Apr 5, 2026
In a wonderful celebration of the Easter season, the First Holy Communion boys and girls at the Colégio Nossa Senhora do Sagrado Coração in São Paulo, Brazil, sent some very special pictures to share with school children here in the Irish Province of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart.
The Colégio Nossa Senhora do Sagrado Coração is a Catholic school run by the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, and was founded in 1949 before moving to its current location in Vila Formosa in 1961. At the moment, there are around 500 students at the school, ranging in age from nursery infants to high-school teenagers.
“The school is not only a place to study, but also a place where students learn about faith, kindness, respect, and helping others,” writes Sr Renisa. “Many parents work long hours in the city, so the school becomes an important place where children feel safe, cared for, and supported.”
There are several different types of challenges facing many of the children who attend the school, including living in a very busy urban area, not having space to play outside, parents having to work long hours away from home, and great differences in what families can afford, with poverty being an issue for many. The school offers a safe space to nurture strong friendships, to learn, play, and grow with friends, to be part of a community that helps one another, and to be guided by carding teachers and Sisters.
“For many children, the school is like a second home,” says Sr Renisa. “It helps them learn, dream about the future, and feel loved and supported.”
The First Holy Communion classes at the school were kind enough to send us a fabulous selection of pictures, showing traditional Easter scenes from Brazil, perfect for colouring in. Wishing all the staff and students at the Colégio Nossa Senhora do Sagrado Coração a peaceful, happy, and blessed Easter!
Apr 2, 2026
As we approach the blessed season of Easter, we are glad to share these beautiful pictures of Lenten celebrations at the parish of St John the Evangelist in Palmira, Ecuador.
Here, Fr Marcelo Campoverde MSC commemorated Lent with his indigenous community, with a particularly special ceremony marking the beginning of the season.
“We started with a large gathering, where more than 600 people participated,” Fr Marcelo wrote. “It was a beautiful experience, a truly beautiful encounter with God.”
“We don’t have a parish kitchen or dining hall here,” Fr Marcelo continued. “You’ll see from some of the photos that the women cook in an open space. But the weather was kind to us; if it rained, we wouldn’t have eaten. It was a unique experience.”
“My next dream is to see if we can build a kitchen and dining hall for these events,” Fr Marcelo finished. “I’ve placed this dream in God’s hands; we’ll see what happens in the future. In the meantime, with great joy, I want to share our Lenten celebrations with you.”
We are very grateful for the support of our mission friends and benefactors here at home, which goes such a long way in helping Fr Marcelo and indigenous communities in Ecuador. May God bless you all, with our heartfelt wishes for a blessed Easter season.
Mar 31, 2026
This year, we’re celebrating the 60th anniversary of the MSC Missions Office on the Western Road, Cork, and as part of our anniversary commemorations, we’re looking back on old issues of our newsletter, the MSC Message, on a walk together down Memory Lane.
This month, in keeping with the season, we’re rewinding almost 30 years, to the Spring of 1997, and a special Easter message from the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart.
An Easter message from the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart – from the MSC Message, April 1997.
Easter: A Fresh Start
“The Easter message is that we do have another chance, we can make a fresh start. That comes to us in the Gospels, but in lots of other ways too. When Jesus appeared to His disciples in the Upper Room in Jerusalem, He gave them the Holy Spirit and told them whose sins you forgive they are forgiven. Through His Holy Spirit Jesus makes all things new, including all of us.
Often enough the second chance, the fresh start, can be achieved in terms of this world. The sick get better, the unemployed find new jobs, those troubled in mind find peace and those at variance are reconciled. All of this is ultimately Jesus’ work.
But the world of the risen Jesus is seen even more clearly when there is no human hope at all. It is seen in the cheerfulness of the incurably sick and dying, in the joy of those who have little, in the conversion of those who have been great sinners all their lives. Eastertide urges us never to give up hope, whatever our situation, because Jesus’s Resurrection shows us that nothing is impossible for God.
So still in the shadow of Easter as Missionaries of the Sacred Heart we give thanks to each of you for your continued support both in your prayers and in your very generous offerings. Be assured that this support brings lots of hope and joy to our MSC priests here in Ireland and in all our places of work across the world.
As Missionaries of the Sacred Heart we take new hope from Easter which entices us to make many new fresh starts. As you are the people making the journey with us, our prayer is that the Sacred Heart of Jesus will guide you all in making new starts.”
This beautiful message, written almost 30 years ago, is just as relevant and fitting today as the day it was printed. In a world so deeply troubled by war and violence, we continue to pray for peace, and to hold out eternal hope in our faith that “through His Holy Spirit, Jesus makes all things new”.
Today, we are more grateful than ever for your prayers and for your generous support, and we continue to pray that the Sacred Heart of Jesus will guide you through every new start. Wishing you all a peaceful, prayerful, and blessed Easter season.
Read more from our 60th anniversary celebrations…
Mar 19, 2026
Our own Fr Alan Neville MSC has been in touch from Rumbek, South Sudan, with a special message for our mission friends and benefactors here in the Irish Province of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart.
Last summer, our mission friends here helped us to raise funds to support Fr Alan and the team at the Catholic University of South Sudan in Rumbek in their untiring efforts to support education, particularly for young women, in the region. In a country that has suffered so greatly, young people, especially young women, need to work extremely hard for their education, yet the benefits will help to build a brighter and stronger future for the next generation in Rumbek and beyond.
“This is a message of thanks to everybody who has been so generous in supporting the Mission Support Centre appeal last year for the Catholic University here,” says Fr Alan. “As you can see in the background, we are currently digging the foundations for a new teacher education block. Education here has a long way to go, there have been many decades of under-investment during the time of the Sudan government, and now the people are working very hard to build up primary and secondary education, and here we are working too to train secondary school teachers so they can go back to their communities and they can really lift up the young people they have there to help them to build their country.”
We join our voices with Fr Alan’s in thanking you all for your generosity and your solidarity, and we look forward to hearing more from the university as the progress continues.
Read more about Fr Alan’s ministry in South Sudan
