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New beginnings in Mozambique

March was an especially busy and exciting month for our MSC brothers in Mozambique, with two inspiring new chapters beginning on the mission.

Great celebrations were marked in the parish of Santa Marta de MecĂșfi, where Fr JosĂ© Eduardo PaixĂŁo MSC was appointed as new parish priest, with Fr Roney Lima MSC taking the position of new parish vicar. The Mass was celebrated by Bishop AntĂłnio Juliasse, Bishop of the Diocese of Pemba, in a moving and uplifting ceremony where parishioners extended a very warm welcome to Fr JosĂ© and Fr Roney in their new roles.

The Facebook page for our Mozambique mission shared some wonderful photos from the day, telling us that, “During the homily, Father Juliasse emphasized the importance of priestly mission and the commitment of new religious leaders to evangelization and strengthening the parish community”. These new appointments mark the beginning of a new and hopeful chapter for the parish of Santa Marta de MecĂșfi, strengthening the community and “renewing hope and enthusiasm for Christian life”.

Shortly afterwards, on March 19th, our Mozambique mission celebrated the Feast of St Joseph by welcoming our new students to the Fr Jules Chevalier Formation House. In a special Facebook post, our Mozambique brothers shared pictures of this blessed occasion:

“These young people have answered God’s call and pledged to follow him from our charisma. Each of them proclaimed, ‘Here I am, Lord,’ expressing their willingness and desire to do God’s will.

They received the MSC Cross, the Breviary and the Perpetual Service of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

We share this joy with you!”

Joy shared indeed, and we hope you will join us in prayer for all MSCs and the communities they serve on our mission in the Diocese of Pemba. Congratulations to Fr JosĂ© and Fr Roney on their new appointments in the parish of Santa Marta de MecĂșfi, and to the new students in formation – we wish you all every blessing as you embark on your new chapters, individually and collectively on our shared missionary journey. God bless you all!

Images via the Facebook page for MSC Mozambique.

 

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Introducing solar power at the Holy Family Care Centre, South Africa


Our friends at the Holy Family Care Centre in the Limpopo Province of South Africa have been in touch with an update from the centre, where new solar panels have been installed thanks to the support of our mission friends and benefactors here in the Irish Province. The centre is run by the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, and here, they provide dedicated care for orphans, and sick and vulnerable children, with approximately 75 children in residence at any given time. 

In our 2024 World Projects Appeal, we asked if you could help to raise €9,900 for the centre to install solar panels. Due to “load shedding”, it is an unfortunate fact that the centre’s electricity is frequently cut, and the emergency generator is expensive to run. The solar panels will power the unit’s bore water well and sewerage pumps, ensuring savings on power and the prevention of major system failure with when the electricity cuts out. 

The solar panels have now been successfully installed, and the community at Holy Family are already reaping the benefits of having a dependable and sustainable source of power for the centre. As ever, we join our voices with our OLSH Sisters in thanking our mission family sincerely for your continued friendship and support, which makes such a great difference to the Holy Family children. 

 

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Fr Alan in South Sudan: Back to School

Back to School for Exams 

The Catholic University of South Sudan, Rumbek Campus experienced a good, but challenging semester. For fourteen weeks, lectures were held in a local Catholic secondary school. This return to familiar surroundings was a nostalgic experience for some students, allowing them to reconnect with former teachers and cherished memories. While the hospitality was appreciated, the school’s simple facilities and limited resources presented some challenges. Fitting adult students into the smaller desks required some adjustments, but everyone quickly adapted.  

Late-Night Study 

The students have done their best to make time to study, not easy in a country where less than 9% of the population has any access to electricity and the sun sets every night by 6:00pm. Up until recently, students would study at home with only the light of the mobile phone to read. We upped our Late-Night Study programme to three evenings a week, allowing students to work until 8:00pm in our library. Initially, only men attended, as in the culture it would be considered inappropriate for women to stay out late; however, over the last few weeks, more and more of our female students have been able to attend. Our University Librarian stayed with them and provided them with support when needed. It has been a real success, and we plan to continue the programme into next semester.  

