Jul 25, 2024
Today, we’re sharing some wonderful photos of one of the latest initiatives from the MSC Centre for the Poor in the Cebu District of the Philippines – a series of music lessons for young students.
These music lessons encourage the children to learn new skills and discover new talents in a fun and enjoyable way, while keeping them encouraged and motivated throughout. These pictures show the young class taking on new knowledge with little more the most basic equipment and boundless enthusiasm – and even with the help of some furry friends!
The MSC Centre for the Poor in the Cebu District is part of a larger programme in the Philippines, with the original MSC Centre for the Poor in Butuan now having branched out to several additional locations across the country. The ethos of the centres remains the same – to provide the poor and disadvantaged with a better quality of life by teaching and fostering skills for self-sufficiency and personal growth, and to promote this in harmony with the natural world around us, nurturing the people and the planet in unison. Dedicated to caring for the community and the environment, with initiatives such as plastic waste prevention and clean water and food sustainability programmes, the award-winning MSC Centre for the Poor Agricultural Cooperative (MSC CEPAGCO) are determined in their work to improve the quality of life of the people in their programmes, while fostering ecological awareness and balance.
    
The music class demonstrates one of the many arms of the multi-faceted plans and programmes in play at the Centre for the Poor, as they continue to inspire people of all ages. Well done to all the budding young performers in the Cebu District, and good luck as you continue in your musical endeavours!
Images via the Facebook page for the MSC Centre for the Poor – Cebu District
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Jul 11, 2024
The MSC community in Manila, capital of the Philippines, have been working on an ongoing project where discarded plastic bottles are repurposed and made into “ecobricks”, finding new life as fences, planter boxes, outdoor furniture, altar decorations, and even chapel walls.
Part of the “Sowing Hope for the Planet” campaign, a worldwide movement to promote environmental awareness, the ecobricks project is just one of many efforts in the MSC mission for ecological sustainability and care of our common home. MSCs in the Philippine Province are also extremely active in the Laudato Si’ Action Platform, a Vatican initiative based on Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’, not least with the remarkable efforts of the community at the MSC Centre for the Poor and their accompanying agricultural co-operative.
Fr James Espuerta MSC was rector at the Manila seminary from 2018 to 2023, where he led countless workshops in the construction and use of the ecobricks. Each brick is comprised of a 1.5 litre plastic bottle, which is then stuffed with smaller pieces of plastic, all compressed with a bamboo stick. Often, the plastics and bottles are painted in bright, appealing colours. The creation of a single brick is time-consuming, and can take a full day to be produced.
“If we have plastics, instead of throwing them away or into the trash or to the garbage cart, better to keep them and then organize ecobrick-making,” says Fr James.
A recent article by Earthbeat reports how the MSC ecobrick initiative began in 2019, at the seminary in Manila, and has since expanded into 15 parishes in the care of our MSC brothers. A chapel in Santo Nino Parish, on Camotes Island in Cebu, has been constructed using ecobricks, and several plastic banks are in operation, whereby people in need can trade plastic they bring from home, or pick up on the street, for food.
Ecobricks help to reduce the costs of building materials while also promoting recycling and ecological awareness, and MSCs in the Philippines are very much aware of the need to reduce the use of single-use plastics in addition. “We have to care for our common home. And plastics destroy creation,” explains Fr James. “Human beings are not the only residents in the world. We also have our brother creatures, and we have to take care of them.”
“Being responsible for the use of the plastic could be a good way to save our environment,” Fr James says. With the support of our mission friends here in the Irish Province and around the globe, MSCs in the Philippines continue in their mission to work in harmony with the natural world, while developing sustainable and self-sufficient lifestyles for the vulnerable and disadvantaged communities in their care.
Original article and images via Earthbeat:
https://www.ncronline.org/earthbeat/science/philippines-catholic-priests-tackle-plastic-waste-brick-brick
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Jul 9, 2024
Welcome to the Summer 2024 edition of the MSC Message!
• Read a special greeting from Fr John Fitzgerald MSC, Director of the MSC Missions Office.
• Read all about the ordination of Fr Gabriel Shikongo MSC, which took place in Swakopmund, Namibia, as he celebrates his first year as an MSC priest.
• Catch up on the latest news from the mission fields, including updates from the Holy Family Care Centre in Africa, from our OLSH Sisters in Papua New Guinea and Burkina Faso, West Africa, and from our MSC brothers as they celebrated Holy Week & Easter around the world, .
• Join us as we celebrate the new Province of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart in India.
• Find out the latest updates from the team at the MSC Centre for the Poor in the Philippines.
• Discover more from Centro Faustino Villanueva in Guatemala, where staff and students are celebrating 40 years of ministry at the MSC-run vocational centre this year.
• Fr Alan Neville MSC writes from South Sudan, where he is currently ministering with the Loreto team in Rumbek.
