Oct 18, 2017
Sangeetha Raj is a married father of two from Bangalore, India. In this piece, Sangeetha shares with us, in his own words, his experience as a Sacristan at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Church in Bangalore and detail of how the MSC Fathers have helped him and his family in many ways over the years.
Sangeetha Raj with his wife, Japamala Mary, his son, Stalin, and his daughter, Anitha.
My name is Sangeetha Raj. I have been working in Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Church (Bangalore) for the last 12 years as the Sacristian. I am married and we have one son and a daughter. MSC Fathers have been helping us in a number of ways. They gave me the job as Sacaristian of the church. The MSC Fathers have been helping me and my family in a number of ways.
Before coming to work with the MSC Fathers, I worked with Don Bosco Salasians for six years in Mysore which is about 160 km from Bangalore. After moving to Bangalore I worked with Norte Dam sisters for seven years in their school. Though I have been working with religious organisations and priests for a number of years, I found the MSC fathers to be really very different. They are very friendly, kind and generous. My work here in the parish is very good. Over the past 12 years the church has grown considerably. When I started working in the parish, the parish was very small. There were just three masses celebrated on Sundays; one in English, one in Kannada and one in Tamil. Now the church has grown so big that there are seven masses celebrated on Sunday – this number is still growing. There are a number of parishioners MSC fathers have been helping with their spiritual needs. Working with the MSC fathers and for the parish is really fulfilling. They are very hardworking in teaching faith to the faithful and helping them to lead a good Christian life.
My wife’s name is Japamala Mary. She works as a maid. She helps out in a few houses every day. During the times when my wife was sick I helped to treat hear.
My son’s name is Stalin. He is doing his 11th standard. Every year I invite our MSC fathers to my house for a meal on my son’s birthday. They all come and dine in our house. It makes all of us very happy. They have also helped with our son’s education too. Ever since his first standard they have been helping us a lot. By God’s grace both my children are doing well in the school. My daughter’s name is Anitha. Her educational needs have also been supported by the MSC fathers ever since she went to kindergarten. She is now in her 5th standard.
Apart from their educational help, the MSC fathers have been helping us with medical treatment in times of sickness. We are indeed very grateful for their help. I sincerely thank all the MSC fathers for their generous help and support. I have been able to support my family because of their help. There is a lot of differences in my life from before coming to the MSCs and after I started working with them.
Sangeetha Raj
Oct 13, 2017
Reflection & Dialogue: All welcome within the Church, but a wedding garment of grace called for.
The Gospel (Matthew 22:1-14).
Invite everyone you can find to the wedding.
The Church likes to portray herself as an open church, open to 
everyone, irrespective of race or social class, with compassion and understanding for the poor and the marginalized. This can even be proclaimed from the altar: all are welcome here. But in our own day, in the society in which we live and within the Church itself, there are individuals and groups who do not believe that they are welcome within the Church, such as the divorced and remarried who are barred from receiving Holy Communion, active homosexuals, those in gay unions or gay marriage, people involved in extra-marital sexual activity, advocating freedom of choice with regard to abortion, and others besides. Those who condemn or do not accept such persons are sometimes, if not often, accused of laying heavy burdens on them, and occasionally even compared to the scribes and Pharisees of Jesus’ day, of whom Christ said that they tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others, but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them.
This question is being closely examined today by the Church authorities themselves. It is an old problem, going back probably to the days of the evangelist Matthew, and it is possible that today’s Gospel reading may give a better understanding of the problem. Everybody, sinners and others, are called by God to enter the Church, and the Church must be the messenger of God’s mercy for the entire world and for its own members. Christ invited all, weary and carrying heavy burdens, to come to him to find rest, saying that his yoke is easy and his burden light. We should also remember, however, that he also told disciples that if they wanted to be his followers that they should deny themselves, die to themselves, take up their cross and follow him. Central to the Christian message is that of dying and rising again with Christ, dying to an old way of life and living a new life in Christ.