Exams in a Heatwave 

Currently, we are dealing with an intense heatwave in South Sudan. For the past two weeks, all schools have been closed by government order, with daily temperatures ranging from 39°C to 42°C. Despite these conditions, we have had to conduct our end-of-semester exams. Even with a schedule pushed to late afternoon, the heat remains a significant factor. The students’ resilience has been truly commendable, as they have not voiced a single complaint! However, all good things come to an end and so too do exams. Tomorrow will be their last day before a two-week break and then we are back into Semester Two. 

Step-Free Access for All 

As you are probably aware, the source of our displacement is the ongoing renovation of our lecture halls. The work is progressing well, with ceilings already in place. Previously, the hall only had a corrugated metal roof, which made the room into a sauna during hot days, and when it rained you could hear nothing at all. We are only halfway through the project, and already the changes have made a huge difference. Now we are getting ready to install the pipes for the electrical system and plaster the walls. We are also using the opportunity to make the building step-free, getting rid of ramps and raising the floor to allow anyone with physical disabilities to study freely. As a Catholic university it is our goal that anyone who wants to study and has the academic ability should be able to undertake third-level studies. 

Nhialic ke yin,
Fr. Alan 

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Read more from Fr Alan’s missionary journey in South Sudan: 

MSC World Projects Appeal 2025: OLSH Global Outreach

OLSH Global Outreach

MSCs from all over the world continue to work in partnership with the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart (OLSH), providing help and support to the poor and vulnerable on our shared mission: “May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be everywhere loved.” 

OLSH outreach in Brazil

The Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart are active in their ministry in several areas across Brazil, from educating young children to caring for the poor, the hungry, and the elderly. This year, they’re appealing for our help in funding a number of different projects that will continue to change lives for the better in regions of real and pressing need.

Sr Maria JosĂ© Ferreira writes from Capanema, in the south of Brazil. The local community are currently working together to build a new chapel for the area, which is now almost complete. The community here need a sound system for their new chapel, to benefit their prayer and celebration. “We have celebrations there already, and we have a children’s choir also,” writes Sr Maria JosĂ©. “It is a dynamic community. I believe this chapel will help many people to grow in faith.”

€2,000 will pay for a sound system in the new chapel, giving the community of Capanema
a place to gather in faith and love.

Sr Maria JosĂ© is also raising funds to provide food parcels for very poor families in the local area of Capanema. “My apostolate is to visit families around the parish area,” she writes. “I have met many people, and I pray with them. It is so sad to see people living difficult financial times. Some do not have enough to eat. I would like to help them, and I am asking for money to buy them some food bags. I am aware this will not solve all the social problems that I see but it will give them a relief for some months.”

A total of €2,000 will help Sr Maria JosĂ© to provide essential food parcels
for hungry families in the coming months.

The Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart run a school in Rio de Janeiro, where the children get great enjoyment and benefit from their study and practise of musical skills. The school has a music classroom dedicated to these studies, and the Sisters here are working to raise funds to buy new instruments for the children and extend their current collection.

€2,000 will help OLSH Sisters in Rio de Janeiro to buy new musical instruments
for the children in their school, empowering and encouraging
them to learn new skills and foster creativity.

OLSH Sisters in Brazil also write of the importance of play in the development of the children in their care at their Rio de Janeiro school. “We believe children learn a lot when they are playing,” they write. “It is important to give them toys and objects that can help them to develop skills.” The Sisters have an area dedicated to play in their school, for children aged between 2 and 10 years of age, and they need to purchase new toys and educational games to assist in the children’s development.

€2,000 will buy a selection of educational toys and games
to help the children learn and grow through play.

