Jan 25, 2021
Founded in 2002, the Holy Family Care Centre in South Africa has been run by the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart with the support of the MSC for almost 20 years, under the leadership of Sr Sally Duigan FDNSC.
The Holy Family facility provides invaluable care to young children who are seriously ill, and who, in the majority of cases, have been orphaned or abandoned. These children are primarily HIV positive and are in need of specialised care.
“The reasons for admission to the Holy Family Centre vary, but many children have been abandoned, sexually abused, physically abused, orphaned,or made vulnerable because of HIV/AIDS,” says Sr Sally. “Some come from horrific backgrounds and arrive here very ill, malnourished, frightened, lacking social skills, and generally very bewildered.”
The Holy Family Care Centre is, above all, a place of family, unity, and love.
“We love these children unconditionally,” says Sr Sally. “It doesn’t take long for them to feel at home and to change once they feel loved and cared for.”
With the resources to accommodate 70 children, the centre’s facilities are stretched to full capacity and beyond on a daily basis. Today, 76 children are resident at the centre, and of this number, 56 children attend the local primary school.
Last year, due to the challenges brought about by COVID-19, Sr Sally and the Holy Family team made the decision to home school the children for the year.This has proven to be very beneficial for the students, particularly those children with special needs who require extra care and attention.
Now that the school is returning for the new year, the Holy Family children are in need of help. The students need uniforms, shoes, books, pens, pencils,and bags, to prepare for their return to school and to be able to receive an education that will give them a solid foundation for a brighter, more hopeful future.
From pens and pencils to full school uniforms, even a small donation will make a big difference to Sr Sally and the Holy Family team.
Can you help to educate the Holy Family children?
“It is with deep appreciation that I say ‘Thank you!’ In the past year, you have helped our ministries very significantly, and in this time of uncertainty, you are helping us to help people affected by the coronavirus pandemic all over the world.”
“May you be blessed! Be assured of our continued prayers for your intentions, through the intercession of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart.”
Sr Marife Mendoza FDNSC
Congregational Leader of the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart
CAN YOU HELP EDUCATE THE HOLY FAMILY CHILDREN?
Jan 25, 2021
The Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart (OLSH) first began their work in Brazil, in the city of Alfenas, 100 years ago. Today, they continue to help local communities all over the country, wherever and whenever they are needed most.
Community cars for pastoral work
OLSH communities in the cities of Barração and Campinas are both raising funds to buy a car each, which will prove invaluable to their pastoral work in local areas.
Sisters in Barração cover a total of 17 mission stations in the city and surrounding area. Some of these stations are located up to 40km away from the city, catering to local farmers and their families who are not able to travel into the city to hear Mass. Sisters in Campinas run a local kindergarten, caring for 296 children from the ages of two to six for eight hours a day. The Sisters here provide food, education, and spiritual care to these vulnerable children, and the school survives on donations and goodwill.
Each of these two communities needs a car at a cost of €5,000, to be able to continue their essential daily work.
Children’s choir in Mirinzal
In Mirinzal, the local children’s choir run by Sr Maria is a safe haven for youths who come from backgrounds of severe hardship. Last year, we helped Sr Maria to buy musical instruments for the choir, and this year, she is asking us to help her to raise funds to buy three wireless microphones for the choir to use during Masses.
€500 will buy all three microphones, allowing the choir to continue to play wonderful music at parish celebrations.
Mass for remote communities
OLSH Sisters in Mirinzal are asking for your help in buying essential liturgical items for Mass, such as missals, chalices, and lectionaries, for three of the 18 mission stations they cover in remote locations across the north of Brazil.
€813 will provide liturgical items for families and individuals across three mission stations to continue to join together in faith and celebrate Mass in their spiritual communities.
Empowering local women
In Alfenas, an OLSH-run social work centre helps 65 families from the region,providing them with essential food supplies once a month. The Sisters here also have a special purpose in empowering local women, enabling them to learn various practical skills, such as sewing, which will help them to earn money and provide desperately needed financial support for their families.
The OLSH Sisters at the social work centre are raising funds to replace a number of tools in their sewing and fabric painting workshops. They need two cabinets and two sewing machines, which will allow them to continue their work in helping local women to learn invaluable skills for self-sufficiency.
€700 will buy items facilitating practical skills that will provide a lifetime of benefits to women and their families in the area.
CAN YOU HELP THE OLSH SISTERS IN BRAZIL?
Jan 21, 2021
The Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart (OLSH) are a vital part of our Sacred Heart Family, working all over the world, often in partnership with MSCs, under our shared motto:
“May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be everywhere loved.”
