2021 Masses for deceased MSCs and Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart

This year’s annual Masses for deceased MSCs and Daughters of the Lady of the Sacred Heart will take place around the country in November, as we remember those who have gone before us in the light of the Lord.

Irish Provincial Superior Fr Carl Tranter MSC writes:

“Sadly, this year, because of COVID-19 restrictions, our usual manner of gathering is not possible. We have, therefore, arranged for a Mass to be celebrated on Sunday, November 7th at 3.00pm in the Sacred Heart Church, Western Road, Cork, which will be live streamed on the internet to allow everyone to participate. All are welcome to access this mass on a computer, laptop, tablet, or smartphone by visiting our website’s live stream page.

In addition to the live-streamed mass from Cork, the MSC communities in Woodview, Dublin, and Croí Nua, Galway, will be celebrating their own community Mass for our deceased members that Sunday morning.

Mass will also be celebrated on Sunday, November 14th in St Patrick’s Church, Ballybay at 2.00pm. This will be live streamed and can be accessed by visiting the live stream at www.churchservices.tv/ballybay.

Unfortunately, it is not possible to invite family and friends to attend any of these Masses in person this year. We look forward to the possibility of coming together once again next year to remember and celebrate the lives of those who have gone before us. In the meantime, we hope that you will be able to join us virtually on November 7th and 14th this year.”

With my prayers and very best wishes,
Fr Carl 

We invite you to join us for live-streamed Masses on the following dates:

Sunday, November 7th at 3.00pm:

• Sacred Heart Church, Western Road, Cork

Sunday, November 14th at 2.00pm:

• St Patrick’s Church, Ballybay, Co. Monaghan

We would like to invite you to pray with us during the month of the Holy Souls as we remember the MSCs and Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart who worked so hard to ensure that the Sacred Heart of Jesus is known and loved everywhere, and by everyone.
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Fr Alan in South Sudan – Vaccine Status: Denied.

“It’s official. Last week a journalist from the Irish Times tweeted that vaccines distributed throughout Africa would not be recognised by the countries of the European Union. This was initially thought to be directed against vaccines manufactured outside of the EU, but is now understood to include even the vaccines donated from the US, the UK, and the EU itself.

So what does this mean in practice? On one level, not much. To date, South Sudan has just received 60,000 first and second doses of the Astra Zeneca vaccine. There has been a commitment from the US for just over 100,000 Johnson & Johnson one-shot vaccines. That’s it. For a country of over eleven million people, these donations are only a drop in the bucket, but, to paraphrase Mother Theresa, it would be a drop in the bucket that would be missed if it were not there.

You might well ask, why are African countries not producing their own vaccines? Well, they are, but there’s a catch. Earlier this year a company in South Africa produced 10 million Johnson and Johnson vaccines. The continent clearly has the know-how and the technology. What they don’t have is the buying power. The entire ten million doses were sold to the EU as part of their vaccine drive. At this point, it might be good to look at the disparity in COVID health care. As of the last week in September, there is 74.4% full vaccination coverage in Ireland and just 4% coverage throughout Africa. It was only after international outcry at the manifest injustice of the act that the vaccines were returned to South Africa to be distributed there.

As I have mentioned before, we have been lucky in South Sudan that the number of COVID infections have been quite low. This has been variously attributed to the country’s low average age, hot climate, and relative inaccessibility of the towns and cities. Whatever it is, it is evident that our luck is running out. Only yesterday, two of the religious sisters in our Diocese were diagnosed with COVID, with another going for testing today. One of the sisters working in a nearby hospital has also tested positive. Given the modest budget for testing, the emergence of these cases among front-line religious sisters is indicative of a significantly higher infection rate among the general population.”

“This is the time for solidarity, not division; for unity, not injustice.”

“However, there is good news too. Ten days ago, the second dose of the Astra Zeneca vaccines were delivered to Rumbek. Last time, we had so many people come from Loreto to receive the first dose that the hospital saved us a trip and sent a dedicated team to our Mary Ward Primary Health Care Clinic. We now have almost two hundred teachers, nurses, religious sisters, and agricultural workers who are fully vaccinated against COVID.

