Oct 3, 2024
Welcome to the Winter 2024 edition of the MSC Message!
• Read a seasonal greeting from Fr John Fitzgerald MSC, Director of the MSC Missions Office.
• Find out more about MSC efforts to protect our earth with the ongoing ecobricks project in the Philippines.
• Join us as we celebrate 150 years of the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart.
• Read all about this summer’s Camino adventure as our MSC pilgrims walked the Camino Inglés, raising over €20,000 for the Holy Family Care Centre in South Africa.
• Catch up with the latest news from the Chevalier Training Centre in Fiji.
• Fr Alan Neville MSC writes from South Sudan, with an update from the Catholic University in Rumbek.
• Learn more about Fr Frank T. Natale’s story as he shares how he came to be an MSC in the US Province.
• Catch up on news of our recent Novena to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart.
Read the Winter 2024 edition of the MSC Message
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Oct 2, 2024
This year’s annual Masses for deceased MSCs and Daughters of the Lady of the Sacred Heart will take place around the country in November, as we remember those who have gone before us into God’s loving embrace.
Annual Masses for deceased MSCs and Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart will take place in the following locations on Sunday, November 3rd at 3.00pm:
Mass will also be celebrated on Sunday, November 10th at 2.00pm in St Patrick’s Church, Ballybay, Co. Monaghan.
For those who are unable to attend, the Mass from the Sacred Heart Church, Western Road, Cork, will be live streamed on the internet to allow you to participate. You can access this Mass on a computer, laptop, tablet or smartphone by going to www.mscmissions.ie and clicking on the Live Stream link at the top of the page.
We would like to invite you to pray with us during the month of the Holy Souls as we remember the MSCs and Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart who dedicated their lives to the Spirituality of the Heart, and who worked so hard to ensure that the Sacred Heart of Jesus is known and loved everywhere, and by everyone.
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Sep 19, 2024
The end of August marked a very special day for our extended Sacred Heart family, as the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart marked their 150th anniversary on August 30th.
Established in 1874, this year marked a jubilee celebration for our OLSH Sisters, and we are delighted to share photos of just some of the wonderful celebrations that took place around the globe to mark the occasion.
In a heartfelt post, the Facebook page for the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in Australia wrote:
“On this day, August 30th, 1874, 150 years ago, the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart were founded. Today, we celebrate this 150th Jubilee with hearts filled with thanksgiving for the last 150 years. We give thanks to those pioneer Sisters who, filled with the vision of Fr. Jules Chevalier MSC and the inspiration of Mother Marie Louise Hartzer FDNSC, went across the world, ministering and working alongside the poor and the vulnerable, establishing schools, hospitals, working on mission, and in recent years, working for justice, the rights of refugees, climate action, advocating for those whom society has placed on the margins, and much more! As we celebrate this special day, we are filled with the fire of God’s love to continue our mission with renewed vision so that we can continue to be ‘On earth the Heart of God.’
Our Lady of the Sacred Heart – Pray for us!”
The Australian OLSH community went on to highlight their continued commitment to their mission in a beautiful promise “to share God’s boundless love with everyone – no exceptions and no exclusions.”
Some marvellous photos of the celebrations were also shared from the Philippines and the Province of the Pacific Islands.
From the Facebook page for the MSC Scholasticate Community – Philippines:
From the Facebook page for the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart – Province of the Pacific Islands:
We join our hearts, our voices, and our prayers with our OLSH Sisters as they mark this jubilee celebration, as we give thanks for the past 150 years, and look forward to continuing on our shared journey, making the spirituality of the heart known wherever and whenever it is needed most. May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be everywhere loved!
From the Facebook page for MSC Vocations – Australian Province:
Jul 9, 2024
Welcome to the Summer 2024 edition of the MSC Message!
• Read a special greeting from Fr John Fitzgerald MSC, Director of the MSC Missions Office.
• Read all about the ordination of Fr Gabriel Shikongo MSC, which took place in Swakopmund, Namibia, as he celebrates his first year as an MSC priest.
• Catch up on the latest news from the mission fields, including updates from the Holy Family Care Centre in Africa, from our OLSH Sisters in Papua New Guinea and Burkina Faso, West Africa, and from our MSC brothers as they celebrated Holy Week & Easter around the world, .
• Join us as we celebrate the new Province of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart in India.
• Find out the latest updates from the team at the MSC Centre for the Poor in the Philippines.
• Discover more from Centro Faustino Villanueva in Guatemala, where staff and students are celebrating 40 years of ministry at the MSC-run vocational centre this year.
• Fr Alan Neville MSC writes from South Sudan, where he is currently ministering with the Loreto team in Rumbek.
Read the Summer 2024 edition of the MSC Message
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Mar 21, 2024
It is with glad hearts that we received recent news from our friend Sr Jenny Christie FDNSC, International Development Officer for the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, with an update from the OLSH Global Outreach Projects that are blessed with such generous support from our mission friends here in the Irish Province.
Educating children in Burkina Faso
In our 2023 World Projects Appeal, the Sisters asked for help in funding the development of classrooms at their school in Ouagadougou, the capital city of Burkina Faso, West Africa. Burkina Faso is one of the poorest countries in the world, and the Sisters in Ouagadougou have been working in the region since 2007 to help young children who would otherwise have no prospects of education and advancement. The demand for places at the school is overwhelming, and the Sisters strive to accommodate as many children as possible, which has led to severe issues with overcrowding in recent years.
Thanks to the wonderful response to our 2023 appeal, which raised funds to create separate classrooms in the existing school space, the work has already been completed to great effect. Teachers and students now have the use of four new classrooms, giving the children a safe, comfortable space to learn and grow together.
Caring for the elderly in Papua New Guinea
Sr Jenny also shared photos from her recent visit to Port Moresby, in Papua New Guinea, where funds raised by our 2021 World Projects Appeal funded a laundry area in the Hartzer Centre, an aged-care facility for elderly OLSH Sisters and MSC missionary priests. Prior to the installation of the laundry room, the nurses at the centre had to carry the residents’ dirty laundry through the dining room at the adjacent convent in order to reach the communal washing area, a significant hygiene issue throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and in subsequent years.
Now, the centre has its own dedicated laundry area, with a drying spot outside to hang clothes, and indoor lines to dry washing in rainy weather. “The Sisters are deeply appreciative of the difference this has made to their lives,” writes Sr Jenny. “Sincere thanks once again to the very generous donors.”
With thanks to Sr Jenny for sharing these very welcome updates with us, and to you, our mission friends, for making this work possible through your ongoing support and friendship. Every day, your compassion is touching lives all over the world, in ways that you can’t imagine. On behalf of our OLSH Sisters and MSC missionaries everywhere, we thank you, sincerely, for your kindness. We keep the OLSH communities of Ouagadougou and Port Moresby in our prayers as they continue in their dedicated work, with gratitude for the encouragement of our extended Sacred Heart family.
IF YOU CAN,
PLEASE SUPPORT OUR OLSH SISTERS IN THEIR GLOBAL OUTREACH
