The MSC Message: Summer 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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The MSC Message : Winter 2023

Welcome to this year’s Winter edition of the MSC Message!

• Read a special greeting from Fr John Fitzgerald MSC, Director of the MSC Missions Office.

• We welcome  Fr Joe McGee MSC as the new Provincial Superior along with our new Provincial team, Fr Dave Nixon MSC and Fr Manus Ferry MSC, Fr John Bennett MSC, Fr Alan Whelan MSC.

•  More updates from Fr Alan Neville MSC in South Sudan, where a Peace walk was in progress and new members were welcomed to the diocese.

• Fr Remigius reaches out to us to help rebuild his parish Church which had been damaged by high winds in Keelakarai, in South India.

• An update from some of the work we have done in the Phillipines after Typhoon Odette Appeal in 2021.

Read the Winter 2023 edition of the MSC Message
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MSC Summer Message 2023

 

Welcome to the Summer 2023 edition of the MSC Message!

 

• Read an update from Fr John Fitzgerald MSC, Director of the MSC Missions Office.
• MSCs supporting Cancer Connect.
• Caring for our world at the School of Love, Philippines
• Bishop Fintan Gavin ordains Fr Giacomo Gelardi MSC

 

 

 

Read the Summer 2023 edition of the MSC Message
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The MSC Message: Winter 2022

Welcome to the Winter 2022 edition of the MSC Message!

• Read a special greeting from Fr John Fitzgerald MSC, Director of the MSC Missions Office.

• Find out more about the latest updates from the MSC Centre for the Poor in the Philippines, where the MSC Centre for the Poor Agricultural Cooperative are working to bring brighter prospects to local communities, while nurturing and restoring harmony with the natural world.

• Catch up on the latest news from the mission fields, including updates from our MSC brothers in the Guatemala and Fiji, and our OLSH Sisters in Papua New Guinea and Burkina Faso, West Africa.

• Discover more about the work being done by MSCs in southern Haiti, where homes and communities must be rebuilt following a devastating earthquake in August 2021.

• Fr Alan Neville MSC writes from South Sudan, where he is currently ministering with the Loreto team in Rumbek.

• “Ordinary men answering an extraordinary call from God”: Read a message from Fr Con and Fr Tony, our Vocations Team.

• Find out more about recent celebrations in the Irish Province, where three of our MSC community recently celebrated 50 years of ordination at their Golden Jubilee.

Read the Winter 2022 edition of the MSC Message
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The MSC Message: Summer 2022

Welcome to the Summer 2022 edition of the MSC Message!

• Read a special greeting from Fr John Fitzgerald MSC, Director of the MSC Missions Office.

• Find out more about the visit of our MSC Superior General, Fr Absalón Alvarado MSC, to the Irish Province.

• Catch up on the latest news from the mission fields, including updates from our MSC brothers in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Mozambique, and our OLSH Sisters in Brazil and Papua New Guinea.

• Read more about the latest updates from our global COVID-19 relief ministry, with a report from the Pacific Islands.

• Discover the ways in which our MSC community in the Philippines is helping survivors of Typhoon Odette.

• Fr Alan Neville MSC writes from South Sudan, where he is currently ministering with the Loreto team in Rumbek.

• Read all about recent celebrations in the Venezuelan Region, where two members of the Irish Province of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart have marked milestone steps on their missionary journeys.

 

Read the Summer 2022 edition of the MSC Message
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The MSC Message: Winter 2021

Welcome to the Winter 2021 edition of the MSC Message!

• Read a special seasonal greeting from Fr Michael O’Connell MSC, Director of the MSC Missions Office.

• Join us as we congratulate Br Giacomo Gelardi on his Perpetual Profession to the Society of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart.

• Catch up on the latest news from the mission fields, including the erection of the new MSC Province of the Pacific Islands and an update from our MSC brothers in Ecuador.

• Read more about the latest updates from our global COVID-19 relief ministry, with reports from Vietnam, Fiji, and our OLSH Sisters in the Philippines.

• Fr Alan Neville MSC writes from South Sudan, where he is currently ministering with the Loreto team in Rumbek.

• Read all about the beatification of the martyrs of El Quiché, including three MSC priests and seven lay catechists who were killed for their faith in Guatemala between 1980 and 1991.

Read the MSC Message Winter 2021
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The MSC Message: Summer 2021

Welcome to the Summer 2021 edition of the MSC Message!

This summer’s edition of the MSC Message is a slightly different one, as we share just some of the ways in which our MSCs have been working to provide COVID relief aid around the world. 

• Read a special message from Fr Michael O’Connell MSC, Director of the MSC Missions Office.

• Find out more about the ways in which MSCs are protecting lives from COVID-19 in India, with reports from Fr Darwin Thatheus MSC, Regional Superior in Bangalore.