PLEASE SUPPORT OUR OLSH SISTERS IN THEIR GLOBAL OUTREACH

OLSH ministry across Africa

The Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart have been ministering across two dioceses in Burkina Faso for several years, and are now working to set up ministry in a third diocese, with enthusiastic and motivated young women requesting to join the Congregation. The OLSH Sisters involved in the formation programme for these young women are looking to transfer the Postulate from Zagtouli to Siogo, Tampoussimdi, which is a calm and peaceful place conducive to formation. The Sisters are now working to raise funds to build two new dormitories for the Postulate in a village not far from Ouagadougou, where there is plenty of space for the formation programme, and also scope for gardening and care of livestock in the surrounding fields.

A total of €10,000 will fund two new dormitories for these young women
working together in the love of Christ.

The Holy Family Care Centre is a residential care facility for children located in Ofcolaco, South Africa. Currently home to 75 abandoned and chronically ill children, Holy Family provides a loving, nurturing environment for children with critical medical needs, who have nowhere else to turn. The centre has a nursery which accommodates up to eight babies, plus four dormitories, two dedicated to older boys and girls, and two for boys and girls aged 2 to 10. The younger children, toddlers and preschoolers aged between 2 and 5 years, also sleep here, but are often overwhelmed by sharing the space with the older children in the group. The OLSH Sisters who take care of the crĂšche children feel that they would be better cared for if they had their own smaller space in a dedicated dormitory, which would reduce the noise and overstimulation at bedtime.

The Holy Family team need €20,000 to fund the toddlers’ area,
which will accommodate beds for up to 20 children and two staff members,
with space for winding down and quiet play.

The Jules Chevalier Health Centre was set up in December 2020 in the village of Maka Kahone in Senegal, working with the Ministry of Health to promote accessible healthcare for all, regardless of race, religion, or ethnicity. The centre offers a range of treatments to the people of Maka Kahone and surrounding villages, and its facilities are in great demand, as it is recognised for its high levels of care for patients. The health centre is now working to set up a laboratory with specific equipment, and staffed by trained personnel, in order to best manage the diagnoses of contagious diseases, maternity care, the care of young babies and children, predominant problems such as diabetes and high blood pressure, and further issues.

OLSH Sisters need €12,000 to purchase the necessary equipment for the new laboratory,
including a microscope, a centrifuge, micropipettes, a rotator, and other essential items.

The Jules Chevalier Health Centre in Mbandaka, Congo, has recently been extended, and is in need of new equipment to fill the new facility. Fundraising is underway to meet the centre’s current goals, including purchasing new medical equipment, reducing the maternal and infant mortality rate in Mdandaka and its surrounds, and improving the conditions of care for patients and the working conditions of staff at the centre.

The equipment required includes 10 beds, a consultation table, a medical stepladder,
10 bedside tables, a small surgery box, a delivery box, baby scales,
and other items, at a cost of €10,000.

CAN YOU HELP OUR OLSH SISTERS IN AFRICA?

With ongoing mission projects in education, childcare, agriculture, and healthcare, OLSH ministry is touching and transforming lives across Africa.
“We are very grateful for all that you are and do for us. On behalf of the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, I thank all those who pay special attention to our projects.”
~ Sr Marie-Laure Lankoandé FNDSC, Regional Superior of Burkina Faso

PLEASE SUPPORT OUR OLSH SISTERS IN THEIR GLOBAL OUTREACH

MSC World Projects Appeal 2025: Cameroon

Empowering students in Cameroon

The MSC Post-Novitiate Programme in Yaoundé, Cameroon, helps and guides young students along the path of their missionary journey. Last year, the generosity of our mission friends and benefactors in the Irish Province provided funding to purchase essential computer equipment for 14 students, and this year, with nine new post-novitiate students joining the programme, Fr Bonaventure is once again appealing for our help.

“The Catholic University of Central Africa subjects our students to a demanding rhythm of work,” Fr Bonaventure explains. “They have to do practical work that requires them to use computers, and it really is a necessity that every student must have a laptop of their own.” “As the number of students has increased this year and the two mediumsized printers we bought are not enough, we also need to buy a largecapacity printer to solve this problem for once and for all.”

CAN YOU HELP OUR MSC STUDENTS IN CAMEROON?

The computer equipment needed for 23 students for the coming academic year
will cost a total of €8,300.

