Sep 18, 2018
In August, much of the state of Kerala, India, was submerged following devastating floods with the highest recorded rainfall in almost 100 years. Indian Union Secretary Fr Syam Kumar MSC writes to tell us about the terrible destruction caused at the Sacred Heart Seminary in Kanjoor, Ernakulam.
A Deluge in God’s Own Country
“The floods in Kerala caused the deaths of hundreds and drove many millions out of their homes. With the highest rainfall in nearly a century, Kerala state hit the headlines of every newspaper in the country. God’s own country was drowned; we MSC in Kerala were also affected very severely by the unprecedented rainfall and the unexpected rising of the water levels in the River Periyar which flooded our campus in Kanjoor village. Like many millions who were afflicted by the Kerala floods, our men were also forced to flee for their lives, fearing the deluge.
Located by the bank of the River Periyar (which means ‘big river’, and indeed it is a big river), is our seminary. The seminary was built to train our men in their Novitiate year, and is most suitable for prayer, reading and reflection. The beauty of the view of the river from our campus is so serene that many who visit this campus would love to visit us again and again. Many say that they love to while away the time, simply sitting there.
“The water level in the river started rising to alarming heights.”
Since the unusual rainfall during this monsoon, the water level in the river started rising to alarming heights. On August 15th, our confreres went to the parish church for the blessing of the newly refurbished church. Once they returned from the celebrations, the priests and brothers realised that continuing to stay at the seminary would be life-threatening, and they started shifting every mobile piece of furniture, home appliances, utilities, and whatever else they could, from the ground floor to the first floor. They managed to move many things safely. The local parish priest of St Mary’s Forane church, Rev Fr Pottackal Varghese, opened his presbytery for our priests and students to stay there on the evening of August 16th.
For four nights, our men took shelter at the parish presbytery. Along with our men, many people whose houses were drowned in the flood also took refuge on the church premises. Men and women, together with children; the camp sheltered over three thousand people. A couple of our students shared with me how they felt sorry for the children struggling because of the flood, leaving their houses and their comforts and standing in long queues to get their stomachs filled with meagre porridge. It is very heart-breaking for anyone to see children struggling.
“The decreased rainfall came as a long-awaited relief… Tougher times were still ahead.”
As our men were away from the community, water levels gradually rose to the highest level, flooding the whole campus. At the entrance, the water level was even neck deep. The electricity department disconnected the power to the campus. Fr Baskar Raj, with the help of our neighbour, managed to get into the campus on a boat to capture the devastating and shocking scene at Sacred Heart Seminary. The video was in circulation through WhatsApp and other social media to our confreres in India and abroad. Everyone who saw the video was overwhelmed by shock and dismay at the extent of water that engulfed our beautiful campus. After a couple of days, the water level eventually subsided. Though the reduced water level on the campus and the decreased rainfall came as a long-awaited relief, once our men went to see the campus, the sights that greeted them left them in shock and horror. Only then did they realise that tougher times were still ahead.
“There was danger from snakes and poisonous insects hiding in the house.”
Fr Baskar Raj and Fr Francis Babu visited the seminary periodically to see if anything needed their immediate attention. Fortunately, the water levels reduced, but the house still remained in a terrible state. Though it stopped raining and there was no threat from the water, the danger from the remnants of the flood seemed much more deadly than the flood itself. With so much slush and waste stagnated on the floor of every living area, cleaning the house seemed an endless task. In addition to being a laborious task, cleaning of the house was, in fact, hazardous to the community’s health. There was danger from snakes and poisonous insects hiding in the house; as it was unavoidable, our men had to kill a snake. But with dedication and with uncomplaining commitment, our confreres and the students pulled their spirits and energy together.
