Opening the door to the MSC Graduate House & Women’s Shelter in Rumbek

We are delighted to hear that the first group of Loreto graduates have moved into the MSC Graduate House & Women’s Shelter!

Last summer, we asked our mission friends in the Irish Province to join with us and reach out to help the Loreto Sisters to transform lives in South Sudan. A country in the grip of a terrible crisis, the community of Rumbek faced unimaginable struggles with violence, illness, and malnutrition – and it still does.

Thanks to the kindness and generosity of spirit shown by our mission friends in Ireland and around the world, the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart have been able to send support to the Loreto Sisters in Rumbek, where they run a primary school, a secondary school, a health care unit, and a graduate programme. They have already been able to make a difference to thousands of local people, and now, the MSC-funded Graduate House & Women’s Shelter has opened its doors to 16 young women who are working towards a brighter future.

The graduate programme will allow them to develop their skills and talents within various employment roles, giving them a solid foundation for future careers. This endeavour has lit a beacon of hope where the future once looked bleak, and we wish the Loreto community all the very best as they begin this exciting new chapter!

Read more about the work of the Loreto community in South Sudan as they celebrate 10 years in Rumbek.
You can also find out more about recent developments at Loreto Rumbek here.

PLEASE HELP US TO SAVE LIVES IN SOUTH SUDAN

You can also follow the Loreto Schools’ progress via Facebook or on their website.

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

“Yes, women can”: Winning Loreto essay sends a message of hope

Khana Kockedhie Magel, a 16-year-old student at the Loreto Girls’ Secondary School in Rumbek, has been named winner of this year’s UN Missions essay-writing competition for secondary school students in South Sudan. As a young woman in a country that has been torn asunder by conflict and violence, Khana composed a message of hope and optimism in response to the topic set by the UNMISS contest: “How can women contribute to durable peace in South Sudan?”

“Women may be the only hope left to bring peace to South Sudan.”

12 Loreto students entered the contest, with two girls reaching the top five in the Lake State region. Ating Kaman Makoi won third prize, while Khana, a student from the Senior 3 class, was awarded the regional prize for the winning essay, with the message that “women may be the only hope left to bring peace to South Sudan”.

Khana’s message is clear: if South Sudan is to achieve lasting peace, women’s voices need to be heard. “Women play an important role in bringing up the future generation,” she says. “If they get the chance, they can provide permanent solutions to the conflict in South Sudan and assure the young that peace will come. Eventually it will result in economic growth and a better South Sudan for all of us, and for generations to come.”

“For women to make a difference, they need to be given a proper education.”

Mr Dut Makoi Kuok, Minister for Education in Western Lakes, spoke at the awards ceremony, acknowledging the crucial role of women as “builders of the nation”. “Women, in my understanding, are the builders of society,” he said. “They will always think about and do what is right for their children, and therefore for their society.”

Speaking at the awards, Mr Kwame Dwamena Aboagye, Head of the UN Mission’s Field Office in Rumbek, also gave words of encouragement to the students gathered, urging them to “study well”. “It is only through education that durable peace can be realised in South Sudan, and for women to make a difference, they need to be given a proper education,” he said.

This is exactly the message that the Loreto community promotes at their Rumbek schools, and we at the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart are proud to support them in their efforts to help as many young women as possible.

“I hope that fathers and mothers of little girls will look at them and say: yes, women can.”

Khana has taken this message to heart, and her award-winning essay speaks clearly of the need for respect, mercy, and peace – beginning in the home. “If a mother fights with a neighbouring woman, her child on the following day will fight with the neighbour’s child, hence leading to disputes and hatred,” she writes. Peace must begin within every individual, Khana surmises: “If you find peace within yourself you become the kind of person who can live in peace with others.”

A national winner of the essay content will be named at an awards ceremony in Juba, the country’s capital, on May 9^th. Khana will represent the Loreto schools at the ceremony – and she has already made her school and her community very proud. She closes her essay with a truly inspirational thought for us all: “I hope that fathers and mothers of little girls will look at them and say: yes, women can”.