“Our resources are very limited, and every year we are obliged to appeal to the generosity of people
of goodwill who are keen to support the training of our future pastors,” says Fr Bonaventure.
“We will never cease to thank the Province of Ireland for its many contributions to our community in YaoundĂ©.”

IF YOU CAN, PLEASE SUPPORT OUR MSC STUDENTS IN CAMEROON

MSC World Projects Appeal 2025: Guatemala

Building blocks for the future in Guatemala

Centro Faustino Villanueva is an MSC-run school in the Alta Verapaz region of Guatemala, located in an extremely rural area six hours away from the country’s capital, Guatemala City. The school offers a lifeline for the local community, providing education and the foundation for a better future for the past 40 years. The community at Centro Faustino Villanueva aim to provide access to education for the local population, including the Q’eqchí ethnic group, equipping them with both academic and social skills, plus an increased cultural awareness. In doing so, the staff at the school aim to lay the groundwork for a more positive and productive society, with the necessary skills to build a better quality of life for all in the community.

The school also offers boarding facilities for those who cannot easily travel to get there every day, ensuring that nobody misses out. Courses and workshops offered at the school include a wide range of academic subjects, while the school community are highly active in creating a sustainable agricultural environment, with space for farming and livestock care.

PLEASE SUPPORT OUR MINISTRY IN GUATEMALA

Empowering students to learn and grow

“All of this is an effort that aims to enhance the skills and training of the students, as well as improving their food quality, which is in many cases deficient and harms their ability to learn and grow,” says Fr Jairo Uriel Sevilla Mendoza MSC, Director of Centro Faustino Villanueva.

“Year after year, we make every effort to obtain the funds we need to sustain our school, a situation that is complicated by global economic uncertainty,” explains Fr Jairo. “In recent years, the aid we receive has decreased, and this is a reality that worries us, since we are the only option for many young people in the area.”

It costs just under €5,000 per month to pay the staff at Centro Faustino Villanueva,
along with providing nourishing daily meals for the students.
The CFV team are working to raise €50,000 to pay for school costs for a total of 10 months,
helping as many young people as they can, and preparing to help more in 2026.

“Together, we will be able to help more people in need. We will never tire of thanking our generous supporters for everything they do for us – and we are always united in the heart of Christ.”
~ Fr Jairo Uriel Sevilla Mendoza MSC
Director of Centro Faustino Villanueva

CAN YOU HELP US TO CHANGE LIVES FOR THE BETTER IN GUATEMALA?

MSC World Projects Appeal 2025: Ecuador

MSCs uniting a parish in Ecuador

MSCs in the parish of San José de Chilibulo, in Quito, Ecuador, work with a pastoral team and volunteers to minister to the ongoing needs of disadvantaged families in the region.

One of the most important ways in which our MSCs can help is to provide food to these vulnerable families, who often go hungry. Once a month, the pastoral team provide food baskets to 48 vulnerable families, including essential items such as rice, sugar, quinoa, oats, panela, wheat flour, lentils, oil, salt, tuna, cookies, peas, soap, and a chicken at Christmas time.

The cost per month is approximately €1,000, depending on the price and availability of items, and on additional food donations and funds that the parish team are able to collect. Special celebrations are also hosted for families in need on Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and at Christmas, catering to 90 people at a cost of approximately €1,150 per event.

PLEASE SUPPORT HUNGRY FAMILIES IN ECUADOR

Last year, our mission friends here in the Irish Province helped us to raise funds to improve the kitchen and outdoor spaces at the church and pastoral centre in the parish of San José de Chilibulo.

This year, parish priest Fr Marcelo Campoverde Arcentales MSC is asking for our help once again as he and his team work to raise €14,500 to provide a lifeline of food baskets and essentials to 48 families in need, including young children and extremely vulnerable elderly people, for an entire year.

CAN YOU HELP US TO FEED VULNERABLE FAMILIES IN ECUADOR?