As the electricity was still disconnected, the only source of water was the well. Students had to draw buckets and buckets of water from the well in the old-fashioned way with a rope. Though the task was extremely arduous, slowly and meticulously they cleaned one building after another on the campus, starting from the chapel. On August 18th and 19th, as they did not have the facilities to cook, they had their breakfast at the parish church, then came to our campus and cleaned the house, then went back for lunch and returned to resume the cleaning. Anyone can imagine how painstakingly difficult it has been for all our men.
On August 20th, as the house was to some extent liveable, our confreres and students returned to the community, without drinking water and electricity. Until this time, no one outside Kerala could get to our community as the transport system was completely disconnected. On August 21st, as soon as the transport system resumed, Frs Tijo John, Irudhaya Raj, Richard, and I drove down to Kanjoor from Bangalore. At places like Palakkad and Trissure, roads were very severely damaged, but we managed to get to the Sacred Heart Seminary by 5.00pm after eight hours of driving, taking with us 140 litres of drinking water and utensils to clean the seminary premises. Our arrival was seen as a welcome relief for them. We could see great joy in our confreres that someone was visiting them in their time of difficulty. Fortunately, after we arrived, the electricity connection was restored, after many hours of meticulous cleaning of the electrical room which was submerged in water for days.
“The difficulties we face don’t come to destroy us, but difficult times come to make us durable and tough.”
The damage caused by the flood was colossal. The furniture that was destroyed is going to cost us a lot. We need to do a lot of repair works to the building, painting the inner and outer walls of the buildings, and replacing the water-damaged furniture. We spent two more days with the Sacred Heart community, helping them in cleaning the seminary and assisting them in bringing things back to their normal routine. We really admired the dedication and commitment of our men in fighting the odds posed by the flood. The spirit of courage and forbearance they exercised was indeed praiseworthy.
This experience came as a reminder that the difficulties we face don’t come to destroy us, but difficult times come to make us durable and tough. In a fight between nature and humans, nature seems to be devastating and destroying, but our men, like many others in Kerala, exhibited a great sense of unity and brotherhood. We appreciate and applaud the fight they put up against nature. As the old saying goes: ‘Tough times don’t last but tough people do’. The Kerala flood was indeed tough, but our men proved themselves tougher.”
Fr Syam Kumar MSC
Indian Union Secretary
PLEASE HELP OUR MSCS IN KERALA
Sep 15, 2018
Gospel Reflection
In Dialogue with Questions of the Day:
When the Church is weak, then she is strong.
In our own day, the Church, particularly in Europe and the English-speaking world, is undergoing a crisis, especially because of faulty Church administration, allegations of abuse, and court verdicts. For many this can be disheartening; for others a reason to abandon practice of their faith or even faith itself. The problem is felt keenest in countries where the Church and the clergy were held in high esteem, and the clergy even in a sense beyond reproach. Some even question whether the Church will ever regain her moral status, or even survive the crisis.
In a sense, in view of the attacks from various angles, the Church is being persecuted. This may be a good thing for the Church. In fourth-century Africa, the Church was at peace and had a vigorous spiritual life after centuries of persecution. The noted scholar Tyconius, writing on the Apocalypse of John, could not identify with the Church since it was not being persecuted! The present crisis in the Church could be a call to regard the Church, the Body of Christ, as it really is – a mystery. She understands herself best by going back to the Gospels and the teaching of St Paul.
“God, in Christ and the Church, works through human weakness.”
We all like status, being in a state of respect and of honour, and this is natural. But let us recall Jesus’ message. Possibly Jesus, as a human, liked the same. After his baptism, where he was declared by the Father from heaven as his Son, in whom the Father was well pleased, he may have had the natural desire to profit by this. In his temptations, Satan tried to get him to do so. The early Christian hymn in Philippians 2:5-11 says that, instead of this, Jesus humbled himself even to the ignominy of the cross. Peter at Caesarea Philippi found reference to Jesus’ humiliation and crucifixion too much, but as follower of Christ came to accept the mystery. For the Pharisee Saul, death by crucifixion of one believed to be the Messiah was totally repulsive. But he too was led to see that this was God’s way.
