Jul 10, 2018
In early 2017, the Irish Province of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart assisted in the launch of a new Sewing Livelihood Programme in Pinugay, in the Philippines. Over the past number of years, the MSC Missions Office in the Philippines has been reaching out to respond to the urgent needs of families and communities around the country, in a mission to teach people new skills, to alleviate poverty, and to help communities to become self-sufficient and sustainable.
With the help of financial aid from mission friends in the Irish Province, the MSC Missions Office in the Philippines were able to launch the MSC Sewing Livelihood Programme in the KKSV9 district, Pinugay, in February 2017. The KKSV9 district is a resettlement area for families who have been displaced from their homes, and poverty is a very serious issue here. Many families struggle with unemployment, hunger, and illness, and the skills offered by the Sewing Livelihood Programme have been a lifeline for those who had nowhere else to turn.
Tools for a brighter future
Armed with fifteen sets of sewing machines, and the members of the KKSV9 community worked together to set up their local sewing station. The programme began with four mothers, who were trained in operating the sewing machinery, and there are now fourteen women working in sewing and tailoring, with regular clients placing orders with them.
The success of the Sewing Livelihood Programme led to the development of a new project, and in June 2017, a Life Sharing Programme was established, focusing on the spiritual growth of the community. The group meets every Saturday for spiritual formation, with the aim of growing in harmony as individuals and a community.
“On behalf of the KKSV9 community, we would like to thank all of our mission friends in the Irish Province,” says Jahms Morga of the MSC Missions Office in the Philippines. “You have all been instrumental in making this life-changing programme accessible to the people of the Pinugay Resettlement Area in Baras, Rizal.”
The Missionaries of the Sacred Heart in the Philippines continue to work with the locals of Pinugay to foster security, self-sufficiency, and community spirit. With the help of the Irish Province, the MSC in the Philippines have also been able to launch a local consumer store and a beekeeping project, giving local people the tools to build a positive future for their families and for generations to come.
For the latest updates from the MSC Missions in the Philippines, please visit their Facebook page.
PLEASE HELP US TO CHANGE LIVES IN THE PHILIPPINES
Jul 4, 2018
Celebrations abounded at the Sacred Heart Church in Cork on Thursday, June 28th 2018, as eight MSCs from the Irish Province marked the great occasion of Silver, Golden, and Diamond Jubilees. Friends, family, and fellow MSCs travelled from across Ireland, the UK, and beyond, gathering on the Western Road in Cork to celebrate in the glorious June sunshine on this very special day.
Irish Provincial Leader, Fr Carl Tranter MSC, opened the Jubilee Mass with a warm welcome to all present. Fr Carl was himself celebrating his 25-year Jubilee, and in his opening address, he spoke of God’s love, which “empowers, heals, and transforms”.
L-R: Fr Carl Tranter MSC, Br Donie Hallissey MSC, Fr Eugene Clarkson MSC, Bishop Emeritus Hugh Slattery MSC, Fr Patsy Kelly MSC, Fr Con O’Connell MSC, Fr Terry O’Brien MSC. Fr Eamonn Donohue unfortunately could not attend the Jubilee celebrations.
“As each of us look back over our lives today in gratitude, as we remember and recollect with members of our family, friends and fellow MSCs, we might allow ourselves to be amazed and astonished at what the Lord has been able to do in and through us, often in spite of us!” Fr Carl said. “We recall being given appointments or responsibilities we felt wholly ill-equipped to undertake; we remember times of great struggle and challenge, even seeming failure; and we delight in the memories of love, success, joy, wonder, gratitude, growth, communion, friendship and consolation. We recognise each as a gift and a grace. This is what gives us cause to celebrate today. Not anything we have ‘achieved’. A couple celebrating 50 years of marriage are not celebrating what they have achieved, but the gift of love which has endured through the years, which has sustained them despite the challenges, and which has borne fruit in so many different ways across the different seasons of their lives. As MSCs, we celebrate that same great gift of love today.”
