May 2, 2018
The summer edition of the MSC Message has arrived!
⢠Catch up with the latest news from the mission fields, with updates from our ongoing projects in South Africa and South Sudan.
⢠Discover more about new mission projects in Mozambique and Cameroon.
⢠Read a special tribute to the late Fr Mark McDonald MSC, former Superior General of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart.
⢠Read a summer message from Fr Michael OâConnell MSC, Director of the MSC Missions Office.
â˘Â Get up to date with the latest news from Fr Alan Neville MSC and the MSC Vocations Team.
Read the MSC Message Summer 2018
May 2, 2018
Khana Kockedhie Magel, a 16-year-old student at the Loreto Girlsâ Secondary School in Rumbek, has been named winner of this yearâs UN Missions essay-writing competition for secondary school students in South Sudan. As a young woman in a country that has been torn asunder by conflict and violence, Khana composed a message of hope and optimism in response to the topic set by the UNMISS contest: âHow can women contribute to durable peace in South Sudan?â
âWomen may be the only hope left to bring peace to South Sudan.â
12 Loreto students entered the contest, with two girls reaching the top five in the Lake State region. Ating Kaman Makoi won third prize, while Khana, a student from the Senior 3 class, was awarded the regional prize for the winning essay, with the message that âwomen may be the only hope left to bring peace to South Sudanâ.
Khanaâs message is clear: if South Sudan is to achieve lasting peace, womenâs voices need to be heard. âWomen play an important role in bringing up the future generation,â she says. âIf they get the chance, they can provide permanent solutions to the conflict in South Sudan and assure the young that peace will come. Eventually it will result in economic growth and a better South Sudan for all of us, and for generations to come.â
âFor women to make a difference, they need to be given a proper education.â
Mr Dut Makoi Kuok, Minister for Education in Western Lakes, spoke at the awards ceremony, acknowledging the crucial role of women as âbuilders of the nationâ. âWomen, in my understanding, are the builders of society,â he said. âThey will always think about and do what is right for their children, and therefore for their society.â
Speaking at the awards, Mr Kwame Dwamena Aboagye, Head of the UN Missionâs Field Office in Rumbek, also gave words of encouragement to the students gathered, urging them to âstudy wellâ. âIt is only through education that durable peace can be realised in South Sudan, and for women to make a difference, they need to be given a proper education,â he said.
This is exactly the message that the Loreto community promotes at their Rumbek schools, and we at the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart are proud to support them in their efforts to help as many young women as possible.
âI hope that fathers and mothers of little girls will look at them and say: yes, women can.â
Khana has taken this message to heart, and her award-winning essay speaks clearly of the need for respect, mercy, and peace â beginning in the home. âIf a mother fights with a neighbouring woman, her child on the following day will fight with the neighbourâs child, hence leading to disputes and hatred,â she writes. Peace must begin within every individual, Khana surmises: âIf you find peace within yourself you become the kind of person who can live in peace with others.â
A national winner of the essay content will be named at an awards ceremony in Juba, the countryâs capital, on May 9th. Khana will represent the Loreto schools at the ceremony â and she has already made her school and her community very proud. She closes her essay with a truly inspirational thought for us all: âI hope that fathers and mothers of little girls will look at them and say: yes, women canâ.
Congratulations to Khana, from all at the Irish Province of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart!
PLEASEÂ SUPPORT EDUCATIONÂ IN SOUTH SUDAN
Read more about Khanaâs award on the Loreto Rumbek website and on ReliefWeb.
Apr 30, 2018
Early this April, the Loreto schools in Maker Kuei swapped their times tables for dancing and textbooks for cake as they celebrated their 10th anniversary in style!
The week-long celebration included a host of activities and events, alongside special meals with the students and the wider community of locals who work with the Loreto Sisters.
“This has been a wonderful week for us all.”
âThe school has received immense support from Ireland,â says Benjamin Sprunger, the Loreto Programmes Manager in Rumbek. As well as aid from the Irish Province of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, the school has also received funding from IrishAid through Misean Cara. IrishAid Ambassador Sonya Hyland travelled to Maker Kuei to join the celebrations, representing the Irish support for the Loreto schools and the great work that is done in the community. Construction of the Loreto Graduate House, supported by MSC funding, had such been completed, and Sonya Hyland was able to stay in one of the rooms on her visit, before the girls moved in just last week.