While a welcome relief, this level of take up was not easy to achieve. Rumours and the most ridiculous conspiracy theories abound about vaccines. The fact that the leadership team of Loreto were the first to take the vaccine gave others the confidence to go for their own. This frustrating reality is that this is not restricted to South Sudan, but is something of a global challenge.

Many of these rumours are easily dismissed as pure nonsense. However, the latest ruling by the EU quite reasonably has provoked doubts and concerns. We have been asked what the problem is with the vaccine that is been distributed in South Sudan. In spite of the fact that the entire enterprise is been undertaken by the World Health Organisation and their partners, the decision by the EU further emphasises the divide between the global north and south. We have many dedicated, professional medical personnel here who are entirely committed to an efficient vaccine roll-out. To disregard their work in such a cavalier manner is sheer prejudice. This is the time for solidarity, not division; for unity, not injustice.”

Bi Nhialic arrer kek yin,
Fr Alan

Read more from Fr Alan’s missionary journey in South Sudan:

• Looking for a Sign on the Way to South Sudan
• Building a Better Future in South Sudan
• Christmas Greetings from Fr Alan in South Sudan
• A Cup of Sugar and Maybe a Goat
• Mock Exams and Real Life in South Sudan
• As Easy as Baking a Cake
• Holy Week on the Move
• Three Arrivals and a Party
• Celebrating the Missionary Life
• Seeds of Hope
• Young People Fighting COVID-19 in Rumbek
• Ticket to Ride
• Lions, Snakes, and the World’s Deadliest Predator

PLEASE HELP US TO TRANSFORM LIVES IN SOUTH SUDAN

Photos of Loreto School courtesy of Life on Earth Pictures

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The MSC Message: Winter 2021

Welcome to the Winter 2021 edition of the MSC Message!

• Read a special seasonal greeting from Fr Michael O’Connell MSC, Director of the MSC Missions Office.

• Join us as we congratulate Br Giacomo Gelardi on his Perpetual Profession to the Society of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart.

• Catch up on the latest news from the mission fields, including the erection of the new MSC Province of the Pacific Islands and an update from our MSC brothers in Ecuador.

• Read more about the latest updates from our global COVID-19 relief ministry, with reports from Vietnam, Fiji, and our OLSH Sisters in the Philippines.

• Fr Alan Neville MSC writes from South Sudan, where he is currently ministering with the Loreto team in Rumbek.

• Read all about the beatification of the martyrs of El Quiché, including three MSC priests and seven lay catechists who were killed for their faith in Guatemala between 1980 and 1991.

Read the MSC Message Winter 2021
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Reflection: The Way of the Heart

Here, we share The Way of the Heart, a beautiful reflection on the glory of God’s love in our world. Each of us has faced our own challenges in the past year and a half, from the fear and stress and uncertainty of living through a global pandemic, to the age-old issues of hunger, poverty, illness, and war that have long plagued many parts of our world, and continue to do so while the coronavirus rages on. Today, we remember to “recognise God’s love alive”, and to “have heart for each other”, keeping the spirit of compassion alive in love.

The Way of the Heart

We know that God’s love is alive in our world.
We see that love come to life,
recognise it, every time we know ourselves
loved and respected.
We experience it every time when people
give us their trust and don’t withdraw it
even when we disappoint.
And whenever we can forgive and start again
– individually or as peoples –
we recognise God’s love alive.

In Jesus of Nazareth, in the story and event of his life,
we have learned to recognise how God’s love
shines through whenever we live
as brothers and sisters to one another.
God’s only real concern is to love, Jesus taught us;
God shows himself never more God
than when he opens his heart.

He believed in that love, enough to stake his life on it.
He opened his heart, without reserve, to all
and – as brothers and sisters can do –
he gave most of his heart to those more in need,
oppressed and sick, forgotten and unloved.
He touched a leper, looked a blind person in the eyes.
He talked with deaf and dumb,
held hands with women of ill repute.
Time was never too precious for him
to laugh and play with children.
And often he shared a good glass
with men with dirty hands.

