City Break Voucher
Mulligan family,
Carlow,
Co .Carlow.
4th Prize: €1,000 TV/Audio Voucher
H. Power,
Kilkenny,
Co. Kilkenny.
5th Prize: €1,000 TV/Audio Voucher
F. Fee,
Carrick-on-Shannon,
Co. Leitrim.
6th Prize: €1,000 Home Furniture Voucher
A. Mc Donagh,
Castlerea,
Co. Roscommon.
7th Prize: €1,000 Home Furniture Voucher
N. Guckian,
Ennis,
Co. Clare.
8th Prize: €500 Weekend Break Voucher
A. O’Sullivan,
Castleisland,
Co Kerry.
9th Prize: €500 Weekend Break Voucher
A. Mc Bride,
Gorey,
Co. WexfordÂ
10th Prize: €500 Computer/Tablet Voucher
B. Dillon,
Ballincollig,
Co. Cork.
11th Prize: €500 Computer/Tablet Voucher
E. Doohan,
Letterkenny,
Co. Donegal.
12th Prize: €500 Home Decor Voucher
M. Finnegan,
Tallaght
Dublin 24.
13th Prize: €500 Home Decor Voucher
G. Collum,
Letterkenny,
Co Donegal.
14th Prize: €500 Garden / Outdoor Voucher
R. O’Neill,
Castleshane,
Co. Monaghan.
15th Prize: €500 Garden / Outdoor Voucher
H. Hurley,
Tralee,
Co. Kerry.
16th Prize: €500 Home Appliances Voucher
A. Carroll,
Cappawhite,
Co. Tipperary.
17th Prize: €500 Home Appliances Voucher
B. Fahy,
Ballinasloe,
Co. Galway.
18th Prize: €500 Hot Air Balloon Voucher
G. Healy,
Ballincollig,
Co. Cork.
19th Prize: €500 Driving Lessons Voucher
N. Mc Cauley,
Enniskillen,
Co. Fermanagh
20th Prize: €500 Cookery Class Voucher
H. Cawley,
Westport,
Co. Mayo.
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, April 5th 2023.
Mar 23, 2023
As our 2023 World Projects Appeal continues, our Sisters in the Daughters of the Lady of the Sacred Heart have been in contact to express their gratitude for the support of our mission friends here in the Irish Province.
Sr Marie-Laure writes from Burkina Faso, where the OLSH community are raising funds for construction work to improve the educational facilities in the school of Jules Chevalier de Ouagadougou. “It is a great joy for us Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart of Burkina Faso to express to you our gratitude for all that you do for us,” she says. “We are very grateful to you. May the Lord through Mary Our Lady of the Sacred Heart accompany you in your mission.”
Provincial Leader Sr Marie Solange also writes from Africa, with thanks for the support given to OLSH communities across the province. “I come with gratitude to you this day to express our joy and thanks in the name of the Province of Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in Africa,” she writes. “Through your support, we have been able to improve certain activities in education, health care, or simply the means to ensure our mission. We really appreciate with all our heart this contribution for our province in construction.”
“On behalf of the African Province, I would like to express our gratitude,” adds Sr Clotilde. “Thank you for supporting our projects, and for your interest and attention to our mission in Africa. May the Lord repay you a hundredfold and shower you with his blessings.”
Finally, Sr Renisa has been in touch from Brazil, where current projects included care for the elderly, a kindergarten for vulnerable children, providing liturgical items and catechism books for communities in remote locations, and the support of a second-hand shop whose proceeds go towards feeding 65 local families each month. “I am writing to say a huge thank you for your support of the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in Brazil, for our ministry to those in need. I wish that you could see face to face the joy and relief your help spreads among the people which we work with. God bless you!”
MSCs and OLSH Sisters all over the world continue on our shared mission to make a difference to the people and places that need it most. There’s still time to take part in this year’s World Projects Appeal, where we’re highlighting some of the projects that need our immediate attention in the coming months. We add our voices to those of our OLSH Sisters as we thank you sincerely for your support – together, we can make a world of difference.
PLEASE CLICK HERE IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SUPPORT
OUR 2023 WORLD PROJECTS APPEAL
Mar 15, 2023
March 15th, 2023 marks the 199th anniversary of the birth of Fr Jules Chevalier, founder of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, and the beginning of the Chevalier Year. This jubilee year will come to a close on the Feast of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in May 2024, with a grand celebration on Fr Chevalier’s 200th birthday on March 15th.
