14 Dec 2022
Please note that the MSC Missions Office will be closed over the Christmas period,
from 4.00pm on Friday, December 23rd to 9.00am on Tuesday, January 3rd.
With warm wishes to our mission friends everywhere for a happy, healthy, and safe Christmas season.
Nollaig Shona dhaoibh go léir – Christmas greetings to you and yours! What a great blessing it is to write to you this Christmas, as we reflect on the challenges and triumphs of the year gone by, and look with hope to the new year to come.
2022 has been a special year for me, my first as Director of the MSC Missions Office. It is a particular privilege to be in this position and to witness first-hand the kindness and generosity of spirit of our mission friends and benefactors at home and abroad. The sense of unity and community is immensely powerful, particularly when extending to people at the other side of the world, to friends you will never meet, but whose lives have been and will be changed immeasurably because of the compassion of strangers in name, but not in spirit.
It goes without saying that recent times have been turbulent, and we all continue to face our own challenges, in our homes and as a society. Our organisation is no different; with each year that passes, we’re trying to do more with less, at a time when finances are tight for everyone and the people that need us, need us more than ever. It is a difficult balance to strike at the best of times, and with the current issues troubling our world, we are often facing an uphill battle. Nonetheless, it is thanks to you, our great mission friends, that we can continue to climb that hill and continue to do our best to help those in need. Without the slightest exaggeration, your support transforms lives, and because of you, many, many communities and families have hope where before there was none. Together, we can continue to make a difference.
Of course, Christmas can be a difficult time for many people; this year, it may be you, or someone close to you, who is dealing with loss, illness, financial difficulties, or personal challenges. To all who find themselves struggling for any reason this Christmas – my prayers are with you, and you will be in the prayers of our MSCs everywhere throughout the Christmas season.
May the spirit of peace, goodwill, and the Lord’s love fill your heart and your home this Christmas, and may God bless and protect you and your loved ones as we approach a new year. On behalf of our MSC community at home and abroad, I thank you once again for your friendship, and I pray that you will have a safe and peaceful Christmas, with an abundance of blessings to come in the year ahead.
Wishing you a happy and holy Christmas,
Fr John Fitzgerald MSC