MSC World Projects Appeal 2025: Venezuela

MSCs making a difference in Venezuela

From the provision of essential food and medical care to vital educational facilities, MSCs in Venezuela are working to improve the quality of life for vulnerable people living in areas of extreme hardship. Maracaibo and Caracas are just two of the regions that have benefitted greatly from the generosity of our mission friends in the Irish Province.

MSCs in Venezuela are dedicated to making positive changes in the barrios (urban neighbourhoods where the populations are very poor), where families are living in severely overcrowded conditions in tiny homes often located high in the hills. Poverty is rife and living conditions are extremely difficult. There are often seven or eight people to a family, living in “matchbox houses”. Many elderly people are living alone, in precarious positions up hills and mountains where it is very difficult to bring essential provisions and medical equipment. In Maracaibo, MSCs are running soup kitchens that can feed anything up to 200 families at each serving – and there is always a demand for more. People are making their homes using the most basic materials, and are taking what jobs they can find, but work is scarce. The jobs that are available pay very poorly, with even professional people such as teachers earning very little and having to work two jobs in order to simply survive. Many are resorting to desperate measures in order to feed their children, and so a daily meal received from one of our soup kitchens can make all the difference.

CAN YOU HELP US TO FEED HUNGRY FAMILIES IN VENEZUELA?

Working together in hope and friendship

Irish MSCs Fr Tom O’Brien, Fr John Jennings, and Fr Tom Jordan minister across Maracaibo and Caracas, working with local communities to provide spiritual support to those in need, and bring food to nourish the sick and housebound. In addition to our MSC soup kitchens, centres have been set up to facilitate support systems such as Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, and to accommodate doctors, dentists, and psychologists to get local people the care they need. A school in Maracaibo, run by our OLSH Sisters, also helps more than 500 local children. Still, there is a great and urgent need for more. “There’s always something, always something more to do and something more to get,” says Fr Tom O’Brien.

IF YOU CAN, PLEASE SUPPORT OUR MINISTRY IN VENEZUELA

Thank you from Sr Nancy

Sr Nancy Contreras writes from Venezuela, where donations from our mission friends here in the Irish Province have been making a crucial difference to people suffering with the difficulties of extreme social and political unrest. The parish of AntĂ­mano is located in the hills of Caracas, with a population of approximately 168,422. Sr Nancy and her team have been able to help local families with school support, plus care packages of food and essential medication administered by a professional medical team. Many of these families are living with illness, disability, elderly and infirm relatives, and in conditions of severe overcrowding.

“We want to reduce the hunger, pain, and anguish that we see our brothers and sisters living in. We have the opportunity to enter their homes and see their reality more closely, some suffering with the effects of ongoing sicknesses such as diabetes and hypertension. We appreciate all your support and understanding on this shared mission in the Parish of Antímano.”
~ Sr Nancy Contreras

CAN YOU HELP VULNERABLE FAMILIES IN VENEZUELA?

Fr Alan in South Sudan: The Longest Journey Begins with 27,000,000 Steps

The Catholic Church in South Sudan is at the forefront of pastoral ministry in both education and health. Our impact is easily quantifiable by the number of students taught or patients treated. However, one of its most important roles is perhaps the most difficult to measure, peacebuilding. Grounded in the teaching of Jesus, it is the call of Christians everywhere to be peacemakers, fostering reconciliation and healing in our communities, giving witness by our lives to a different way that is grounded in justice and mercy.

This ministry in South Sudan is complex, to say the least. Following five decades of fighting for freedom from Sudan, 2011’s independence was a time of optimism for a wounded society. However, the ensuing civil war in 2013 saw over 400,000 people being killed, millions become displaced, and countless men, women, and children left traumatised. According to the UN, over a million people have fled here from war-torn Sudan since April of last year. It is, in many ways, the making of a perfect storm. But violence is like that, destructive, loud, and indiscriminate. How could you possibly respond to something so big that it is almost an act of God, although it is definitely not! Well, you could go for a walk.