• Read about MSC COVID outreach in Brazil, from the distribution of basic care packages to the provision of safe and secure housing for families who have lost their homes.

• Learn more about MSC COVID relief aid in the Philippines, where communities are struggling desperately to fight the pandemic in the wake of appalling typhoons.

• Meet the new MSC Vocations team.

• Read a message from Bro Giacomo Gelardi MSC, who has been ministering throughout the pandemic in Killinarden, Dublin, an area already plagued by issues such as violence and drug and alcohol abuse.

Read the MSC Message Summer 2021

The MSC Message: Winter 2019

Welcome to the Winter 2019 edition of the MSC Message!

• Read a special seasonal greeting from Fr Michael O’Connell MSC, Director of the MSC Missions Office.

• Catch up with the latest news from the mission fields, with updates from our ongoing projects in Mozambique, Africa, and Venezuela.

• Find out about this year’s MSC pilgrimage to Fatima.

• MSC Cardinal John Ribat speaks out about climate change and the vital importance of awareness and education.

• Read all about Br Giacomo Gelardi’s missionary journey and the path that led him to a vocation with the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart.

Read the MSC Message Winter 2019

The MSC Message: Summer 2019

Welcome to the Summer 2019 edition of the MSC Message!

• Read a special summer greeting from Fr Michael O’Connell MSC, Director of the MSC Missions Office.

• Catch up with the latest news from the mission fields, with updates from our ongoing projects in South Africa and India.

• Find out about this year’s MSC pilgrimage to Lourdes.

• Read all about Fr Michael O’Connell’s visit to our MSC parishes in Venezuela.

• Enjoy updates from World Youth Day 2019 in Panama, where Fr Alan Neville MSC and the MSC Vocations Team celebrated earlier this year.

Read the MSC Message Summer 2019

The MSC Message: Winter 2018

Welcome to the Winter edition of the MSC Message!

• Read all about MSC Missions at the World Meeting of Families 2018.

• Catch up with the latest news from the mission fields, with updates from our ongoing projects in South Africa and the Philippines.

• Find out about this year’s Jubilee celebrations in the Irish Province.

• Read a special winter message from Fr Michael O’Connell MSC, Director of the MSC Missions Office.

• Walk the Camino de Santiago with Fr Alan Neville MSC and the MSC Vocations Team.

Reads the MSC Message Winter 2018

The MSC Message: Summer 2018

The summer edition of the MSC Message has arrived!

• Catch up with the latest news from the mission fields, with updates from our ongoing projects in South Africa and South Sudan.

• Discover more about new mission projects in Mozambique and Cameroon.

• Read a special tribute to the late Fr Mark McDonald MSC, former Superior General of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart.

• Read a summer message from Fr Michael O’Connell MSC, Director of the MSC Missions Office.

• Get up to date with the latest news from Fr Alan Neville MSC and the MSC Vocations Team.

Read the MSC Message Summer 2018

RIP Fr Mark McDonald MSC

The Missionaries of the Sacred Heart are very sad to announce the passing of Fr Mark McDonald, our former Superior General. 

 

Fr Mark McDonald passed away on April 2, 2018 at the Sacred Heart Villa in Center Valley, Pennsylvania at age 75. Father McDonald was born July 22, 1942 in Watertown, New York, the son of Donald and Anna Murrock McDonald. He was a graduate of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart School and Immaculate Heart Academy.

 

Fr McDonald attended St. Bonaventure University for two years and began his studies to become a Missionary of the Sacred Heart (MSC) in 1961. He completed his philosophy studies in Quebec, Canada and graduated from Laval University in Quebec City in 1964. He completed his theological studies in Rome, Italy and graduated from the Angelicum Pontifical University in Rome in 1968. He was ordained a priest of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart on June 29, 1968 in Watertown by Bishop Thomas Donnellan.

 

After ordinaton, Fr McDonald taught at the Sacred Heart Preparatory Seminary and Immaculate Heart Central High School (IHC), both in Watertown. In 1972, he became Vice Principal at IHC. In 1976, he became Director of the MSC Retreat and Renewal Center in Shelby, Ohio. In 1983, he became Formation Director for the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart in Bogota, Colombia and in 1985 became Sectional Superior of the MSCs in Colombia.

 

In 1991, Fr McDonald was elected Provincial of the MSCs in the United States headquartered in Aurora, Illinois. In 1997, he became Pastor of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart parish in Watertown. In 1999, he became Director of Cor Novum (the MSC retreat and renewal center in Issoudun, France). From 2005 to 2017, he was Superior General of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart worldwide located in Rome, Italy. Fr McDonald became semi-retired in 2018 and was residing at the Sacred Heart Villa in Center Valley, Pennsylvania.

 

Please keep Fr Mark McDonald in your thoughts and prayers. 

 

 

Source: Watertown Daily Times