To return to the questions under discussion: we may, indeed we must, say that the Church, that is all of us, must be understanding and compassionate, not putting on other people’s shoulders burdens hard or impossible to bear. But with regard to the questions currently being raised, the Church must examine closely whether all or some of them belong to what is regarded as the deposit of faith and morals, that is unalterable truths, or are just part of a way of life and belief that belong to past ages. Although there have been, there are, and there will be, sinners within the Church, all are constantly called by God to repent. The Church is a light for the world. The followers of Christ are called to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world, through their good works. These are truths to be considered in the consideration of the questions now being raised and discussed.
The teaching of the Church, of the Gospel, must be looked on as Christ’s teaching. It is Christ who is speaking through his Church. Christ invites the weary to come to him and take a rest, today as he did while on earth. He would still say that his yoke is easy and his burden light. But Christ also said that his followers must die to themselves, take up their cross and follow him. Let us pray that the present questioning and discussions will issue in a better knowledge of Christ and his yoke and the burdens he asks believers to carry.
Oct 9, 2017
The following is an insight into the life of Sr Sally Duigan, written by Sr Sally herself. Sr Sally currently works in the Holy Family Care Centre in South Africa and in the following article Sr Sally provides us with fascinating detail into how she came to join the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart.
Sr Sally Duigan
I was born in Mount Gambier, South Australia. A rural city famous for its Blue Lake and valleys. I was the third born in a family of ten children. Looking back there were three main influences in our lives growing up – politics, horse racing and religion. It was an interesting mix. My Grandfather was a member of Parliament for about 35 years and my father was a bookmaker. We were used to politics and horseracing and we were used to winning and losing.
Sr Sally Duigan caring for a young child at the Holy Family Care Centre
My parents were always involved in St Vincent de Paul and in the Church. I would say we had quite a well-rounded up bringing. The Sisters of Mercy played a very formative role in our lives, as did the Marist Brothers and they opened up many opportunities for us. Sport was central to our lives and singing and drama as well. I always fancied myself being on the stage and becoming a famous actress. I loved participating in Gilbert and Sullivan Operettas and often had a lead role, which further enhanced this idea. I even went through a stage of seriously wanting to join a circus.
My friends and I used to put on lunchtime concerts at school to raise money for the missions. The Sisters as well as my parents instilled in us a sense of caring for others. At an early age I was attracted to the idea of being a missionary. When I was fifteen my older sister Mary-Anne entered the Sisters of Mercy and my parents decided to move the whole family to Adelaide. This was a big move and I finished my schooling at St Aloysius College in the city of Adelaide.
After working for a couple of years I entered the congregation of the Daughters of Our lady of the Sacred Heart. I was drawn to this congregation because of its Missionary endeavours. I’ve been to places I never dreamed of way back when I made my vows in 1972. My missionary journey has taken me to Alice Springs, Bathurst Island,
Philippines and for a short stint in Vietnam.
I even lived in Randwick from 1984 – 1988 when I was studying. At that time I was involved in Antioch and went along to the meetings every Sunday night after playing the guitar at Mass.
Since January 1989 I have been in South Africa and this has been the greatest adventure of my life. I first taught for 11 years in St Brendan’s School – a co-ed secondary school in the bush with over 600 students. From there Bishop Slattery asked me to head up the HIVAIDS response in the Diocese of Tzaneen. Now I am the Director of Holy Family Care Centre – doing what I think I was “born to do”.
Sr Sally Duigan working at the Holy Family Care Centre
A place to call home….
Holy Family Care Centre is situated at the foot of the Drakensburg mountains in the far north of the Limpopo Province of South Africa. The Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart founded the Centre in 2001 as a response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
Volunteer Clare with baby Believe on admission
The Sisters bring their own talents and gifts to the ministry with the children. They are helped and supported by wonderful volunteers who come from different countries for various lengths of time. Some volunteers return year after year – spending their annual holidays with the children. Fr Alan MSC from Ireland heads up a MISSION OUTREACH team of young people that come each year during the winter holidays. They organize programs for the children and take them on outings and generally have a lot of fun.
