Jul 18, 2019
Our Sacred Heart family at the MSC Missions Office in the Philippines recently reported on their current education project in the Hapag Community in Amparo, North Caloocan, where a helping hand has been extended to disadvantaged youths in the community whose parents cannot afford to send them to school.
This project has aimed to support students in order to allow them to continue their studies, despite difficulties with poverty and hardship in their home lives. Students have been provided with the supplies they need to attend school and complete their class projects and homework, as well as nutritious food to ensure their physical and mental health.
Not only has the programme relieved a huge amount of stress for young students and their families, but it has also addressed the growing issue of drop-outs from the local school. The drop-out rate has been a serious concern as families struggling to put meals on the table simply canât afford to send their children to school. However, since the implementation of this educational assistance programme, there has been a zero drop-out rate in the 2018/2019 school year â all remaining students have successfully continued with their studies, many with consistently rising grades.
â[Our students] have continued their sense of paying it forward by leading our Big Brother and Big Sister Tutorial schemes, by participating in regular community clean-up duties, and by running a weekly youth prayer group,â reports the MSC Missions Office in the Philippines.
The MSC community in the Philippines now hopes to focus on building livelihood programmes in the area, to provide employment opportunities for parents and to give local families valuable tools for self-sufficiency. Thanks to the support of our mission friends and benefactors around the world, our MSCs in the Philippines can continue to shine the light of hope for communities and families in need, where the future once looked bleak.
Keep up to date with the MSC Missions Office Philippines on Facebook.
Visit the new website for the MSC Missions Office in the Philippines.
Jul 4, 2019
2019 is the Year of the Youth in the Catholic Church in the Philippines, and the Philippine Province of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart has been continuing their wonderful work in youth ministry all over the country.
MSC Partners, the newsletter of the Philippine Province of the MSC, recently reported on the Year of the Youth, addressing the way in which this celebration âshows the churchâs faith and confidence in young peopleâ.
âEmpowering youth to be in mission, they need to realize the fundamental truth that they are beloved and gifted; they are worthy and deserving of Godâs love, they are meant to discover the dreams of God for the church and the world at large,â the MSC Partners editorial reads. âThe words of George Bernard Shaw might add inspiration or enkindle the fire within them: âYou see things, and you say âWhy?â But I dream things that never were; and I say âWhy not?ââ. Allowing and encouraging the youth to dream and discover their life purpose is one of the greatest achievements of the church. As dreamers of great things, they may be able to use their energy for changes desired by God.â
âOur youth need to be guided, nurtured, and cared for,â continues the MSC Partners editorial. âA recent survey conducted by UNICEF said that 80% of Filipino youth suffer some form of physical and psychological abuse. Now we are facing problems such as poverty, young people not attending school, suicide, emotional distress, mental disorder, distorted values, teen pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, and the like. These show that many young people are deeply wounded and broken. In this regard, the church has an important role in the psychological, emotional, and spiritual healing and well-being of the youth.â
âI consider the Church as my lifeguard, who is continuously and unconditionally guarding me against the force of negativity.â
MSCs in the Philippines have long been devoted to the care of the younger members of their flock, promoting education and empowerment wherever possible. In this, the Year of the Youth, they continue to encourage, guide, and nurture through youth ministry in parishes across the country.
This guidance is invaluable to many. âYouths nowadays are very vulnerable,â says Clavel C. Campugan, Parish Youth Leader in San Roque Parish, Cordova, Cebu. âThus, as a youth I consider myself as vulnerable too. Very susceptible to sadness, chaos, physical or emotional attack, and many other negative forces in the society, that made me drown into a sea of hopelessness. There are times that my faith weakens, especially when my mother died â the strongest and greatest storm I encountered in my whole life. But as a youth in Christ, I consider myself as well-protected â protected by our Saviour, Lord Jesus Christ through the protection from the Church. In this regard, as a member of the Youth Ministry in our parish, I am saved from drowning deeply in this sea of hopelessness. Jesus uses the Church as an instrument to help me swim faster towards HOPE. Therefore, I consider the Church as my lifeguard who is continuously and unconditionally guarding me against the force of negativity and guiding me to become a better person and to become the seed of HOPE for others. Since, I have experienced the fruit of guidance from the Church, I hope that the Church will not stop guarding and guiding youths who are like me.â
âLet us not waste our talents, the gifts that God has given to us; let us not be afraid to dream of great things.â
Angelica Joyce P. Mananes, Parish Youth Leader in the Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish, Bantug, agrees. Â âPope Francis said, âLet the church always be a place of mercy and hope where everyone is welcomed, loved and forgivenâ â the place that every young person is looking for. The church is unlike other people, who might love us at first, but if they notice something they donât like, they can easily leave us. Godâs love for us has no limit â he loves us wholeheartedly. Let us not waste our talents, the gifts that God has given to us; let us not be afraid to dream of great things, because the church believes that young people in mission are BELOVED, GIFTED, EMPOWERED.â
In the Year of the Youth and beyond, MSC communities in the Philippines and across the world continue to encourage, guide, and promote the bright and brilliant youths in our parishes everywhere.