Congratulations to Khana, from all at the Irish Province of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart!

PLEASE SUPPORT EDUCATION IN SOUTH SUDAN

Read more about Khana’s award on the Loreto Rumbek website and on ReliefWeb.

Celebrating with the Loreto Sisters: 10 Years in Rumbek

Early this April, the Loreto schools in Maker Kuei swapped their times tables for dancing and textbooks for cake as they celebrated their 10^th anniversary in style!

The week-long celebration included a host of activities and events, alongside special meals with the students and the wider community of locals who work with the Loreto Sisters.

“This has been a wonderful week for us all.”

“The school has received immense support from Ireland,” says Benjamin Sprunger, the Loreto Programmes Manager in Rumbek. As well as aid from the Irish Province of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, the school has also received funding from IrishAid through Misean Cara. IrishAid Ambassador Sonya Hyland travelled to Maker Kuei to join the celebrations, representing the Irish support for the Loreto schools and the great work that is done in the community. Construction of the Loreto Graduate House, supported by MSC funding, had such been completed, and Sonya Hyland was able to stay in one of the rooms on her visit, before the girls moved in just last week.

“This has been a wonderful week for us all,” says Sr Orla Treacy, principal of the Loreto schools. “Each day was packed with activities and fun.”

“We were, however, very conscious of the absence of two visionaries for our schools – our late Bishop Cesar, who dreamed the dream of the girls’ school, and our late Provincial, Sr Teresa MacPaul, who helped take the steps to make the dream a reality.”

The Loreto community first opened the doors of their secondary school in 2008, with just 35 students in Primary 8 and Senior 1. Today, two schools welcome 1057 primary school students and almost 300 secondary school girls. The Loreto Sisters have also set up a health care clinic, which provides medical aid and health education to women and children in the Maker Kuei community.

“Thanks to you all for joining hands with us in prayers and support to ensure this dream continues, from all of us in Loreto Rumbek,” says Sr Orla.

We send our heartiest congratulations to the Loreto Sisters and students in Rumbek on this wonderful occasion! We at the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart are proud to support the great work being done to bring hope to a country in peril; together, we are on the path to a brighter future.

PLEASE SUPPORT THE ONGOING WORK IN SOUTH SUDAN

World Meeting of Families 2018

What is the World Meeting of Families (WMOF)?

The World Meeting of Families started in 1994, when Pope St John Paul II asked the Pontifical Council for the Family (now part of the Dicastery for Laity, the Family and Life) to establish an international event of prayer, catechesis and celebration that would draw participants from around the globe and that would help to strengthen the bonds between families and bear witness to the crucial importance of marriage and the family to all of society.

As you will already know, Dublin has been chosen by Pope Francis to host the next World Meeting of Families from 21-26 August 2018, guided by the theme “The Gospel of the Family: Joy for the World”.

Held every three years, this major international event brings together families from across the world to celebrate, pray and reflect upon the central importance of marriage and the family as the cornerstone of our lives, of society and of the Church. The event has at its heart the following key moments:

 

• 21 August 2018, a National Opening of WMOF2018, which will take place simultaneously in all the different dioceses of Ireland.

 

• 22 to the 24 August 2018, a three-day Congress.  Each day will reflect on the theme “The Gospel of the Family: Joy for the World” chosen by the Holy Father and will include an enriching programme for adults of keynote speakers, workshops, talks, testimonies and discussions; an engaging and exciting programme for young people as well as fun activities for children. The Congress will also include daily celebration of the Eucharist, prayerful activities, exhibitions, cultural events and musical performances.

 

• Saturday 25 August 2018, a Festival of Families, comprising a reflective concert style event within a prayerful and joyful atmosphere, in which personal stories of faith will be shared by families from all continents.