Read the Summer 2024 edition of the MSC Message
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Apr 18, 2024
The MSC Centre for the Poor in the Philippines has launched the first phase of a feeding programme for vulnerable children in Libis Baesa, a highly populated region in the city of Calcoon.
The feeding programme will run for several months, with this first stage haven taken place over a six-week period throughout February and March, feeding 40 children in Libis Baesa Elementary School. The second phase of the programme will take place in April, in the regions of Libis Dulo and Reparo, and the third stage is planned for May, covering East Libis and Centro.
The Facebook page for the MSC Mission Office in the Philippines shared these photos from the programme, noting “Observe the joy on the faces of the children currently benefiting from the feeding program in Libis Baesa.”
The MSC Centre for the Poor is highly active in its ministry throughout several regions of the Philippines. Its core values centre on working together in harmony with the earth – nurturing our natural environment, while reaping its benefits in creating a sustainable lifestyle that will help poor and struggling families and communities to build the foundation for a brighter future. From agricultural programmes, to clean water projects, to plastic-free and zero-waste initiatives, the MSC Centre for the Poor encourages participants to develop the skills needed to create and maintain an improved quality of life for disadvantaged communities in both urban and rural areas.
The community at the Centre are also extremely responsive in terms of providing emergency aid where necessary, providing urgent care to survivors of the typhoons and tropical storms that frequently hit the country. From building and repairing homes to distributing emergency care packages, their outreach programmes provide practical and very necessary help to families and communities in real need; these photos of the Libis Baesa children receiving much-needed nourishment is a testament to the wonderful work they do at the most fundamental level.
A whole host of willing participants came together to make the food drive possible, with posts on the Facebook page expressing sincere thanks:
“On behalf of the MSC Center for the Poor, we extend our gratitude to the volunteer cooks, the Principal of Libis Baesa Elementary School, Teacher Myrna, the MSC Brothers, Chapel Presidents, Fr. Gab, and Fr. Sam.
Special thanks to our sponsors, RJF Primo Corporation, Felicidad T. Sy Foundation, and Casao Kids. May God bless you abundantly.”
“We are grateful for the visit from our donor, Mrs. Falcon, accompanied by her daughter Cazandra and her classmates from Miriam College: Aurora, Althea, and Jan Jan. The children greatly enjoyed their presence and were overjoyed with the gifts they received.
We also wish to express our thanks to our IC brothers, Bro Erwin and Bro Borge; to the Principal of Libis Baesa Elementary School, Ms. Maria Idel C. Malay; to the Teacher Coordinator, Mam Myrna; the Coordinator of MSC Center for the Poor, Ms. Joy; the MSC Mission Office Board of Trustees and Staff, and the MSC Manila District, Fr. Sam & Fr. Gabby.”
Please keep our MSC communities in the Philippines in your prayers as they continue in their remarkable work in bringing hope to people who people who have very little, and in putting food on the plates of children who would otherwise go hungry. We wish them every blessing in support and friendship as they look ahead to phase two of this vital programme.
Images via the Facebook page for the MSC Mission Office Philippines, Inc.
IF YOU CAN, PLEASE SUPPORT THE MSC CENTRE FOR THE POOR
Feb 15, 2024
Congratulations are in order for the MSC community and their superb team at the MSC Centre for the Poor in the Philippines. On December 15th, 2023, Fr Richie Gomez MSC, community leader at the Centre, attended an awards ceremony hosted by the Villar Foundation in Las Piñas City, where the MSC Centre for the Poor Agriculture Cooperative (MSC CEPAGCO) were honoured to accept an award for being one of the Outstanding Community Enterprises in the country.
Since its establishment five years ago, the MSC Centre for the Poor has gone from strength to strength, with the MSC CEPAGCO providing invaluable assistance to local communities throughout the COVID pandemic and beyond. With a dedicated focus on food sustainability and care of our common home, the agricultural cooperative aims to educate and empower both rural and urban families and communities with the skills they need to create sustainable livelihoods, while nurturing and caring for the earth for future generations to come.
From addressing plastic waste to organising clean water programmes, the MSC Centre for the Poor Agricultural Cooperative are tireless in their work to improve the quality of life of the people in their programmes, while working in harmony with the natural world.
“Thank you Villar Foundation for recognizing our effort and advocacy on organic sustainable agriculture, environmental protection, food security and poverty reduction,” posted the Facebook page for the MSC Centre for the Poor as they shared the news of the 2023 Villar Sipag Award. “Congratulations to Fr. Richie and to all MSC CEPAGCO staff and volunteers who have been instrumental in winning such award!”
We add our congratulations to theirs, and we wish Fr Richie and all the MSC CEPAGCO community continued success in their phenomenal efforts to make an instrumental difference to the lives of disadvantaged families in the Philippines.
Images via the Facebook page for the MSC Centre for the Poor
IF YOU CAN, PLEASE SUPPORT MSC CENTRE FOR THE POOR