âSo, in this special year of the youth, it is our prayer and hope that young people
may find meaning for their lives in their faith-life journey in mission,
as beloved, gifted, and empowered to bring the love of God to all.â
– Fr Bien Castil Jr, MSC
Read about the MSC 2019 World Youth Day Celebrations in Panama
Jan 22, 2019
An important part of the Sacred Heart family, the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart (OLSH) work all over the world under our shared motto:Â âMay the Sacred Heart of Jesus be everywhere loved.â
OLSH Global Outreach Programmes
Survivors of domestic abuse in Kiribati
Kiribati is a country in the Pacific Ocean, composed of many separate islands. The Daughters have ministered there for many years.
One vital role they play is in the area of assistance to women escaping situations of domestic violence. In many cases, women often have to leave their homes in a hurry, without time to pack essentials such as clothes, toiletries, or food for their children.
âŹ15 will provide a family with the essentials they need in an emergency situation of domestic abuse.
Catechism books in MaranhĂŁo, Brazil
In MaranhĂŁo, Brazil, the Sisters are in great need of books to help them with the teaching of the catechism. The people there are very poor and would greatly appreciate the gift of books.
âŹ10 will buy one of the 30 books needed.
Street children in the Philippines
The Sisters in Manila provide an after-school tutoring programme for young children from a local slum area.
Many of the children work on the streets during the day, selling sweets or flowers and other small items, and so they miss out on a formal education.
This programme helps 80 children keep up with some formal study, while also providing a simple feeding scheme and a health and hygiene programme to teach these youths important life skills.
âŹ10 will help to teach a disadvantaged child essential life skills.
Kurisanani Education Project, South Africa
The Kurisanani outreach project is run from Tzaneen, in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. One element of this outreach programme is the provision of funds for vulnerable children to access education. 200 children are currently benefitting from the programme.
âŹ15 will provide a child with a school resources pack, including pencils, pens, exercise books, and a backpack.
Educating women in South Sudan
In Mapuordit, a remote area of South Sudan, three Daughters minister to local communities. Many young women here are forced into marriage and are denied a basic education.
The Daughters here support young mothers in their return to education by providing them with bicycles and solar lamps.
The bicycles allow them freedom to travel to and from school, as well as helping with chores such as collecting water and gathering firewood. The time saved by cycling long distances, rather than walking, helps them them to keep up their studies, while the solar lamps allow the young women to study at night, despite the fact that there is no electricity in their village.
âŹ90 will buy one bicycle and âŹ30 will buy one solar lamp to help the education of vulnerable young women.
Convent repair in Venezuela
Three Sisters from Brazil currently minister to locals in a remote area of Venezuela. The convent here has fallen into disrepair, and the Sisters are raising funds to paint some of the damaged areas.
âŹ100 will buy the paint required to repair the ruined areas.
OLSH saving young lives in Africa
The Holy Family Care Centre is situated at the foot of the Drakensburg Mountains, in the far north of the Limpopo Province of South Africa. The Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart founded the centre in 2001, in response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
Currently, 70 children are in care there.
âThe children in our care come for many reasons, but always because it is a last resort â when all other avenues of care have been explored,â writes Sr Sally Duigan OLSH, Director of the Holy Family Care Centre. âThey are admitted with a court order after their local social worker takes their case to the nearest magistrate.â
âThe reasons for admission vary, but many children have been abandoned, sexually abused, physically abused, orphaned, or made vulnerable because of HIV/AIDS.â
âThis is a place where we OLSH can really live our charism of compassionate love,â says Sr Sally. âHere, we learn to love these children unconditionally.â
PLEASE SUPPORT OLSH GLOBAL OUTREACH
Nov 21, 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.
â˘Â Find out about this year’s Jubilee celebrations in the Irish Province.
⢠Read a special winter message from Fr Michael OâConnell 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
Aug 21, 2018
Congratulations to the MSC Missions Office in the Philippines, who were recently awarded Social Welfare and Development Agencies Certification from the Department of Social Welfare and Development in Manila âin recognition of their efforts to contribute to the uplifting of the poor, vulnerable, and disadvantaged sectors of societyâ.
This certification means that the MSC Missions Office in the Philippines is now authorised by the government to operate as a Civil Society Organisation, as our MSC brothers continue in their work to bring aid to communities in need.
A spokesperson for the MSC Missions Office in the Philippines said, âThis is a great achievement of the office to be able to continuously help and serve the poor, disadvantaged, and marginalised sectors in societyâ.
Well done to all involved, and we wish you every blessing as you continue your great work in the Philippines!
For the latest updates from the MSC Missions in the Philippines, please visit their Facebook page.
PLEASEÂ HELP US TOÂ TRANSFORM LIVESÂ IN THE PHILIPPINES
