Oct 21, 2020
“As we continue to live through these challenging, troubling, anxious times where we are stripped of so many certainties and usual ways of living and ministering, we remain men of hope, men with a mission, men of the present and the future – why? … because we are men who have been found, touched and transformed by the love of God revealed in the heart of Jesus.
Today, we remember our Founder, Fr. Jules Chevalier. We appreciate and thank God for all the activities and initiatives you are doing all over the MSC world to celebrate this day. It is in this spirit that we present this Videoclip in memory of Fr. Jules Chevalier. We hope that for all of us, this 21st of October 2020 will be a significant day that will encourage us to keep on committing ourselves to the Mission.
The greatness of Fr. Chevalier is that despite so many negative experiences throughout his life, setbacks in the growth and development of the little Society, internal divisions and many, many personal sufferings, he did not allow his life and view to be dominated by negativity. It always amazes me, reading the writings of his latter years: he clearly did not belong to those people who only blame the darkness; he always tried to light a candle and to make a difference in the world by being a missionary, by being a man of hope, a man of heart. His whole life is summed up in the title chosen by himself: Missionary of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
We are MSC! We are God’s heart on earth!”
Fr Carl Tranter
Provincial superior,
Missionaries of the Sacred Heart.
Oct 2, 2020
It’s been a busy few months for our friends in Rumbeck in South Sudan. The fields are harvested and after 6 months absence, the students and the teachers are returning back from their different places of quarantine.
We have experienced many emotions but overall there has been great joy that we can return to teaching.
While malaria season continues they have been counting their blessings that they haven’t seen the obvious signs of coronavirus, but continue to take extra safe measures and hope and pray that they can prevent it from prevailing. Their delicate infrastructure simply would not be able to cope.
Earlier in the month of September, the Councils of Ministers in South Sudan made a decision concerning the reopening of schools and Loreto Rumbeck has decided to stagger the return of their students by 2 week intervals as a quarantine measure and to enforce social distancing measures.
Also in September “Mary’s meals” assisted the Rumbeck community by distributing food to local schools supported by the Diocese of Rumbek (DOR) through DOR Education. Loreto Primary School is one of the beneficiaries of Mary’s Meals. The distributions consisted of maize, beans, oil, salt, and soap. Since the students were still at home, parents and guardians collected the supplies on behalf of the students. This was done to encourage the pupils to continue their focus on education even while they were at home. Mary’s Meals has supported the Loreto school for many years and this has heavily impacted our high levels of school attendance – especially in the lower primary grades.
Recently an extra room, “a space for healing” was built for counselling at the school. The youths find great benefit in Sr Petra’s counselling sessions and as they were previously been held in the computer lab, it wasn’t ideal as they were being continuously interrupted. This was facilitated by you the donors support and Loreto Rumbeck are extremely grateful.
The Missionaries of the Sacred Heart are always proud to support the wonderful work done by the Loreto Sisters for the young women of South Sudan.
For more photographs and further information about Loreto Rumbek, visit their website or visit their Facebook page.
You can also find out more about how MSC Missions work with Loreto Rumbek – and how you can help to make a difference to the young women of South Sudan.
HELP US TO TRANSFORM LIVES IN SOUTH SUDAN
Sep 23, 2020
“The Covid-10 Pandemic has affected each of us around the world in different ways. Some have experienced losing loved ones; hunger, idleness, uncertainty and vulnerability, while others are still in great crisis emotionally, mentally and financially. On the other hand it has united people and this year being the 40th year of Missions in the year of ecumenism, inter-religious dialogue and indigenous people in the Philippines despite the pandemic there in a sense of blessing for these celebrations.”
Indeed, Covid-19 pandemic cannot stop the celebrations of Love and life-giving force of the Holy Spirit. The year 2020 is also a great blessing to the MSc Philippines Province and the people entrusted to our care. With deep gratitude and joy, we celebrate our 40th Anniversary as a Province in a unique way. Temporarily forgoing mass celebration due to Covid -19 does not lessen the inspiration it conveys to everyone.