God, in Christ and the Church, works through human weakness. Paul came to realise that in the contradictions of his ministry and in his own personal life: “When I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10). In his preaching of the Gospel, he was keen to stress the centrality of the Cross and resurrection, so that Christian faith is based on divine grace and power, not human reasoning. God willed to save the world not by wisdom (as Greek wisdom would wish it), nor by miracles, but by the foolishness of the cross.
It is not that the Church does not respect human wisdom and ingenuity. With Paul, believers are called on to rejoice always, and to think positively, about “whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, is gracious, if there is anything worthy of praise” (Philippians 4:8). But Christian faith is a continuation of Christ’s death and resurrection, a mystery to be understood through faith, and by prayer for the understanding of this great mystery. Christ is with his Church, in the soul of every believer bringing conviction in trials.
Fr Martin McNamara MSC
Sep 11, 2018
September marks back-to-school season for students all over the world, and the Sacred Heart College in the village of Lada II in Cameroon is no exception! This year, not only are the Sacred Heart family preparing for a new term of hard work and study, they’re also working hard at improving their school buildings and facilities, thanks to the generosity of our MSC mission friends here in the Irish Province and beyond.
This summer, we asked you to help us to raise funds for the Sacred Heart College, where eager young students have been doing their best to learn despite unfinished surroundings and a lack of facilities. Thanks to your kindness, work has already begun on making the school a safer place for students to learn and grow, with the equipment they need to do their best.
The new school year at the Sacred Heart College has already begun, with attendance increased by 80% from last year. A new school bus is in place, making it safer and easier for students to get to school every day. Staff and students are looking forward to working together this year to make the Sacred Heart community stronger than ever.
We would like to extend our sincere thanks to all who donated so generously to make this work possible, and we’re wishing the staff and students at the Sacred Heart College a wonderful year ahead!
If you would like to find our more about the Sacred Heart Bilingual College and its students, you can find out more about our 2018 Summer Appeal and read the students’ stories here.
PLEASE HELP US TO HELP STUDENTS IN CAMEROON
Sep 4, 2018
Fr Alan Neville MSC spoke with Lydia O’Kane, Vatican News correspondent, at the Festival of Families in Croke Park on Saturday, August 25th. Reflecting on the sheer joy of this momentous occasion, Fr Alan speaks of the importance of acceptance, togetherness, and presence.
Love is patient. Love is kind. Love is hope. Amen.
Lydia O’Kane: The curtain has come down on a stunning event – tell me what you thought of it.
Fr Alan Neville: It was just wonderful. We had everyone gathered together – we had people from all around the world, we had fantastic music, incredible dancing, and these wonderful testimonies, people coming out and sharing their stories. It was incredible, and there was a lovely sense of authenticity to it, a lovely sense of reflecting, amoris laetitia; actually, life is complicated, but families are the very foundation of who we are as a Church and who we are as a society, and that actually, as a Church, we’ve got something to offer, and working together, we can support one another. Coming together with something like this, this is what it means to be a Church. Okay, it’s a huge stadium, but we’re all gathered here. We’re gathered in prayer and there’s joy and there’s hope. You’ve got people who are homeless, people who are travellers, people who are refugees and asylum seekers, people from Ireland, everyone together, and it’s just wonderful.
LOK: When the Pope came in, there was a huge uproar of affection for him – there was so much affection for him in the stadium tonight, wasn’t there?
AN: Oh yeah! As Irish people, we pride ourselves on our hospitality, but there’s something about Pope Francis, I think. When you see him, he just seems like there’s great warmth there, and as Irish people, we respond to that. Even if you just take the first step, we’ll just embrace you – it is a land where, God willing, we make everyone feel welcome. We’ve travelled the whole world, and when someone comes here, there’s this real sense of, “Do you know what? It’s great to have you here!” And certainly for Pope Francis, it’s a huge occasion, because it’s 1979 since we last had a Pope in Ireland, and people still talk about it – “Where were you when that happened?” And this is that moment now. We’ve got kids beside us here who were playing music, they were wonderful, and when the Pope visits next time – God only knows when it will be – but they’ll be able to say, “I was there and it was amazing. We gave him a great welcome, and he was fantastic.”