The commemoration of this year’s Jubiliarians was a joyful celebration of community, fellowship, and thanksgiving, recalling the triumphs and the challenges of the years gone by and looking ahead with faith, hope, and love.
Congratulations to the Jubilarians!
Silver Jubilee (25 years)
Fr Con O’Connell MSC
Fr Carl Tranter MSC
Fr Terry O’Brien MSC
Golden Jubilee (50 years)
Fr Patsy Kelly MSC
Br Donie Hallissey MSC
Diamond Jubilee (60 years)
Fr Eugene Clarkson MSC
Fr Eamonn Donohue MSC
Bishop Emeritus Hugh Slattery MSC
Jun 26, 2018
Early in April, Loreto Rumbek were able to employ a drilling company to implement three new boreholes for the benefit of the local community. The Irish Province of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart have been working with the Loreto community in Rumbek since the summer of 2017, and it is with great joy that we receive this positive update from Maker Kuei.
Two of the new boreholes were placed in communities where local residents did not have easy access to an improved water point. The third borehole was placed next to the new Loreto Primary Health Care Unit facility, which is scheduled for completion in August of this year.
“South Sudan has a six-month dry season that can be extremely brutal to families that are already borderline or severely food insecure,” explains a spokesperson for Loreto Rumbek. “These new water points become a centralised point for community gardening, water collection, and sanitation – a lifeline for a community during the harsh realities of the dry season.”
Local resident Mary Akol describes just how much of a lifeline these water points are. “This new borehole is a blessing to me,” she says. “Even if I am late, I can get water. The children can pump water too. I plan to plant kudra, okra, and pumpkin.”
For the past year, the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart have been working in partnership with Loreto Rumbek to bring hope to the people of Maker Kuei. We are proud to be able to support the Loreto Rumbek community in their ongoing work in South Sudan, and we extend our sincere thanks to our mission friends in Ireland and around the world for continuing to care.
For more news and updates from Loreto Rumbek, please visit their website.
PLEASE HELP US TO TRANSFORM LIVES IN SOUTH SUDAN
Jun 16, 2018
Reflection: Have full confidence. The kingdom of God is coming, even if slowly. One must live with the mystery of God. (619)
Gospel (Mark 4:26-34). It is the smallest of all trees; yet it grows into the biggest shrub of them all.
In this reading, we have two parables on the growth of the kingdom of God from small beginnings. In both, its beginnings are compared to a seed sown. The sower, of course, is Christ. The first parable speaks of the kingdom growing of itself, automatically, without human intervention. Christian understanding of God’s activity in the spread of the Gospel speaks the Gospel message not as human words, but in reality as the word of God which is at work in believers (see 1 Thessalonians 2:13).
Today, many within the Church are impatient with the slow pace of change. They want things to happen faster, and according to their wishes.
Today’s readings may have a few lessons to teach in this regard. One is that, at best, we are only co-operators with God. God is at work silently; the seed sown by faith can be working away quietly.
A further message is that we should always be full of confidence, confidence which has the gift of the Holy Spirit within each believer and within the Church as its foundation and its guarantee.
A final message, but far from the least, is recognition of the centrality of the word of God to Christian faith and practice. We often refer to Scripture as the word of God, and people call for more access to this word of God. But, to recall Paul’s words to the Thessalonians (1 Thessalonians 2:13), the word of God is God’s message received in faith and working through grace within each individual believer and in the Church.
“Such is the mystery of the kingdom of God.”
All of this calls for an atmosphere of prayer and devotion, one in which we can work for true Christian living.
What has been presented in the various parables of the kingdom in the Gospel accounts gives only individual aspects of the kingdom, and the presentation of the growth of the kingdom as a seed growing of itself in the parables of today’s gospel reading is no exception. These parables do not imply that human activity is not required for the coming and the growth of the kingdom. We pray daily to God that his kingdom may come, which for Christian belief as for Judaism implies that his will be done here on earth. Jesus laboured for the coming of the kingdom through his teaching and his miracles, as in other ways. So did the apostle Paul. Necessity was laid on him to preach the Gospel, and the same held true for the Church down through the centuries.