Currently Fr Vince Carroll MSC is living at Holy Family. It is great to have him as our Chaplain and he makes a fantastic contribution – he is very creative and works with the older boys on various projects. The small boys are delighted with the go-carts he makes and enjoy the fruits of his garden and his woodwork skills.
I feel that Holy Family is a place where we OLSH and MSC’s can really live our charism of compassionate love. Here we learn to love these children unconditionally. They teach us how to do this. It is something you learn to do every day.
Volunteer Carmel with Mpho who had Stage 1V AIDS. Sadly Mpho passed away a short time after this photograph was taken. She was just 12 years old and suffering unimaginable pain.
The children in our care come for many reasons but always because it is a last resort – when all other avenues of care have been explored. They are admitted with a court order after their local Social Worker takes their case to the nearest Magistrate. Members of the community, school principals, health practitioners and sometimes neighbours identify the children and report their cases to the police or local authorities. The reasons for admission vary but many children have been abandoned, sexually abused, physically abused, orphaned or made vulnerable because of HIV/AIDS.
Some come from horrific backgrounds and arrive here very ill, malnourished, frightened, lacking social skills and generally very bewildered. It doesn’t take long for them to feel at home and to change once they feel loved and cared for.
I love being at Holy Family. I love being with these children who are so resilient and so brave. I love living and working alongside our Sisters, the MSC, the local people and with volunteers. I discover every day how to live the charism of our Founder, Fr Jules Chevalier MSC who encouraged us “to be on earth the Heart of Christ”.
A group of children at the Holy Family Care Centre
Sep 25, 2017
Br Domenico Rosa, newly professed member of the MSC community, reflects on his time spent working in Cloverhill Prison, Dublin, as part of his novitiate year.
“I was in prison and you visited me.” (Matthew 25:36)
Towards the end of my novitiate year, I spent three weeks working in Cloverhill Prison, Dublin, for my pastoral placement. I was joined there by Jaime Rosique, another of the MSC novices. This was a very important and powerful experience for me.
At the beginning, I had strange feelings about the prisoners. I could feel their suffering.
The first day I spent in one of the wings, I felt like I was in a human zoo. Smoke, cigarettes, a lot of murmuring… I thought I might be going crazy and I was looking forward to going home. However, I slowly started to feel comfortable, as the prisoners wanted to speak with us – they trusted us.
They soon learned our names, which was very nice. Kevin, a prisoner, even gave me a poem. It is said that “to love is joy, to be loved is happiness”; it was a beautiful thing to see how the prisoners love the chaplains, including Fr John O’Sullivan, one of our own Missionaries of the Sacred Heart.
Here, I learned humanity – that everyone is a person before being a criminal.
On a day that I particularly remember, we were visiting Wing D for the third time, where people with psychological problems are imprisoned. I was with one of the chaplains and Jaime, my Spanish MSC brother who was also working with me in Cloverhill. We entered the TV room and the chaplain offered cigarettes to the lads, who seemed happy to meet us.
Brendan, a six-foot tall, muscular young man, looked at me in a threatening way and rotated his fists in a provocative manner. Smiling, I said, “You’re too strong for me.” It looked like he smiled too, while inhaling his cigarette.
Meanwhile, Kevin came towards me with countless handwritten papers. He recognised me and asked, “Are you Italian?” I told him that I am, and he responded, “My brother is working in Bolzano. Italy is gorgeous”.
“That’s true, Bolzano is very beautiful,” I replied. “Have you ever been there?”
“No, but I know it’s close to Austria,” Kevin said.
In the meantime, several young men pass by. Their faces have the seen hard times on the streets. They have lifeless, sad eyes that only become lively when they stop to exchange a few words with us.
I said to Kevin: “Bolzano has the largest bas-relief sculpture in Europe, built by Mussolini. He was a poet, too. Do you write a lot?”