 

• Sunday 26 August 2018, WMOF2018 will close with a solemn Eucharistic Celebration, that will gather thousands of people from Ireland and all over the world.

 

 

The main events of the WMOF2018 will take place in Dublin, at a large conference venue as well as in other venues in and around the city. It is also anticipated that related events, including the hosting of international groups, will take place all over the island of Ireland.

Read More

Pope Francis

Pope Francis recently announced that he will make the first papal trip to Ireland in nearly 40 years, visiting Dublin for two days later this year to take part in the World Meeting of Families celebrations.

Confirmed events that Pope Francis will be participating in include:

• Saturday 25th August 2018: Attendance at the WMOF2018 Festival of Families.
• Sunday 26th August 2018: Celebration of the WMOF2018 Final Mass.

A detailed itinerary of Pope Francis’ visit to Ireland will be published on the WMOF website once final plans are announced.

 

 

 

 

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 

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”

Our dear friends in Loreto School, Rumbek, have again been in touch to keep us updated on the life changing improvements they have been able to make as a result of your generous donations to our South Sudan Appeal. 

 

Sadly, in Rumbek, things have gotten worse – but that has only increased the efficacy and impact of our South Sudan Appeal and the MSC’s support. The following are some very positive updates we received from the Loreto Team in South Sudan:

 

• Loreto Primary School graduated its first class from Primary 8 – 100% pass rate in the National Primary Certificate Exams – the level needed to achieve this is 50%. No Loreto Students were below 72% and both Loreto Primary School and one of it’s students were in the Top 10 in Western Lakes State.

 

• Loreto Primary added a primary school this year with about 150 students.

 

• Increased Enrollment – Loreto Primary and Loreto Secondary have increased their numbers this year with over 1000 primary school students and nearly 300 secondary school girls.

 

• The Loreto Girls Secondary School Class of 2017 sat their exams in March (2018); 100% of the girls who sat the exam in 2017 (class of 2016) passed.

 

• The Loreto Graduate Internship program was identified as one of the most impactful short-term projects implements by Out of the Box (OTB) external evaluators. The MSC Graduate house will increase the number of girls that they can offer this opportunity for.

 

• The Loreto Schools 10^th anniversary is fast approaching (April 2018) and they are preparing to celebrate their 10^th year since the secondary school opened in South Sudan.

 

A big thank you to Benjamin, Loreto Programs Manager in Rumbek, for sending us these fantastic pictures perfectly capturing the amazing work being done in the Loreto Schools.

New Beginnings in Rumbek

The Loreto Schools Rumbek have started their largest year yet!

 

In the Loreto Primary School, which helps support and educate young community members from Maker Kuei, there are over 1000 students enrolled between the morning and afternoon sessions. More importantly, the school has an average female enrollment of 44% girls. This is a 3% increase from last year.

National rates of female enrollment vary from as low as 25% up to approximately 33% depending on the source. The Loreto Schools hope to reach about 50% female participation in the coming years.

The Loreto Girls Secondary School had nearly 350 students attempt to enroll, sadly the school only had placements for about 100 students.

The team at Loreto are very excited to welcome the next generation of the Loreto Rumbek School families!

 

MSC commence new mission in Mozambique

Yesterday, Monday 12th March 2018, the first two MSC arrived to commence the Congregation’s new mission in Mozambique.

Fr Angelo and Fr Eduardo from the Sao Paulo Province arrived with their provincial, Fr Edivaldo and the Superior General, Fr Absalon to be greeted and received by the Bishop and pastoral workers of the Diocese of Pemba where we will establish the mission in a very poor part of the country with no church infrastructure or functioning pastoral ministry.  This project has been several years in the planning and we congratulate the Sao Paulo Province for its missionary courage in taking on this new mission.

 

Ametur Ubique Terrarum Cor Iesu Sacratissimum – May the most Sacred Heart of Jesus be loved everywhere.

