Apr 21, 2022
Our MSC community in Mozambique have shared wonderful photographs from their ceremonies and celebrations throughout Holy Week and Easter, when local families joined in prayer across the parish of Metuge in the Pemba region.
Fr José Eduardo Paixão led the celebrations, including:
Palm Sunday processions across the parish of St Anthony of Metuge and the community of Santa Terezinha.
Holy Thursday Mass and the ceremony of the washing of the feet.
The celebration of the Lord’s Passion.
The Easter Vigil Mass on Holy Saturday.
A joyous celebration of the Resurrection on Easter Sunday.
Our MSC Mozambique mission recently marked its fourth anniversary; it was in March 2018 that two MSCs from the SĂŁo Paulo Province, Fr Angelo and Fr Eduardo, arrived in Pemba to establish the mission in what is a very poor part of Mozambique, with little to no church infrastructure or active pastoral ministry. Since then, the community has gone from strength to strength, growing together in faith and prayer even in the face of what often seemed like insurmountable challenges. Our MSCs were on hand when two cyclones ripped through Pemba, one after another, just a year after the mission began; with the support of our provinces around the world, the helped local families to rebuild homes, livelihoods, and lives, and today, they continue in their shared journey to make the love of the Sacred Heart known and felt across the district of Pemba.
With Easter blessings and warmest wishes to our MSCs and the communities they serve on our Mozambique mission!
Images by Abudo Manara via the MSC Mozambique Facebook page.
*
Apr 13, 2022
MSC Easter Draw 2022
Congratulations to the winners of this year’s MSC Easter Draw!
Prize Winners:
1st Prize: €2,000 Cruise Travel Voucher
A Hughes,
Monaghan, Co. Monaghan.
2nd Prize: €1,500 Sun Holiday Voucher
M Dowling,
Rosslare, Co Wexford.
3rd Prize: €1,000 City Break Voucher
M Flemming,
Tuam, Co. Galway.
4th Prize: €1,000 TV/Audio Voucher
F Mulry,
Ballinasloe, Co. Galway.
5th Prize: €1,000 TV/Audio Voucher
L Mooney,
Belfast, Co. Antrim.
6th Prize: €1,000 Home Furniture Voucher
E Sheehan,
Killarney, Co. Kerry.
7th Prize: €1,000 Home Furniture Voucher
P Bourke,
Clonmel, Co.Tipperary.
8th Prize: €500 Weekend Break Voucher
M Egan,
Birr, Co.Offaly.
9th Prize: €500 Weekend Break Voucher
M Franklin,
Foynes, Co Limerick.
10th Prize: €500 Computer/Tablet Voucher
M O’Sullivan,
Portmagee, Co.Kerry.
11th Prize: €500 Computer/Tablet Voucher
R. Mallon,
Dungannon, Co. Armagh.
12th Prize: €500 Home Decor Voucher
b. Power,
Fenor, Co. Waterford.
13th Prize: €500 Home Decor Voucher
E Boyd,
Carrick on Shannon, Co. Leitrim.
14th Prize: €500 Garden / Outdoor Voucher
S Dutta,
Edinburgh, Scotland.
15th Prize: €500 Garden / Outdoor Voucher
A Perkins,
Thurles, Co. Tipperary.
16th Prize: €500 Home Appliances Voucher
J Gallagher,
Tubbercurry, Co. Sligo.
17th Prize: €500 Home Appliances Voucher
C Harvey,
Letterkenny, Co. Donegal.
18th Prize: €500 Hot Air Balloon Voucher
P Horgan,
Birr, Co. Tipperary.
19th Prize: €500 Driving Lessons Voucher
P Fearon,
Dundalk,Co.Louth.
20th Prize: €500 Cookery Class Voucher
M Hamil,
Craigavon, Co. Armagh.
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 13th 2022.
Apr 13, 2022
On Easter Monday, Fr Absalón Alvarado MSC, our Superior General, will arrive in Ireland to spend three weeks visiting our MSC members in England and Ireland. It has been 14 years since the last visit of our Superior General, then Fr Mark McDonald, in 2008.
On Sunday, April 24th, Fr AbsalĂłn will be the main celebrant at Mass in the Sacred Heart Parish on the Western Road, Cork. This Mass will be live-streamed at 10.00am, and all are welcome to participate.
In the course of his trip, Fr AbsalĂłn wants to get to know the members of the Irish Province; to understand our reality, listen to our hopes and dreams, share in our struggles and disappointments, and confirm us in our mission to be God’s heart on earth. He will certainly want to encourage our MSCs, but in the first place, he comes to listen and walk with us for three weeks.
Journeying together in the Way of the Heart
Originally from Guatemala, Fr AbsalĂłn was elected Superior General for the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart at the General Chapter in Rome, in September 2017. Fr AbsalĂłn was in the role of Provincial Leader of the Central American Province prior to his election, and is the first MSC Superior General from the Global South.
With a Masters in Theology and a PhD in Psychotherapy, Fr AbsalĂłn has also ministered as a Vocations Director and Formator, as well as spending some time working in parishes in Nicaragua.
During his time in the Irish Province, Fr AbsalĂłn will travel to several MSC communities around Ireland and England, as well as visiting various projects and ministries that are currently underway. We look forward to following his journey, and we would be delighted to welcome mission friends from the Irish Province and beyond to join us in prayer via our live stream for our special Mass on Sunday, April 24th.
Please click here to watch a recording of Mass celebrated by
our MSC Superior General on Sunday, April 24th.
Apr 7, 2022
The Missionaries of the Sacred Heart in the Philippines have begun work on the housing project which will help families whose homes were destroyed by Typhoon Odette, a devastating storm that struck in December 2021, killing over 400 people and leaving hundreds of thousands displaced from their homes.
This month, MSCs in the Philippines have begun distribution of housing materials to five communities across Bayagnan Island in Surigao City. The materials provided will allow for the repair and construction of homes for over 330 households, where houses have been severely damaged, often completely destroyed, by the typhoon.
Recalling the impact of Typhoon Odette, which struck on December 16th 2021, the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart – Social Initiative and Collaborative Action Project said, “When it made landfall, winds of up to 210 km per hour were uprooting coconut trees, ripping down electricity poles, and hurling slabs of corrugated tin and wood through the air.” The MSC-SICAP group, working in conjunction with the MSC Centre for the Poor, are currently carrying out a strategic disaster response plan, with several recovery stages in place to aid in the restoration of communities across Surigao.
    