The theme for the year is “Jules Chevalier MSC: A man with a heart on fire for mission,” which originated in the MSC provinces in Brazil. The accompanying logo was designed by Sr Helena, an MSC Sister from Korea, encapsulating the Holy Spirit and the MSC passion for the Spirituality of the Heart, the bicentennial, and the MSC charism and mission, the foundation of it all. The pierced Sacred Heart encompassed within the number 200, expressed in a continuous line, “symbolises our motto and vision originating from the time of Chevalier to our time,” explains the Chevalier Year Commission.
With the knowledge of Fr Chevalier’s unerring belief that “It is through love that God created everything,” we embark upon this special year in celebration of the great gifts that have been granted to us through God’s love, and with the continued shared aim of sharing this love “wherever and whenever it is needed most,” in keeping with our mission statement.
“As we celebrate this special jubilee for our Chevalier family, may each one of us be touched by the Spirit, and like Fr Chevalier, be gifted with a heart on fire for mission” (Chevalier Year Commission).
Images via the Ametur MSC Facebook page, from the Chevalier Year Commission.
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Mar 9, 2023
Juba International Airport is chaotic at the best of times. It is only for the hardiest of travellers, with a sense of reckless abandon, and the sturdiest suitcases. On Friday, the 3rd of February, though, it reached new heights. As I flew back into Juba, the Pope was beginning his ecumenical pilgrimage to South Sudan, along with the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Moderator of the Scottish Presbyterian Church just two hours later. The crowds were heaving with singing and dancing, officials were everywhere waving arms and shouting, and (ironically for a peace pilgrimage) there were plenty of military to make sure everything went without a hitch.
The Vatican, and Pope in particular, have been involved in promoting peace in South Sudan for the last decade. When he met the President and Vice Presidents in Rome in 2019, the Pope stunned those present by getting down on his knees, kissing their feet, and begging that they would work for peace in the world’s newest country. This powerful act of humility demonstrated more beautifully than words ever could how committed he was to building a different future for a people in need of hope.
After dropping off my bags, I joined the group from our Loreto school lining the road to welcome the Pope. If I was tired after my flight, it was nothing in comparison to what they must have been feeling. Over the previous nine days, they had walked as part of a pilgrimage of peace from our school in Rumbek to Juba. A group of ninety students, interns, Religious, and youth walked from village to village on the way to the capital, witnessing to peace. Each evening they performed a play in the marketplace on the theme reconciliation and nonviolence.
“Brothers and sisters, it is time for peace!”
With all the police cars racing up and down the official route, we almost missed the Pope as he drove from the airport in his usual understated Fiat. He was to spend the first day meeting with the President, politicians, and the diplomatic corps. His message was encouraging, but given that twenty-seven people were killed the day before in a vicious revenge attack just three hours outside of Juba, uncompromising:
“Years of war and conflict seem never to end and recently, even yesterday, there have been bitter clashes. At the same time, the process of reconciliation seems stagnant and the promise of peace unfulfilled. May this protracted suffering not be in vain; may the patience and the sacrifices of the South Sudanese, this young, humble and courageous people, challenge everyone and, like the seeds sown in the soil that give life to plants, allow peace to blossom and bear fruit. Brothers and sisters, it is time for peace!”
The following morning the Pope met with priests and religious working around the country in the Cathedral. He remembered those sisters and priests who had been murdered in recent years, but also offered words of encouragement. Immediately afterwards, our youth who had walked from Rumbek had an opportunity to meet the Pope and have their photo taken with him on the steps of the Cathedral. He had heard their story and wanted to meet them personally. To say that they were on cloud nine afterwards would be an understatement. It would be something that they would never forget.
Later that day, the Pope met with internally displaced South Sudanese living around Juba, only a small group of over 2,000,000 people who have had to leave their homes due to flooding or fighting. Many have been living in camps for so long returning will be next to impossible. Mapourdit, where the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart minister, was a refugee camp before Independence, but has not become a permanent settlement. Pope Francis agreed with many of the local leaders that this cannot be the way.