CARING FOR THE ELDERLY IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA
In Papua New Guinea, a community of 86 OLSH Sisters provide dedicated hands-on care for vulnerable individuals and families, from young children to the elderly. In the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, financial assistance from the Irish Province allowed the OLSH Sisters in Papua New Guinea to provide extra safety measures in the Hartzer Centre, an aged-care centre attached to the main convent in Port Moresby, the country’s capital, where the Sisters care for elderly OLSH Sisters and MSC missionary priests who have devoted their lives to serving the people of Papua New Guinea.
As we all know, hygiene is one of the most vital defences against the coronavirus, and our mission friends in Ireland and the UK have already helped to provide extra sinks for improved safety measures. The Hartzer Centre has eight rooms for their elderly residents, but the centre does not have a dedicated laundry area of its own, and this creates significant difficulties surrounding hygiene as the centre’s nurses must bring all dirty laundry through the convent dining room to reach the communal washing area.
Sr Relida, Provincial of the OLSH Sisters in Papua New Guinea, has sent her “deep gratitude” for the changes we have already helped to make, and now asks if our mission friends in the Irish Province could please help the Sisters to build a small laundry area for the Hartzer Centre, to ensure the continued safety and care of vulnerable elderly residents.
In a time where good hygiene can quite literally save lives, especially in the case of the elderly and infirm, can you help us to help the Hartzer Centre?
A donation of €235 will buy a washing machine for the centre, while the new laundry room will cost €7,100 in total.
SOWING SEEDS FOR THE FUTURE IN SOUTH SUDAN
The Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart recently marked 25 years of service in South Sudan, where they have been involved in everything from education and nursing to general pastoral work.Most recently, the Sisters have been working to build gardens which will help to provide a stable and sustainable source of food and water to families in the region who have very little.
The gardens contain bores which are drilled and fitted with a pump, a tank, and a watering system.
These gardens are used to grow a variety of vegetables, and, when cultivated to their full potential, will be hugely beneficial in the long-term provision of nutritious food supplies to local families, who are up against a daily struggle to afford to feed their children.
The gardens are an investment which will provide years upon years of profit to local communities, from being a source of nutritious food to providing local students who tend to the crops with the physical and mental benefits of gardening.
CAN YOU HELP THE OLSH SISTERS TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE?
Jan 14, 2021
Five academy learners that are greatly benefiting from your extremely generous donation very gratefully received : Koketso Mamogopodi, Lucky Marema, Vokois Mohlabini, Thato Moeti and Litha Lugalo.
Last year as part of our World Missions Appeal you helped us aid the students at Berea-Albion FC & Academy in Pretoria South Africa and we are glad to report the donations have been put to good use. The Academy helps young disadvantaged learners through quality education, accommodation, housing, nutrition, football training and development for a better future life. These youths often have struggled with poverty, HIV/AIDS, abuse, alcoholism, and poor educational backgrounds.
We are pleased to say that since then they have been able to fund the erection of water tanks and buildings which include an eatery/dining area and outdoor meeting and entertainment area for our academy learners.
Neil Bosman, co-founder of the Academy has expressed sincere gratitude for your continued support .
CAN YOU HELP OUR MSC MISSIONS IN SOUTH AFRICA?
Dec 10, 2020
MSC Christmas Raffle 2020
Christmas Raffle Prize Winners:
1st Prize: Shopping voucher to the value of €1,000
J. Walsh
Newbridge, Co. Kildare.
2nd Prize: Festive Feast Hamper value €500
J O’Brien
Westport, Co Mayo.
3rd Prize: Supreme Christmas Hamper value €400
E O’Neill
Booterstown, Co. Dublin.
4th Prize: Festive Celebration Christmas Hamper value €350
R Grace,
Ballymitty, Co. Wexford.
5th Prize: Christmas Pantry Hamper value €250
R Lynch,
Boyle, Co. Roscommon.
6th Prize: Deck the Halls Hamper value €150
A Scully
Birr Co. Offaly
7th Prize: Deck the Halls Hamper value €150
O Lawrence
Dundalk, Co. Louth.
8th Prize: Deck the Halls Hamper value €150
L Finnegan
Athlone, Co. Westmeath.
9th Prize: Deck the Halls Hamper value €150
B Poniard
Athenry, Co. Galway.
10th Prize: Deck the Halls Hamper value €150
A Kennedy
Dundrum, Dublin 14.
Special Seller’s Prize: Christmas Pantry Hamper value €250
C Sheridan
Dundalk, Co. Louth
This year’s Christmas Draw took place on Thursday, December 18th 2020.
We would like to extend a sincere thank you to everyone for taking part.
Click here to read a special Christmas message from Fr Michael