âThis has been a wonderful week for us all,â says Sr Orla Treacy, principal of the Loreto schools. âEach day was packed with activities and fun.â
âWe were, however, very conscious of the absence of two visionaries for our schools â our late Bishop Cesar, who dreamed the dream of the girlsâ school, and our late Provincial, Sr Teresa MacPaul, who helped take the steps to make the dream a reality.â
The Loreto community first opened the doors of their secondary school in 2008, with just 35 students in Primary 8 and Senior 1. Today, two schools welcome 1057 primary school students and almost 300 secondary school girls. The Loreto Sisters have also set up a health care clinic, which provides medical aid and health education to women and children in the Maker Kuei community.
âThanks to you all for joining hands with us in prayers and support to ensure this dream continues, from all of us in Loreto Rumbek,â says Sr Orla.
We send our heartiest congratulations to the Loreto Sisters and students in Rumbek on this wonderful occasion! We at the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart are proud to support the great work being done to bring hope to a country in peril; together, we are on the path to a brighter future.
PLEASE SUPPORT THE ONGOING WORK IN SOUTH SUDAN
Apr 23, 2018
“Sister India” recounts the story of Sr Loreto Houlihan, a 91-year-old Irish missionary, who has spent 70 years teaching in India.
A new documentary by Irish filmmaker Myles OâReilly, which is currently being screened at a number of film festivals in Ireland and in India, tells the story of a 91-year-old Irish missionary sister who has spent 70 years teaching in India.
âSister Indiaâ recounts the story of Presentation nun, Sr Loreto (Peg) Houlihan who was born near Carrick-on-Suir in Co Tipperary in 1927.
The documentary has already been screened at the Dingle International Film Festival and the Silk Road Film Festival.
“Sister India” is due to be screened at the Fastnet Film Festival on 23rd-27th May and at the International Christian Film Festival in Florida. Later this summer, it will be shown at the Ink Well Theatre in Tracton, Co Cork on 18th August, and at the Clare Island Film Festival.
Film-maker Myles OâReilly has said that he is not very religious but when he saw Sr Loretoâs deep love of India and its people, he found it heart-warming.
âSitting in front of her and listening to her talk was like being warmed by the hearth of an Irish fireplace on a rainy day hearing stories as she it from âthe long agoâ. I learned from her that India and its culture retains more of the life she left 70 years ago in Ireland than the country of her birth today, and so she chooses to live the rest of her days in India for that natural familiarityâ he explained.
Read more about the life of Sister Loreto Houlihan here.Â
Information sourced from articles written by Ăine Edwards for The Irish Times and Sarah Mac Donald for Catholic Ireland.Â
Apr 16, 2018
Who is Sr Loreto Houlihan?
Born into a large family in 1927, Peg Houlihan grew up in hard times, especially in the 1930s with a worldwide depression and an economic war between Ireland and Britain. By the time she was five years old, her mother was already a widow as her father had died. In 1943, 16-year-old Peg left rural Tinhalla near Carrick-on-Suir in Co Tipperary and joined the Presentation Sisters in Britain. She was missioned to India and set sail from Liverpool to Bombay as the Second World War was drawing to a close; she celebrated her 17th birthday on board.
After landing in Bombay, she made the rest of the journey by train down to Madras. On arrival at the Presentation Convent, there was a letter waiting from her mother. It opened with âCĂŠad mĂle fĂĄilteâ to India.
In the documentary, “Sister India”, Sr Loreto speaks lovingly of that letter, as she knew it was a huge sacrifice for her mother to let her go. They never saw each other again.
Sr Loreto dedicated her life to love and serve others through education in Chennai. After completing her teacher training at Church Park College in Madras, she went on to work as a primary school teacher spending most of her life at St Josephâs Anglo-Indian School in Perambur in north Chennai.
The children in her class were six years old and over the years, she has taught three generations of families, and become a well-loved and respected person in the community. In class she says she was strict, but outside of school, âI didnât have enough fingers for them to hold onto.â
Sr Loreto with Irish Ambassador to India Brian McElduff, celebrating her Jubilee at the Presentation convent. Phogoraph: Justin George/ DTNEXT
After Indian independence in 1947, the Indian government asked the Presentation Sisters to continue their education, and the doors were opened to the indigenous population, which in India is almost 80 per cent Hindi. The children were encouraged to celebrate their culture in the schools.
Today, Sr Loreto says she is âblessed with strong faith, good sleep, and no regretsâ, and intends to live out her life in her beloved India.
Venerable Nano Nagle â founder of the Presentation Congregation â has been her role model in life. Nano is known as âThe Lady of the Lampâ â a pioneer of Catholic education in Ireland during penal times.
The idea for the film “Sister India” was sparked by Irish woman, Ăine Edwards, who has been living in India since 2003 where she runs a business consultancy service.