Loreto Schools celebrate 10 years in South Sudan

Our dear friend, Sr Orla Treacy, and the Loreto Sisters are celebrating 10 years of incredible, yet extremely challenging work in the Loreto Schools, Rumbek. 

In February 2006, Sr Orla Treacy stepped off a plane in Sudan ready to set up a girls’ boarding school in a remote region in the south of the country. She had been told the project was already under way and had reassured her parents she would be home in Ireland by the end of the year. However, the 33-year-old nun arrived at the site outside the town of Rumbek only to find an empty field with no buildings.

“We were told not to worry, that everything would be ready by Easter. It took two years for the building to reach the point where we could actually start, and then we discovered we were also supposed to open a primary school and clinic for the local community.”

Sr Treacy also faced the challenge of convincing local families to send their daughters to a secondary school in a country where only a third of girls enrol in primary school. Of these, just 7 per cent finish their primary education and only 2 per cent make it into secondary education. Less than 1 per cent actually graduate. More than half of girls in South Sudan are married before the age of 18, and 17 per cent before they turn 15.

“If you live in a culture where marriage is more popular than school, it’s very hard to change that mentality. The girl is married for a dowry of cows so she’s considered a wealth to the family. She’s also the property of the extended family, not just the mother and father.”

 

Sign an agreement

The Loreto sisters decided fathers would sign an agreement with the school promising to allow their daughters to complete their education. However, extended family members such as uncles would often turn up at the gates demanding their teenage niece be released for marriage. “We have been threatened at gunpoint, we have been insulted, all number of problems because she is a woman and should be sacrificed for the sake of the greater good. Technically it’s a boarding school but I call it a women’s refuge because you’re constantly trying to protect these girls from forced marriage.”

When Sr Treacy first decided to become a nun, she never imagined she would end up the principal of a school in a war-torn state in east Africa. In fact, when she first told friends and siblings about her decision to enter the church, they told her she was crazy.

“I thought I was crazy too. I realised it wasn’t fashionable or popular to become a nun at that time. I talked to one of my brothers and he told me to travel the world and then see how I felt.”

Sr Treacy put the decision on hold and studied to become a religion teacher at the Mater Dei Institute. During the summer after her final year in college, she worked in Calcutta. “That was a real changing point for me. There was a lot of hunger and poverty in Calcutta in the early ’90s and that really struck me. I had accepted a job to teach religion with the Presentation Brothers in Cork City and worked there for two years but by the age of 23 I realised that life wasn’t for me and I joined the Loreto sisters.”

 

New mission

It was only when Sr Treacy returned to Calcutta eight years later that she began to consider working overseas. She discovered the Irish Loreto sisters were setting up a new mission in Sudan following the country’s 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement. It was believed the agreement would bring peace and stability following decades of conflict. “There was a sense that great things were happening in south Sudan. And so three of us set out there in February 2008.”

Ten years later Sr Treacy is still running the Rumbek secondary boarding school, the primary school and the local clinic. The past decade has not been easy.

In 2011 South Sudan gained independence from Sudan. However, in 2013 civil war broke out in the new country, with some 200,000 people forced to flee their homes and more than two million displaced.

Hunger continues to be a huge problem in this country of 12 million people.

“When we started the primary school we used to not feed the kids, but we’ve found over the past two years there’s a great hunger, so now we feed everybody. We also need to provide healthcare because many of them can’t afford medicine or access to good treatment.”

As it celebrates its 10th anniversary, the school is struggling more than ever financially. However, Sr Treacy remains hopeful for the school’s future and the education of girls in the Rumbek area. “I work with people who live very much on the margins: life and death, hunger and despair. Every day they live on the edge. And yet in that you can still glimpse love and hope every day.”

After more than two decades as a nun, Sr Treacy is also confident she made the right decision by joining the Loreto sisters. “In life you’re always wondering what if or what might have been. Being a nun is not always perfect and there are moments when I wonder what the hell did I do? But I don’t think any relationship is perfect and I have certainly found a peacefulness in myself. I don’t worry about the future too much and I’m very happy in the role I’ve chosen.”