LOK: What do you think it means to have the World Meeting of Families in Ireland?
AN: I think that maybe as a country in Western culture, there’s a real sense that for families, if they’re really struggling at the moment, there’s a lot more pressure perhaps than there was previously. Maybe the question for us then as a Church is, what do we do to support families? You know we’ve had difficult referendums here in Ireland recently, and you’ve got to acknowledge that – but then you’ve got to say, as a Church, do we actually back up what we say? How welcome do we make families in our Church? Do we merely tolerate them? Do we merely tolerate kids who come to Mass and cry and maybe make a mess, or run around, or laugh, or do we actually say, “Listen, you’re welcome, it’s so wonderful to have you here. You are actually the most important part of this entire Church.” The actual Irish word for “church” is “teach an phobail” – it’s “the house of the people”, that’s what it means. The buildings are beautiful, the artwork is incredible, the stained glass windows are stunning – but if we don’t have the people, it means nothing at all. And so in Ireland, the church is the house of the people.
LOK: Just one final question – what do you think people will take from the Pope’s words back to their own families? What do you think they’ll take from this evening?
AN: I think that maybe it’s something he brings himself, that gift of presence. We had it there when we had a family from India, the D’Costas, speaking about things like social media – not necessarily bad things, but how are we present to one another? Or the Richardson family, the challenges that they face. You can imagine, with 10 kids now in a house, it’s very chaotic, but there’s presence together. Pope Francis is very keen on how we treat one another, and there’s that real sense of, you don’t go to bed angry with one another, you’ve really got to be able to say “please”, “thank you”, and “I’m sorry”. And actually, another one that I’m sure he’s a very big fan of as well, is “I love you”. There’s something amazing with kids – if you ask a child how much God loves them, or does he love his mother and father, they have no doubt whatsoever, they believe 100% they are loved entirely. Something happens as we get older, we tend to forget that, or we feel almost ashamed to say it. There’s a real need to reclaim that, because we’re meant to be a people of love. I think that’s what we take away – “please”, “thank you”, “I’m sorry”, and “I love you”.
LOK: And on that note, Fr Alan, thanks so much. It’s been a great evening and thank you for talking to us.
Listen to Fr Alan’s interview here: https://www.vaticannews.va/en/church/news/2018-08/apostolic-journey-ireland-festival-families-testimonies.html
Sep 1, 2018
THE LAW PROTECTS THE LITTLE ONES
In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus is accused of being a law-breaker. On many occasions the religious elite accused Jesus of breaking the law of Moses.
Jesus points out that they have misunderstood the law and its purpose. The highest law, as Jesus reminds us, is love of God and love of neighbour. Love of neighbour particularly means love of the poor, vulnerable, and weak neighbour.
The law was never meant to make life more difficult for these little ones. It was never meant to take bread out of their mouths.
In fact, one purpose of the law of love is to protect the poor and weak from abuse by the rich and powerful. In Hebrew, these little ones are called the Anawim.
God loves everyone, rich or poor, strong or weak, powerful or vulnerable. However, the little ones need a bit more looking after.
Jesus’ mother Mary foretold that through Jesus, God would “cast the mighty from their thrones and raise up the lowly”, that he would “feed the starving with good things and send the rich away empty”.
Of course, the rich and powerful would not like this. This is one of the reasons they accused Jesus of being a law-breaker. This is why they conspired to have him killed at the hands of the Romans.
Today, Jesus calls us to stand with the Anawim, to stand up for them any way we can. He was unafraid. May we be granted something of His courage as well.
Fr Con O’Connell MSC