The Facebook page for the MSC Missions Office in the Philippines has shared photos and updates of the housing project as it progresses, describing the successful beginning of this stage: “The MSC Task Force Odette distributed the housing materials to the first batch of totally affected families in Bayagnan Island, Surigao City. It was a great moment for the community to show bayanihan spirit and help one another to make the activity a successful one.”
As we journey together through the Lenten season, we continue to offer our prayers and our support to our MSC brothers in the Philippines and the communities they serve there as they work to rebuild affected communities in the wake of Typhoon Odette.
Images via the MSC Mission Office Philippines, Inc. Facebook page.
*
Mar 31, 2022
We were delighted to receive a recent update from the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in Brazil, where a second-hand clothing store is run by the Sisters at the Social Centre in Alfenas.
All money raised from sales in the store is used to buy food for the poor. Volunteers help to prepare the food supplies for poor families in the area, and each month, the OLSH Sisters distribute 65 food parcels to local families in real need of help and support.
     
The Sisters are in the process of renovating the space in order to make it more practical, and also to promote a more appealing shopping experience with the aim of raising much-needed funds. New areas have been added to display the clothes and shoes for sale, and the Sisters continue in their work to feed and care for hungry families in the Alfenas region.
     
Our 2022 World Projects Appeal is continuing to raise funds for outreach programmes such as this one, run by the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in Brazil and beyond. “Your generous donors are remembered in prayer all over the world, with deepest gratitude,” writes Sr Jenny Christie FDNSC, International Development Officer for the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart.
Please keep our Sacred Heart Sisters in Alfenas, and across the world, in your prayers as they continue to share the message of God’s love, whenever and wherever it is needed most, despite the challenges posed by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
PLEASE SUPPORT OLSH OUTREACH AROUND THE WORLD
Mar 24, 2022
MSCs in the Philippines joined forces with the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart and local volunteers to offer emergency relief aid to survivors of a fire that tore through the community of St Teresa of Calcutta in Quezon City on Tuesday, March 8th.
The MSC Scholasticate Community visited the community of the St Teresa of Calcutta Chapel to help with relief aid, including food provision and the distribution of care packages, shortly after the fire took place on March 8th. The St Teresa of Calcutta Chapel is just one of the chapels of the Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Mission Station in the area, which is under the pastoral care and guidance of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart.
More than 80 families were left homeless following the blaze, where possessions, houses, and valuables were all lost to the flames. The MSC Scholasticate Community distributed care packages containing food and essentials, including pre-loved clothes and goods for families that had been left with nothing following the fire.
    
The MSC Scholasticate Community shared an update on the relief aid on their Facebook page, writing, “Gratitude is due to the OMI Theologate Community, SFIC Philippines, and some other individuals for sharing their resources in helping the affected community.”
“Together, we all make present the Heart of God on Earth,” they finished.
Please keep our Sacred Heart family in Quezon City in your prayers as they help survivors of the fire to find safety and security in the wake of this disaster.
Images via the MSC Scholasticate Community – Philippines on Facebook.
*