âMy many conversations with Sr Loreto evoked a passion in me to produce a documentary on her. I wanted to not only share her story, but also to celebrate the work of so many other Irish educators in India, as this era draws to a close and another starts.â
According to Ăine Edwards, âThe Irish legacy of education in India is one of Irelandâs strongest links with the country. The seeds have been sown for the Indian sisters to take this legacy forward for the next generation of children. âSister Indiaâ was made to preserve not only the story of Sr Loreto, but to remember all the Irish who have dedicated their lives in the service of education and community support in India.â
Sr Loreto with Irish Ambassador to India Brian McElduff, celebrating her Jubilee. Phogoraph: Justin George/ DTNEXT
âThe adults I meet nowadays who attended schools where Irish brothers and sisters were teachers, talk fondly of them and their education. The late chief minister of Tamil, Nadu Jayalalitha, has spoken of her school days at Church Park as being the happiest of her life.â
The first Presentation mission in India began in 1842 when four pioneering sisters from Ireland arrived in Madras (Chennai). The mission spread to many other states in the Indian sub-continent including Rawalpindi which later became part of Pakistan. Sisters from India went on to establish mission foundations Matlock in England, in Zimbabwe, and in Zambia. More recently sisters from India are also ministering in Thailand, Slovakia, Ireland, and the Holy Land.
There are currently 165 sisters living and ministering in a number of states including Tamil Nadu, Goa, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. They are involved in formal and informal education, social work, health and pastoral care, as well as justice, peace, and advocacy on behalf of those on the margins, especially women and children.
Watch the trailer for Sister India here.Â
Information sourced from articles written by Ăine Edwards for The Irish Times and Sarah Mac Donald for Catholic Ireland.Â
Apr 9, 2018
Reflection: Walk in the Light. Sin, repentance, forgiveness of sin.
Gospel (Luke 24:35-48). So you see how it is written that Christ would suffer and on the third day rise from the dead and that repentance and the forgiveness of sins be proclaimed in his name to all nations.
This is Lukeâs account of the last appearance of Jesus to the disciples. For the disciples this encounter with Jesus was to be a new beginning. His work was to continue to all peoples, with its central message of repentance for sin, accepting the gospel message. The message was for all nations, not just the Jewish people, to the ends of the world as put in other gospel texts. It is worth noting that in his Confession St Patrickâs dwells on these texts and thanks God that he had the mission of bringing the Gospel message to the âends of the earthâ, which for him was Ireland.
Todayâs readings present a golden opportunity to reflect on what the Church, the Christian message, is centrally about and in the light of this to see what message they have for our own day, for the society in which we live. The second reading today is from the First Letter of John. Both this letter, and the Fourth Gospel, speak a lot about walking in the light. Christ is the true light. He reveals sin. The Apocalypse (Revelation) of John speaks of the Risen Lord, the Son of Man, walking among the candlesticks (the different churches) praising what is good, exhorting the lukewarm, and calling on sinners and defectors to repent, to emend their ways. Each of the letters to the seven churches of Asia addressed in this book ends with Christâs words: âLet anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churchesâ.
As the Vatican Council has reminded us Christ is present in his word since it is he himself who speaks when the holy scriptures are read in the Church. As in the Apocalypse of John, the risen Christ is still speaking, encouraging, revealing, and where required calling for repentance. Christians are to walk in the light. But what the light of Christ and its demands are must be conveyed to the believing community.     To walk in the truth, the truths of the Christian faith have to be known and made known to the Catholic community. There is a danger in traditionally Catholic communities, such as Ireland, that we may have a large number of what is called âculturalâ rather than really practicing Catholics. The 2011 census of Ireland showed that 84% of the population entered themselves as Roman Catholic, which some say that if âethnicallyâ adjusted (that is excluding foreign nationals) could be as high as 90%. Some analysts have reflected on this that other statistics such as Sunday Mass attendance, marital and sexual morality and other matters may indicate that for many adherence to the Catholic faith is cultural rather than the practice of the Christian message. In the 2016 census the number signing themselves as Roman Catholics had decreased to 78.32%, with 9.84% signing themselves as of no religion. If we wish to âwalk in the truthâ we have reason to reflect on this. Let us have an ear to hear what the Spirit is saying to us, and seek methods on how to communicate the fuller Christian message, so that the word of God, and the power of grace, might bring us all into possession of the Christian inheritance that is ours (see Acts 20:32).
There is room for all of us, individually and nationally, to be aware of the reality of sin, and to repent and believe in the gospel.
Fr Martin McNamara MSCÂ