The Diocese of Rumbek Pilgrimage of Peace first started in February 2023. The idea came from Sr. Orla Treacy, a Loreto sister, who thought it would be a good idea for young people to walk from the centre of South Sudan to Juba to welcome Pope Francis during his first official visit to the country. Working with the youth team of the Diocese, it was an incredible success and captured the hearts of the people. The Pope even requested to meet the group personally when they arrived. Since, then it has continued to grow, with another pilgrimage in the west of the Diocese in 2024.

This year the pilgrimage was organised, not by the priests and religious of the Diocese, but by the youth themselves. Young men and women, veterans of last year’s pilgrimage, planned, organised, and implemented everything, from the beans we ate, to the route we took, to the places we slept. This gave us, as sisters, brothers, and priests, the opportunity to really journey with the youth, listening to their stories and sharing their hopes. On our first day we began with Mass in the Cathedral of Rumbek and were joined by the newly appointed Apostolic Nuncio to South Sudan, Archbishop SĂ©amus Horgan (from Co. Clare), and our own Bishop Christian Carlassare.

Our route would take us through the south of Lakes State and into Western Equatoria, from Rumbek to Malou, Wulu, Mvolo, Mapourdit, and finally to Aluakluak, covering a distance of over 125km. We slept each night in the simple classrooms of local schools, although many of us opted to spend the night camped out under the stars. Possibly the one advantage to only 8% of the population of South Sudan having electricity at home is that the night skies are awesome in the truest sense of the word.

Each day we would rise at 5:30am, take a few minutes for warming up, and then hit the road. In the course of our pilgrimage, we would stop and speak with those we met along the way. Such a large and exuberant group caused a lot of comment. What were we doing? Why were we walking, when you could drive? How does a pilgrimage really help to promote peace?

The last question really touches into the heart of what we were trying to do. Not so long ago, many of the roads and paths we walked were impassable due to insecurity. Violence, theft and shootings were commonplace. To be able to walk now, without weapons, police, or security signalled loudly more than words could express that something different, something new was happening.

In addition, our group was made up of young people from around the Diocese, drawing from groups that have been traditionally hostile to one another. Their ability to walk together and work for peace re-enforced our message of hope. As the sun set, we were joined by the local people as we celebrated Mass and shared a simple meal of rice and beans together.

By the end of the week, we were blistered and, in my case, a little sunburnt, but happy. One of the group calculated that, between all of us, we had walked 27,000,000 million steps. New friendships had formed that would have been quite impossible before. We made our way home, with perhaps a renewed appreciation for running water and corrugated metal roofs. Above all, our time together and with the people we met was a quiet, but joyful witness of what could be, peace for a people weary of war and ready for a new beginning. It just takes a step.

Nhialic ke yin,
Fr. Alan

Read more from Fr Alan’s missionary journey in South Sudan:

A bright new year at the Holy Family Care Centre

What a wonderful way to begin the new year, with a very welcome update from our friends at the Holy Family Care Centre!

The Holy Family Care Centre is located in Ofcolaco, in the Limpopo Province of South Africa, where it provides residential care for up to 80 orphans, and sick and vulnerable children. Many of these children are living with chronic illnesses such as HIV/AIDs, TB, and other critical conditions. The children are mostly orphaned, and all are extremely vulnerable, so the Holy Family centre truly is a life-saving refuge for them. We at home in the Irish Province have long enjoyed an enduring friendship with Sr Sally and the Holy Family team, and our mission friends and extended Sacred Heart family here at home have provided invaluable support to the OLSH Sisters in Ofcolaco throughout the years.

Back at the beginning of 2024, we asked our mission friends here at home to help the Holy Family community to raise funds to improve the dormitory facilities at the centre, and to build a new toilet block for the toddlers and younger children in their care.

Prior to this, the boys’ dormitory was home to 23 children and two staff members, with beds packed together side-by-side to fit everybody in. The Sisters were hoping to replace the 15-year-old bedding, and buy sets of bunk beds to create more space in the dormitory. Thanks to the generosity of our mission friends here in the Irish Province, the dormitory renovation has been a success, and the boys now have a far more comfortable space for rest.

