07 Sep 2013
Fr. John Jennings MSC working in a local school
What does it mean to be a Missionary of the Sacred Heart? Who are we and what do we do? How are we different from the diocesan priests and members of other religious congregations? It’s a difficult question to answer, but perhaps the best I can do is to show you. As part of our vocations blog we’ll follow four members of the Chevalier family, ministering in radically different parts of the world, but united in a common MSC mission: That the Sacred Heart of Jesus be everywhere known and loved.
Fr. John Jennings is an MSC missionary from Cork, Ireland working in one of the most marginalised barrios in Caracas, Venezuela. In addition to parish work John ministers as a part time chaplain in some of the country’s largest prisons.
Life in Venezuelan prisons is bleak and violent
“It’s an exaggeration to call some of the prisons in Venezuela hell on earth, but it’s not too far off the truth really. In recent months news of riots have received international media attention. It’s brought a spotlight on one of society’s most neglected and forgotten groups. Life in prison here is miserable, with authorities constantly struggling to cope with overcrowding, drugs and rampant gang violence. The appointment of Iris Varela as a Minister for State with special responsibility for prisons has helped, but there is so much yet to be done.
Fr. John Jennings MSC with the parish youth group
My ministry as a priest with the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart has me working in a number of different prisons. At the moment I’m a assistant priest in La Santa Cruz parish in Caracas. It’s one of the city’s biggest barrios, but in spite of the massive poverty there are people who are truly heroic. I’ve been in Venezuela for more than half my life and I’m at home here as much as I am back in Ireland. It’s a country with so much to offer. It is filled with indescribable beauty, but also real need. It touches your heart when you see how people are living with real dignity in spite of all that life has thrown at them. These are the people that I live with and serve. They are my community of faith. We support and inspire one another and help each other along the way.
Celebrating Mass with his community in Parroquia La Santa Cruz
I’m also one of a number of people, both religious and lay, who work together in Venezuela’s prisons to bring some sense of hope to a situation filled with despair. In Matthew 25 Jesus reminds the people that whenever they visited those in jail they actually visited Him. This ministry is not about going to the prison like some sort of saviour. Such an approach would be quickly dismissed by the inmates. They have little patience for holy Joes. It’s about seeing the face of God in the person who has stolen, who has assaulted another or who has even taken a life. This is the challenge of our faith, to see and recognise the divine in the most unlikely of places. Because even if society has forgotten them, God has not.”