The MSC are very proud supporters of the amazing work carried out daily by Sr Orla and the Loreto Sisters in South Sudan. If you would like to offer financial support to the Loreto Schools Rumbek you can do so by clicking the box below.

PLEASE HELP US TO SAVE LIVES IN SOUTH SUDAN

• If you would like to read more about how the MSC donations have been spent to date at the Loreto Schools, Rumbek click here.
• Sr Orla Treacy visits the MSC Missions Office.
• Finding a Safe Haven at the Loreto School, Rumbek.

 

 

Gospel Reflection for Third Sunday of Year | 21 January 2018

Reflection: Change of heart and believe in the Gospel

 

Gospel (Mark 1:14-20). Repent, and believe the Good News.

 

There is material for personal reflection and dialogue with any period in history in this Gospel reading. Jesus’ call in the Gospel to repent, for a change of heart, and belief in the Gospel, is addressed to individuals and society in any age of history. The repentance spoken of in the Gospel reading means a change of heart and a change in one’s ways, and is practically the same as belief in the Gospel. That call was valid for every person and society of Jesus’ day, and later, and is still valid in our own day. All Jesus’ disciples, from Simon (Peter), Andrew and others onwards had to make that change of mind and direction. For the first disciples and the Jewish community of Jesus’ day it would  have meant a change from what was central to their lives directed by their tradition and the law of Moses to the Gospel and its values. The same principle held when the Gospel message was preached beyond Judaism, to Greek and Roman culture. There, too, it was a call to a change of focus and ways to the Gospel and its message, to the new community of believers created by the Gospel.

 

For us and the Church today the call still holds, but it is not always easy to determine what change of mind, of mindset, of direction, is indicated by Jesus’ original call. It will, however, always mean putting Jesus’ call and Gospel values first and turning aside from everything contrary to them. Today’s first reading from the prophet Jonah provides material for reflection. Jonah was a grumbler, getting angry about many things, including God’s mercy for the detested city Nineveh. God’s reply to him, which serves as an ending to the entire book, is very telling. God says: “Should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also so many animals?”

 

In our own day the Church is trying to find ways in which to enter into dialogue with contemporary life and culture, and how it should change its mind and ways so as to make the abiding love and mercy of God (made so clear to the grumbling Jonah) better known to the modern mind, while at the same time remaining true to the Gospel message. Pope Francis is particularly interested in all this. We can all reflect on these truths and pray to God that any dialogue will have a positive outcome.

Closing 2017 with Open Doors and Hearts

Sr Orla was in contact with us this new year to update us on the ongoing struggles facing the Loreto School Rumbek and their local community in South Sudan. 

December was a violent month in Maker Kuei (Mah-kher Kew-way). What started as cattle raids became overt attacks with both sides committing immense acts of aggression. Over a period of just 5 days, 173 people died, over 200 were wounded and 1800 were displaced. The main fighting area was just 8 km from where the Loreto School Rumbek is located and many of the community’s young men were involved in the fighting. During this crisis, the Loreto School and its faculty was able to keep the spirit of the holiday and welcomed around 60 families (about 350 women and children) into the compound for protection.

“It is during these times, and especially during the Christmas season that we reflect on the year and give thanks for all that we have.”

The Loreto Sisters were able to provide essential meals to these displaced families, medical support to both families and wounded, and to provide a secure area for these families seeking shelter from the violence. Thankfully, with the help of the local Chief and assurances from the military for security, the situation stabilized and the community celebrated a peaceful Christmas.

 

PLEASE HELP US TO SAVE LIVES IN SOUTH SUDAN

 

To read more about Sr Orla Treacy and the Loreto Schools Rumbek, click here.

Visit the Loreto Schools Rumbek’s new website.