“On March 15, 1980, the MSC Philippines became the 14th Province of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. This year, March 15, 2020, the MSC Philippines celebrated 40 years of being a Province. The years may seem to have passed quickly but in reality, decade after decade, year after year, the MSC Philippine Province has experienced its own share of challenges, trials and disappointments. But beyond all these challenges, we are one in proclaiming that after 40 years, we MSCs of the Philippines have JOY, GRATITUDE AND COURAGE. Joy, gratitude and courage because, most importantly, it’s due to the faithful, abiding presence and guidance of God who has called us to be Missionaries of His Love in what ever missionary and ministerial undertakings we are in. Joy, gratitude and courage because of the countless people, partners and companions, who have journeyed with us these forty years. MSC Philippines continues to remember with gratefulness our “Mother Province” – MSC Netherlands – to all our Dutch MSC confreres who came to the Philippines from 1908 onwards for their sacrifice and gift of themselves for the people and the Church in the Philippines.
“ONE HEART, NEW SPIRIT “- may these words guide us as we move forward as a Province after the grace of this milestone of 40 years. “One Heart, New Spirit” – united and renewed as MSC Philippine Province in our continuing desire to be like Jesus whose love is our inspiration and driving force as we continue to dedicate our lives to the works of our mission.
We give special mention to our ongoing mission engagement with the communities of indigenous people on this “Year of Ecumenism, interreligious dialogue and Indigenous people”. The MSCs are constantly challenged to respond in dialogue with our indigenous brothers and sisters for their welfare and protection, for their human and cultural rights. Concretely, the MSC is doing indigenous people ministries in our parishes in San Luis, Agusan del Sur and Bangkal, Abukay, Bataan.”
As individuals, our personal contributions may be small, but when united in common cause, we can change the world.
“Our membership statistics on December 31, 1979 show that we started our province with 85 professed members, of whom 16 were still under the initial formation program. The 69 “working members” were – with one exception – all ministering within the Philippines. In our forty years as a province, we were blessed with 184 new members who made their first profession – of course, not all on these stayed with us, for a good number their first profession was also their last, and actually less than 120 reached their final profession. We counted 89 ordinations to the priesthood in our 40 years as province.”
Indeed, our members are our greatest asset for our present and future mission.
“Becoming a Province, feels a bit like reaching the age of maturity, of adulthood, within the large MSC community. It is not so much a matter of new rights and privileges, as a matter of new responsibilities. For more than seventy years (1908-1980) the MSC community in the Philippines was at the receiving end of MSC generosity. Provincehood brought also a greater co-responsibility for a mission in common with the MSC Society all over the world. From mainly receiving, we became a contributing province. We were able to provide the general administration with one general bursar and two general councilors, we opened our novitiate for MSC novices from Korea, India and Vietnam, we took the initiative that led to APIA and hosted – as long as they lasted – its yearly spirituality seminars; and lately we are the host of Cor Vitae and its formation activities.
…while we have also experienced disappointments when missions were less successful as we had hoped it will not stop us from sending more of us abroad. ”
“An even greater grace than all this is that from just receiving missionaries, we have become a community that has actively joined the MSC mission to the world by sending missionaries. In 1985, the Philippine Province sent its first two missionaries to South Korea. They would be followed by two more in 1986 and 1988. It is a story that deserves a more extensive telling, but for this article it should suffice to mention that a mission that the Philippine Province accepted in 1985, found its happy conclusion only thirty-three years later with the elevation of the Korea MSC region to MSC provincehood. While Korea can definitely be considered the crown of our “mission ad extra” experience, we may be equally proud of the missionaries we sent to Japan, the Marshall Islands, Brazil and the Netherlands. And while we have also experienced disappointments, when missions were less “successful” as we had hoped, it will not stop us from sending more of us abroad. From here on, international mission has to remain a constituent part of being Philippine Province. Our next step will be Lebanon and it cannot be the last, for sure.
There are many more blessings to celebrate, graces to be thankful for in our jubilee celebration: new initiatives to spread the spirituality of the heart also outside of our traditional parish context, the growing number of lay people associated with us who joined us in our spirituality, the solid initial formation program that our formators were able to design and implement and all the often unseen and unsung commitment and perseverance of our members assigned in difficult places. ”
Extract from PARTNERS Province V0l 12, ISSUE NO.1
(Missionaries of the Sacred Heart Philippines publication)
Fr. Ad Van Hest, MSC
Sep 18, 2020
Dear Father Michael,
Greetings from Kaolack in Senegal where we have a school that starts from nursery school to the whole primary school. The total number of pupils is 536 and there are 24 employees. Normally the school is full of pupils who study their lessons and play during break times. We are proud of our school that we have built over many years with the help of donor agencies and local contributions.