“Only with peace, stability and justice can there be development and social reintegration. There is no room for further delay: great numbers of children born in recent years have known only the reality of camps for displaced persons. They have no memory of what it means to have a home; they are losing their connection with their native land, their roots and their traditions. The future cannot lie in refugee camps.”
On Saturday evening the Pope joined Archbishop Welby, the Rev Iain Greenshields, and church leaders from around South Sudan to pray for peace. In particular, they identified the problem of violence against women as a pervasive reality and spoke of the role women have played and will play as peacemakers, justice seekers, and future leaders. The response of the people there was joyous, even if many had to wait hours in 40C heat just to witness it.
Finally, on Sunday, we celebrated Mass with the Pope in the John Garang Memorial Park. It was a capacity congregation, and if you weren’t there by 4:00am, you weren’t getting a seat. When the Pope drove around the site at the beginning giving his blessing, he was greeted by cheers and ululations. In his homily, he spoke of St Josephine Bakhita, one of the patron saints of the country, and her fight from slavery to freedom, overcoming some of the worst challenges imaginable. Instead of becoming embittered by her struggle, she used it to inspire her and those around her to witness to her faith.
“Hope is the word I would leave with each of you, as a gift to share, a seed to bear fruit. As Saint Josephine reminds us, women, especially here, are a sign of hope, and in a special way I thank and bless all the women of the country.”
As the Pope started his journey back to Rome, we hopped onto the bus and joined our rag-tag collection of cars on the drive back to Rumbek. Only last year, this journey would not have been possible due to insecurity, but things are more settled now – hopefully a sign of things to come. Fourteen hours, one flat bus tire, and one broken down car later, we arrived back in Loreto Rumbek. An amazing journey for all of us, but for South Sudan one that is continuing.
Nhialic ke yin,
Fr Alan
Read more from Fr Alan’s missionary journey in South Sudan:
PLEASE HELP US TO TRANSFORM LIVES IN SOUTH SUDAN
Mar 2, 2023
As our Lenten journey gets underway here at home, our prayers are with our MSC brothers all over the world, united in this special season of prayer and reflection. These wonderful images were shared by our MSC mission in Metuge, Mozambique, where Fr José Eduardo Paixao MSC celebrated the first Sunday of Lent in a moving ceremony at the community of St Antonio de Metuge.
Originally established in 2018, our MSC mission in Mozambique marks its fifth anniversary in March, as it continues in its ministry to the vulnerable and displaced across the Diocese of Pemba. The need here is great; from the damage caused by natural disasters, to the terrible effects of the constant threats of war, violence, and political unrest, this is a mission that must continuously adapt and respond to the demands of the social climate and the prevailing needs of the local communities and parishioners.
The MSC community in the Irish Province has an enduring relationship with our Mozambique mission, with the friendship and support of our mission friends and benefactors here at home touching the lives of thousands in the district of Pemba. Since 2017, more than 850,000 people have been displaced by war in the region. Many have lost their lives to violence, while many more have gone missing. Together with Fr José, we have been raising funds to support those who have been displaced by war, along with other disadvantaged communities in the community of Metuge, as we work together to provide hope, brighter prospects, and a better quality of life for those in real need.
    
While local troubles are not at an end, the spirit of hope, perseverance, and unity remains at the heart of our Mozambique mission, and here we see the power of faith and community in these beautiful images of their Lenten celebrations. Please keep our MSC Mozambique mission in your prayers as we journey together towards Holy Week and Easter, with compassionate and open hearts.
Images via the Facebook page for MSC Mozambique, with credit to Abudo Manara.
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Feb 14, 2023
As the new year gets underway, the MSC Centre for the Poor, located in the city of Butuan in the Philippine Province of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, continues in its efforts to promote sustainability and self-sufficiency in harmony and balance with the natural world. One of their most recent projects is the School of Love, a farm school dedicated to protecting and conserving the environment with “tender love and care,” while also encouraging positive growth in those who tend to the earth and reap the benefits of its resources.
Established in 2018, the MSC Centre for the Poor has since developed an agricultural cooperative movement for local farmers, with a view to improving quality of life for the poor and marginalised in society, and those who don’t have a voice of their own. The community there describe the MSC Centre for the Poor Agriculture Cooperative (MSC-CEPAGCO) as a “working arm of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, responding to the difficulties during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond, by organising the farmers’ sector to ensure food sustainability and care for our common home.”
