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A walk down Memory Lane… February 2026

Feb 26, 2026

This month, we’re looking back at an issue of the MSC Message from 20 years ago, in 2006.

Blessings from the Sacred Heart Church

The newsletter welcomed newly appointed parish priest at the time, our very own Fr John Fitzgerald MSC, who has come full circle and is now parish priest at the Sacred Heart again, 20 years later! He was pictured with another familiar face here on the Western Road, former Missions Office Director Fr Michael O’Connell MSC, as they placed a box of benefactors’ petitions on the altar for the 2006 Novena to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart.

Direct from the MSC Mission Fields

In a page dedicated to stories from the MSC Mission Fields, we read about MSCs Fr Vinnie Screene and Fr Adrian McHugh, who were ministering in Venezuela and South Africa respectively.

“Fr. Vinnie Screene, msc – a native of Skehanagh, Co. Galway – is seen here with volunteer helpers in one of our Soup Kitchens in Maracaibo, Venezuela.”

“Whilst on holiday in Ireland recently Fr. Vinnie told us that one of his big tasks on his return to Maracaibo would be assisting poor families with the cost of school books. MSCs regard education as the foundation to enable poor people to better themselves. Distribution of food parcels to sustain poor families is a regular part of missionary work.”

Fr Adrian McHugh, from Swinford, Co. Mayo, was pictured with a group of very vulnerable children receiving warm blankets in Musina, South Africa.

“Whilst South Africa is known for its blistering heat, the temperature can drop well below zero during the winter. The cold added to poor diet and nutrition along with bad housing creates great hardship especially for children and old people. At St. Martin’s School vegetables and maize are cooked in large pots in the yard to provide a nutritious meal for children. Fr. Adrian is now planning a Drop-In Centre for AIDS sufferers and their families.

AIDS is a huge problem. Africa has 10% of the world’s population but 90% of AIDS sufferers.”

Prayers & Reflections

Finally, the MSC Message also featured some particularly lovely prayers and reflections that stand the test of time, and are equally powerful today.

One, from William Penn, speaks of the value of kindness: “I expect to pass through life once. If therefore there is any kindness I can do to any fellow human being, let me do to any fellow human being, let me do it now, as I shall not pass this way again.”

Another, from St Therese of Lisieux, is especially beautiful for this time of year, as we welcome Spring:

“Happiness – people search for it
in vain: it’s not on earthly ground;
With me, it’s quite the opposite –
it’s in my heart that joy is found.
This joy – don’t think it comes and
goes:
Coming to me, it came to stay.
Delighting like a fresh spring rose
it smiles upon me every day.”

Twenty years on, tradition – and the heart of our mission – is still going strong. We’re looking forward to our 2026 Novenas to the Sacred Heart and Our Lady of the Sacred Heart later in the year, while our ministry in Venezuela and South Africa continues, with our MSCs on each mission ministering to the changing needs of local communities in today’s society.

Powering a parish in the Equatorial forest of Cameroon

Feb 17, 2026

As we settle into the new year, we’re sharing news of one of our latest mission projects, which will fund solar panels for a very poor mission station in Cameroon.

Solar panels will provide safe, reliable electricity for this very remote parish in the Equatorial forest in Bengbis, Cameroon

The parish of Our Lady of the Assumption was founded in Bengbis, Cameroon, in 1937. It is the third oldest parish in the Diocese of Sangmelima, and is extremely isolated, situated in the heart of the Equatorial forest. Its population is made up of four groups: the Yekombo, the Yetchang, the Maka, and the Pygmies in the Dja canton.

In this extremely rural community, the electrical system is powered by a generator that is not sufficient to meet the needs of the entire area. This means that the town constantly struggles with low voltage that is insufficient to reliably power lighting, the community’s large appliances, and the operation of the local well, which provides drinking water. Most notably, the parish medical centre is affected dreadfully by these lapses in power, which is highly detrimental to its vital work in serving local regions. “When the power fails because of a lack of generator fuel or sustainable power, critical services in the clinic suffer,” writes parish priest Fr Gadam Dieudonné Valentin MSC. In addition, the location of the parish means that it is so far from nearby towns, a regular and sustainable supply of fuel can never be assured, adding to the unreliability of the electricity supply.

“Faced with this critical and urgent situation, it is wise, sustainable, and imperative, to resort to alternative means of electrification, such as solar panels,” writes Fr Gadam. Coming in a cost of just under €10,000, these solar panels will provide a reliable and sustainable supply of electricity to the area. This is vital to the efficient running of the medical centre and the provision of good quality drinking water to the local community, as well as the general facilitation of a dependable and functional electrical supply for the region.

 Solar panels will be invaluable for this very remote community, ensuring the provision of safe, clean drinking water and keeping a steady supply of electricity to the local medical centre

Thanks to the loyal support of our mission friends and benefactors here in the Irish Province of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, we are glad to be able to help our MSC brothers in the Cameroon with funding for the solar panels, which will be hugely benefit the quality of life of communities in the region. As always, we thank you for your continued friendship, which means so much to so many, all over the world.