“Yes, I always write,” Kevin responded. “Writing is healthy. I look at people and I write”.
“Me too,” I said. “I write every day. I have my own diary. I suppose you like reading as well?”
“Yes, I like English-speaking authors – British, Irish, Anglo-American writers.”
“Do you like Allen Ginsberg?” I asked.
Kevin said that he did, and I continued, “He wrote On The Road, didn’t he?”
Kevin’s answer was immediate: “No, that was Kerouac!”
“Oh yeah, how stupid! I messed up,” I admitted. “I also like the American writer Charles Bukowski. He said that people are the world’s funniest show, and you don’t need to pay the ticket.”
“I know him too,” said Kevin. Then, he changed the subject. “Next time you come, will you bring me the Bible?”
“Yes, of course, with pleasure. Have you ever written poetry?”
Kevin answered that he didn’t have time for poetry. When I suggested that he could write one for me, he willingly accepted the challenge, and then invited me to play table football. As he arranged three balls on the pitch, he told me, “In Brazil, this is how they play. A Brazilian friend who was here with me taught me.”
Later that day, I had to part ways with Kevin, but he has stayed in my mind since, and I feel that I have gained a lot from my time working in Cloverhill.
Br Domenico Rosa MSC
Sep 20, 2017
“Return to your first and only love,” said Pope Francis last Saturday, 16th September, during a private audience between his Holiness and the members of the 2017 General Chapter of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. In an uplifting, yet profoundly challenging address the Pope stated that as missionaries we are called to keep our “gaze fixed on Jesus Christ and learn from Him how to truly love with a human heart, to care for the lost and hurting members of his flock, to work for justice and show solidarity with the weak and poor.”
Pope Francis greets Fr. Paco Blanco MSC, an old firend from Argentina.
He was speaking to a group ready and open to hear his message. As we arrived that morning for the audience you couldn’t help but be awed by the surroundings of the Vatican buildings. Designed to impress, they did just that. However, in contrast to the stateliness of the architecture, the beauty of the frescos, and the livery of the Swiss Guard, Pope Francis comes across as a simple man. He entered in a low key way, smiling and acknowledging with gratitude the presence of missionaries from all around the world. It was clear he was a little tired, but he has a sense of authenticity and simplicity of presence that is both difficult to describe and utterly unforgettable. He was particularly enthused to meet an old friend of his, Fr. Paco Blanco MSC, the Provincial of our Spanish Province with whom he worked in Argentina. (more…)
Sep 18, 2017
During his novitiate year, Br Daniel Filipek MSC spent three weeks working with the community in Cuan Mhuire treatment centre. Here, he shares his thoughts on his experience.
“This was not a walk in paradise, but a real and valuable experience.”
After 10 months of novitiate life in Myross Wood, my MSC brothers and I were given the opportunity to go to work in the community on pastoral placement.
I spent three weeks in an addiction treatment centre called Cuan Mhuire. The team here offer help to people struggling with addictions such as alcoholism, drug addiction, and gambling.
Before my placement started, I was a little bit afraid – I was nervous about my role at the centre. Some of the questions I asked myself were “Will they accept me?” and “Will I get along with the community there?”
I soon realised that the community in Cuan Mhuire were very welcoming, and my apprehensions disappeared. I had several opportunities to talk to the people there, and I also lent a hand in the kitchen and the coffee bar. Often, I just listened to others talking about their daily issues and worries.
I found that the people in Cuan Mhuire were humble and meek, and I realised that their life was and is full of struggling. Meeting with them, and hearing their stories, I can only express great admiration and praise for their courage.
It was also an important experience the reality of life, particularly the life of the non-religious community. I learned to become a listener, someone who sits quietly and observes, which taught me more than direct conversation with the community members.
My three weeks of pastoral placement were not a walk in paradise, but they gave me a real and valuable experience that will be very useful in my future.
Br Daniel Filipek MSC