As part of their ongoing development programmes, the MSC-CEPAGCO is working on building a “learning site” – a model farm covering 4.3 hectares where farmers and community members can learn and practice basic principles and skills in the field of organic agriculture. The model farm has now been approved by the Department of Agriculture as a Learning Site for Sustainable Organic Agriculture, and a Farm School of Technical Education Skills Development Authority, aiming to empower locals through the promotion of an alternative, sustainable lifestyle.
The current goals of the cooperative focus on the promotion of healthy soil and organic produce, the use of ecologically balanced and safe farming technology, consciousness of managing waste with the ultimate aim of a zero-waste lifestyle, the creation of income-generating projects to raise the quality of life of poor families and communities in rural areas, and raising awareness of the necessity of caring for our environment in response to the ongoing climate emergency.
“Seeing ourselves within the web of life”
The project promotes a “holistic world view perspective” of “seeing ourselves within the web of life” – essentially, becoming aware that everything we do in life “causes a ripple of impacts, big or small, good or bad, to travel throughout the web and ultimately back to us.” This drives the desire to make a positive difference, alongside the awareness of a “high level of mutualism,” seeking to enable a better quality of life for each other as much as for one individual, “working together for the betterment of all.” With a consciousness of the damage that has already been done to local ecosystems, the School of Love is working on allowing the environment to regenerate. “From the tiniest seeds to a grown tree, from fertilization of eggs to completely matured animals, from planting to nurturing, growing and harvesting, all these processes are realised because of tender love and care, whether by nature or by a responsible steward,” states a recent report from the MSC-CEPAGCO.
Involvement in the scheme is far-reaching, including members from the professional, religious, and agricultural sectors of the local community, in addition to providing opportunities people undergoing rehabilitation from drug and alcohol abuse, young people who are out of school and lacking the necessary skills or prospects for progression, repatriated Filipinos from overseas, the indigenous Lumad community, and single parents who are struggling to raise a family on their own. To date, more than 100 participants have completed the training programme, going on to find employment in farming and market gardens, running community gardens, school programmes, and international development and food security projects. “One of the most important outcomes of the apprenticeship is the ripple effect our graduates have working locally, nationally, and internationally to promote, practice, and teach sustainable, organic farming and gardening,” reports the cooperative programme.
A sustainability expert who recently reviewed the programme writes of their experience in a report for the MSC-CEPAGCO: “I felt at home for the duration of my stay; all the people are so accommodating and warm. They include in their daily activities the morning and evening prayer, also yoga and meditation. We cooked and ate together (I introduced the practice of giving gratitude while we are circling the table), socialising on some nights, gardening together, and helping with livestock. We were able to unwind and rejuvenate as we visited a hot spring resort. The Christmas party was a joyous celebration, exchanging gifts, playing games, rendering karaoke songs hits, and dancing until past midnight. Every Sunday, [participants] have Mass with their missionary priest, then a big breakfast after the Mass where the stakeholders bring a potluck. [Each participant] must have a once-a-week value formation workshop with the stakeholders who are regular employees.”
Now in its second year, the agriculture cooperative continues to promote and develop an ethos of sharing, of zero waste, and a simple lifestyle based on having enough. As part of the programme, rainwater is collected and purified for use as drinking water, with the treatment of waste water and sewage the next project on the horizon. Unreliable weather conditions present their own difficulties, with issues such as storms and typhoons causing real challenges, especially when the MSC Centre for the Poor also act as first responders in these circumstances, bringing urgent relief aid to survivors of such natural disasters. In these cases, the community at the Centre for the Poor have also installed their water purifiers for regions where people have no source of safe drinking water as a result of storm damage.
From food foraging to composting, the different techniques employed on the programme are many and varied, and are constantly developing for the better in the quest to provide a positive, practical space in which people can grow and learn as they reap the benefits of nurturing the earth and our common home.
Images and quotes from the MSC-CEPAGCO Sustainability Report (January 2023),
courtesy of Fr Richie Gomez MSC.
IF YOU CAN, PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SACRED HEART FAMILY
IN THE PHILIPPINES