The Church herself, and all believers, must do likewise in any age, including our own. The Church authorities must be in contact with the faithful, prepared to answer their questions and to be aware of their anxieties concerning religious matters whether of faith or morals, including points of moral practice. They must make it clear that the concerns of the faithful are being listened to, even when these disagree with Church teaching or her position on certain matters. But at the same time, the Church must proclaim the Gospel message in its saving entirety, and enter into the necessary dialogue with a secular society possibly in disagreement with it on certain matters, such as those relating to sexual issues, to marriage, and others besides. In issues such as these, lay voices can carry greater conviction than those of clerics, although not too many of the laity may be keen on taking on such a task.
But such is the mystery of the kingdom of God, from its beginning to our own day, a seed growing of its own, but still calling for proclamation, promotion, and defence.
Fr Martin McNamara MSC
Jun 14, 2018
One of our members was sentenced in Cork Circuit Criminal Court yesterday having been found guilty of a most serious offence against a young person during the early 1980s.
We sincerely hope that the outcome of the court process will assist the person against whom this offence was so wrongly perpetrated – and we sincerely apologise to this man and his family for all of the hurt caused. We fully accept and acknowledge the immense pain, harm and distress suffered by persons who have been abused as well as their families
The Missionaries of the Sacred Heart have rigorous child safeguarding procedures in place, which are fully implemented. The National Board for Safeguarding Children and TUSLA both audited our safeguarding systems recently.
Anyone who has been abused and wishes to make contact with us will receive our support. We also encourage people who have been abused to report the matter to the Gardaí and TUSLA. Should people wish to speak to a representative of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart on a safeguarding matter, you can contact our Designated Liaison Person, Ms Mary Tallon.
Email: safeguarding@mscmissions.ie
Landline: +353 1 4906622
Mobile: +353 87 381 9515
We also ask those who were abused to consider contacting Towards Healing, an independent, confidential and free helpline providing professional support for people who have experienced sexual abuse. They can be contacted on:
Freephone: 1800 303416 (Republic of Ireland)
Freephone: 0800 0963315 (Northern Ireland and UK)
Hearing Impaired Text Line Number: 085 8022859
The helpline is open Mondays to Thursdays 11:00am – 8:00pm and Fridays 11:00am – 6:00pm.
Other support services:
One in Four: 01-6624070 or www.oneinfour.ie
HSE National Counselling Service (for adults who experienced abuse as children): 1800 234 110.
Also:
An Garda Siochána Freephone number, for the reporting of child sexual abuse:
1800 555 222.
Jun 13, 2018
With the help of the Irish Province of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, an MSC Beekeeping Livelihood Programme was launched in Antipolo in the Philippines early in 2017. Since then, the programme has been progressing at a great rate, and Jahms Morga of the MSC Missions Office in the Philippines has recently been in touch to update us on developments in Antipolo.
The MSC Beekeeping Livelihood Programme aims to support the local bee industry, advocating positive environmental awareness and promoting healthy living through a sustainable livelihood scheme. In providing local people with new and useful skills, this programme is opening up avenues of employment for many, while promoting and developing independent local business.
So far, the programme has conducted basic beekeeping seminars and workshops across five communities – Antipolo, Cavite, Bulacan, Pangasinan, and Quezon Province. More than 50 local people have been introduced to life in the apiary through the programme, and it is already providing the tools for future employment and self-sufficiency in an area where this is much needed.
“We hope to extend the programme to other communities,” says Jamhs Morga of the Philippines MSC Missions Office, “in order to further promote sustainable employment while raising awareness of environmental care and protection.”
For the latest updates from the MSC Missions in the Philippines, please visit their Facebook page.
PLEASE HELP US TO CHANGE LIVES IN THE PHILIPPINES