A walk down Memory Lane… January 2026

Jan 29, 2026

This year, our MSC Missions Office on the Western Road, Cork, marks 60 years in operation. Together, we’re celebrating 60 years of prayer, of fundraising (in countless creative shapes and forms!), of local and global outreach, of friendship, of unity, of faith, of hope, and of love. Many of the mission friends that support us today are carrying on the long-standing tradition of their parents and grandparents, and we are so blessed and privileged to benefit from generations of this friendship and support, with our sincere and heartfelt gratitude.

The MSC Missions Office on the Western Road, Cork, celebrates its 60th anniversary in 2026.

In the spirit of our anniversary year, we will take a look back through the archives over the coming months, and explore just some of our missionary work and local activities throughout the years.

We begin in the Spring of 1981, when the MSC Message featured a piece on our Venezuelan mission, which had begun 13 years previously. Fr John Jennings MSC was among the team out there at the time, and now, over 40 years later, he continues to live with the people of Maracaibo and Caracas, accompanied by Fr Tom Jordan and Fr Tom O’Brien in his daily ministry.

Article from the MSC Message newsletter, Spring 1981

Our Spring 1981 newsletter also provided recipes for scrambled eggs and homemade pizza – an interesting precursor to today’s vigilance around the necessity of fresh foods over processed!

Food for thought

Finally, a familiar face pops up in an edition of the MSC Message covering the events of 1982/1983… Our very own Fr John Fitzgerald, current director of the MSC Missions Office, is pictured taking a break for tea. It’s nice to see that some things don’t change!

The MSC Missions Office is not a stand-alone entity, but rather a real and living part of our extended Sacred Heart family – a family that includes our missionaries all over the world, the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, lay workers and volunteers, and the mission friends and benefactors that make it all possible. It is quite simple – without your support, we could not do what we do, and for that, we are so truly grateful.

Celebrating the new OLSH Kiribati Province Mission in the Pacific Islands

Jan 22, 2026

Congratulations and blessings to the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in the Pacific Islands! The OLSH Sisters have officially marked the beginning of the Kiribati Province Mission in Tonga, an island located in the South Pacific Ocean.

In a Facebook post by the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, the OLSH Sisters wrote:

“With the support of the Australian Province, on Monday 12 January we joyfully celebrated and commemorated the beginning of the Kiribati Province Mission in Tonga.”

“We give thanks for this exciting new chapter in the life of our Congregation,” they continued, “and pray that Our Lady of the Sacred Heart will continue to guide and inspire this mission in Tonga, so that all may come to know the love of the Heart of God through the charism and mission of the Daughters.”

They finished with a fitting quote from MSC founder Fr Jules Chevalier: “With faith and love, nothing is impossible.”

Our extended Sacred Heart family have long been present in the Pacific Islands, with the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart ministering in the region since 1888, while the official erection of the MSC Province of the Pacific Islands was celebrated in May 2021.

We send our heartfelt good wishes to the OLSH Sisters at the beginning of this new mission, with every blessing to them as they start this exciting new chapter.

Images via the Facebook page for the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Australia.

MSC World Projects 2026:MSC ministry with indigenous communities in rural Ecuador

Jan 15, 2026

In the Chimborazo Province of Ecuador, two MSC priests, Fr Marcelo Campoverde and Fr Jose Baak, minister to families and communities across two mission areas. This includes over 13,500 people across 22 rural communities in the indigenous parish of San Francisco de Asís, plus a population of almost 18,000 people across 29 indigenous communities in the parish of San Juan Evangelista. 

"MSC

Faith in the community

The Missionaries of the Sacred Heart have been serving the region for almost 30 years, since 1998, and work from a parish house based in San Francisco de Asís. The challenges faced in the region are many and varied, including poverty, widespread malnutrition, particularly in children, lack of employment prospects, poor educational opportunities, and mobility issues due to harsh weather conditions and difficult desert terrain. With some communities a two-hour drive away by car, transport is extremely problematic, and these indigenous populations suffer greatly for lack of immediate care. 

 

Helping poor families

Caring for future generation

Helping in remote rural areas

“It’s a very poor diocese,” writes Fr Marcelo. “Alms for Masses raise less than €10. We hold four Masses a month, and we raise about €35 in this way.”

"Youth

MSC ministry with indigenous communities
in rural Ecuador

Youth ministry in action

“Most of our communities are of the indigenous culture Mestizo, and speak the Kichwa language. I, too, am an indigenous person, and I suffered greatly growing up. I was discriminated against at the university. Several times I was told that I wasn’t good for studying, that I was only good for taking care of pigs, and that I shouldn’t waste my time there. I am very grateful to my congregation of the MSC for the help they were able to give me to move forward, and that is why I always strive to continue forward in this beautiful mission they have entrusted to me.” 

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