 

The Sisters also wished to raise funds to build a toilet block for the 25 younger children in the crĂšche facility, with smaller, junior-sized toilets to help the toddlers with toilet training. The new toilet block has now been constructed, and is a great success with the younger members of the Holy Family community!

 

“Most sincere thanks to everyone who contributed to the 2024 World Projects Appeal,” writes Sr Jenny Christie FDNSC, International Development Officer for the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart. “What a difference your support has made!”

We join Sr Jenny in thanking you, wholeheartedly, for your continued friendship and support, and we wish all at Holy Family a very happy, healthy, and peaceful 2025!

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Opening the Jubilee Year of Hope in Mozambique

On the final Sunday of 2024, MSCs on our Mozambique mission celebrated a very special ceremony to mark the beginning of the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope. MSCs Fr José Eduardo Paixão and Fr Roney Lima prayed together with the parishioners of the Diocese of Pemba, along those that had travelled from neighbouring areas to be part of this wonderful celebration filled with joy and hope.

Our MSC mission in Mozambique was established in early 2018 in the Diocese of Pemba, which is a very poor part of the country. The need for help in the region is very real, and the mission is continuously working to adapt and respond to serve the many and changing needs of the vulnerable and displaced, from emergency response to natural disasters, to the brutal impact of violence and political unrest.

The Irish Province of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart has a long friendship with our Mozambique mission, with the compassion and support of our mission friends and benefactors here at home touching the lives of thousands of people across the district of Pemba. Thanks to the kindness and generosity of our extended mission family here at home, we have been able to bring about positive change to disadvantaged communities and vulnerable families across the diocese. Civil war in the region has caused significant suffering, with hundreds of thousands of people displaced from their homes and their lives since 2017, and many others killed or reported missing. In recent years, we have been working alongside Fr José to raise funds to support those in real and urgent need, helping to provide essential aid and more hopeful prospects for those struggling in their circumstances.

Let us all be pilgrims of hope in this Jubilee Year, carrying the spirit of faith, hope, and perseverance in our hearts.

Images via the Facebook page for MSC Mozambique, with credit to Abudo Manara.
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“A Moment to Remember”: MSC Share a Christmas Basket Project in the Philippines

As we neared the end of December, the MSC Mission Office in the Philippines once again carried out its annual tradition of Christmas unity, sharing, and togetherness, with its Share a Christmas Basket programme.

Just before Christmas, a tremendous group of local volunteers worked together to pack hundreds of baskets of groceries and Christmas provisions in preparation for the programme, which benefitted a total of 750 families this year. Each donation for a basket was marked at a value of 549 Philippine pesos, which meant that an entire family’s Christmas could be transformed for a little under €10 per household.

The MSC Mission Office in the Philippines posted their gratitude to all of their donors on their Facebook page, heading their post “A Moment to Remember”.

“The Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, through the MSC Mission Office, would like to express our deepest gratitude to the following donors for their generous support of our ‘Paskong Handog: A Christmas Noche Buena Basket Project’,” they wrote.

“Thanks to [our donors’] passion and generosity in helping the needy, the project was a resounding success!  With their unwavering support, we were able to distribute 750 Noche Buena baskets to families in need in the following areas: Bataan, Triala, Nueva Ecija, San Anton Mission Station, Butuan, Cebu, Libis Caloocan, and various areas served by TFUC.
We are deeply grateful for your partnership in bringing joy and hope to so many families this Christmas season.
Merry Christmas & a Prosperous New Year to Everyone!!
From your MSC Family”

Well done to all involved in this wonderful project, which gave the priceless gift of a happy Christmas to hundreds of families in the Philippines. With the spirit of Christmas goodwill still in our hearts, we send every blessing to our MSC brothers in the Philippines and the communities they serve there.

“Wishing you a Happy New Year filled with joy, laughter, and endless possibilities.
May this year bring you peace, prosperity, and all the good things you deserve.
Cheers to a fantastic new year!!!”
~ MSC Mission Office Philippines, Inc. on Facebook

Images via MSC Mission Office Philippines, Inc. on Facebook
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