The arrival of the Coronavirus in Senegal has caused suffering for many people. About 12,000 people were diagnosed positive and about 260 people died. Unfortunately, with this situation many people have lost their income and are struggling to provide food for their families.
Our school has been closed since March, which means there is no money from school fees. This is why we have not been able to fulfil our responsibility to the staff, each of whom has a family to support, to clothe and to care for.
I was very worried about this without being sure what I could do because we had no money to help the staff. It is now that I learned that your generous donors could help me with 2,500 euros.
For me, and for these families, you have given us a lot of relief and support. We are very grateful for this act of generosity to us that we will never forget.
We express our gratitude to you and your donors and assure you of our fervent prayers.
We are all united in our mission of making the Sacred Heart of Jesus known and loved everywhere!
Sr Clotilde NGOM, fndsc
SUPPORT MSC MISSION PROJECTS
Sep 18, 2020
“We would like to offer our sincere thanks to the donors who made it possible for us to send 3000 euro to the Centre.”
Sister Adjouma Marie, fndsc
We recently received some news of extreme gratitude from the OLSH Sisters at the Notre Dame of the Sacred Heart Centre of Untandeni, Burkina Faso which aids the education and needs of impoverished young girls who have been marginalised. The sisters do amazing work with these girls and are very appreciative of the funds they have received with the help of you our generous donors. The Girls’ Center in Untandeni, Fada, in Burkina Faso whose building was funded by the FDNSC Australian Province, the MSC Mission Office and the Australian Overseas Aid Fund and the OLSH Sisters who are on mission at the Girls’ Center live in a convent situated in the same property.
At present, the Centre has 16 girls. The 16th is little Colette who was abandoned under a tree next to our community. Among the 15, not including little Colette, there are five who are studying normally, and 10 who are not enrolled at school. Of these 10, there are 5 who are doing literacy studies, 2 who live in Fada and 3 who live in the Jules Chevalier community in Ouagadougou. The girls live in our care for various reasons. If we receive a financial donation, it allows us to feed the girls, to pay for their schooling and literacy, to pay for materials for knitting, weaving and sewing…
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Sep 16, 2020
This Year, a year like no other we have had to cope and adjust to many new ways of doing things.
For over fifty years we have organized an Annual Pilgrimage to Lourdes but as you are all aware such travel is not permitted this year. That is why with the use of technology we are inviting you to join us on a virtual pilgrimage online at here
It will include Daily Mass at 10 am from Sacred Heart Church in Cork.
Angelus and Rosary with reflective images at Noon repeated at 3pm.
A reflection at 7.30 followed by a live stream from Lourdes. See our online schedule here.
It may not be the same as being there, but we hope through images and reflections during the week it will in spirit bring us to that place of peace and calm.
From Nevers, Bernadette made a spiritual pilgrimage to Lourdes every day: “Every day I go in spirit to the Grotto. I make a pilgrimage there.”
If you would like us to send out your petitions to Lourdes, please feel free to forward them to Fr. Michael O’Connell MSC at our Mission Support Centre.
You can also send in your prayer intentions online here
We pray through the intercession of Our Lady Lourdes that this time of prayer and reflection may bring us peace and healing during these troubled times.
Fr. Michael O’Connell MSC
MSC Pilgrimage team.
Prayer to the Immaculate Conception for a Spiritual Pilgrimage
Our Lady of Lourdes,
You who revealed your presence to Bernadette
By simply saying “I am the Immaculate Conception”,
Grant us the grace to be present with you
at the Grotto of Massabielle.
We cannot be there today,
but we are present in spirit
with Bernadette and all the pilgrims from Lourdes
who have gone before us.
You gave birth to the Saviour of the world,
Look tenderly on our world in her distress.
Open in us a path of hope,
Guide us to Him who is the Living Source,
Jesus, your Son, who teaches us to say ……………..Our Father…
We might be unable to come and gather together physically in the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, but we are all invited to come on a spiritual pilgrimage.
From Nevers, Bernadette made a spiritual pilgrimage every day:“Every day I go in spirit to the Grotto. I make a pilgrimage there.”
In the Gospel, Jesus tells us:
“For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them”.
(Matt. 18:20)
Lourdes Pilgrimage 2019
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