He told – for his time and for ours –
to all who have ears to listen, eyes to see
that all these were signs of a new world growing,
of our world becoming at last God’s paradise,
God’s Kingdom: life for all, and to the fullest,
respect and freedom, justice and peace,
learning to let our hearts win it over our greed,
to rather believe in love than in power,
rather in peace than in war,
to serve one another,
rather than to oppress and abuse.

By following him in his way of the heart
– sometimes with fire in our breasts
but often too with trembling knees –
we dare to keep his dream alive,
his promise and his mission,
that our world is the fruit of God’s love
and carries the seeds of his Kingdom.

We are not blind for the darkness.
We see – too often are part of it –
oppression and war, hunger and suffering,
but we have good news to share:
by giving his heart to the world
God showed us an alternative, a new way,
promised to lead us to a new and better world,
if we dare to follow him –
and to have heart for one another.

Our way to do that is to be
missionaries of the heart of Jesus.
But we walk together
with women and men
of all colours and creeds
who dare to walk in their own way,
the Way of the Heart.

Taken from the MSC Philippine Province’s 2004 Jubilee Book
via Ametur MSC on Facebook.

 

Following in the footsteps of St Bernadette: MSC 2021 Virtual Lourdes Pilgrimage

We would like to invite you all to join us for a very special Triduum of Masses on our virtual pilgrimage to Lourdes, which will take place online from Thursday, September 23^rd to Saturday, September 25^th.

For over half a century, the Irish Province of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart have led annual pilgrimages to Lourdes. Last year, the arrival of the COVID pandemic meant that, for the first time in over 50 years, we were unable to travel to Lourdes with our mission friends and fellow pilgrims. Instead, we hosted a virtual pilgrimage, and this year, with many restrictions still in place and with safety still a significant concern, we invite you to take up your pack and join our group of virtual pilgrims as we pray together from home.

Every year, each one of our pilgrims undertakes a journey that is entirely individual, yet remains a quintessential part of something bigger. People join us for a host of different reasons, from struggles with personal challenges to a simple desire for prayer, reflection, and thanksgiving. The experience of pilgrimage is different for everyone, but that awareness of being part of something special, of something more, remains the same for all.

Undertaking a pilgrimage is a truly special experience, with strangers becoming friends on a shared journey. This year, we will once again be praying together from home – but we will be praying together. That spirit of unity and community never fails, as the message of God’s love overcomes all barriers in the pilgrimage celebration of faith, togetherness, and intimacy with God.

You are very welcome to join us as we follow in the footsteps of St Bernadette on this year’s virtual pilgrimage, with Masses streamed streamed live from the Sacred Heart Church on the Western Road, Cork, and a torchlight procession streamed live from Lourdes on the evenings of Thursday, September 23rd and Friday, September 24th at 8.00pm. Thursday, September 23rd will reflect on following in the footsteps on St Bernadette, Friday, September 24th will be a Day of Healing, and Saturday, September 25th will be a Day of Thanksgiving. Like so many other things that have had to change over the last two years, this will be a new and different experience for us all, but a valuable and meaningful one nonetheless. We look forward to having you pray alongside us on this year’s journey.

Click here to view the full schedule for our 2021 Virtual Pilgrimage

Watch our 2021 Pilgrimage Masses & Celebrations Live

Submit your prayer intentions online for our 2021 Virtual Pilgrimage

If you would like to read more about previous pilgrimages,
and view our galleries of images from Lourdes, please visit our posts on our 2018 and 2019 journeys.
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OLSH Sisters ministering through COVID-19 in the Philippines

Sr Ruth S. Yburan FDNSC, Regional Leader of the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in the Philippines, writes from Manila in gratitude for funding provided by the Irish Province of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart to our OLSH Sisters in the Philippines, in support of their ongoing COVID-19 relief ministry. In regions where many families had already been living a hand-to-mouth existence, the pandemic has made simple survival a priority, and OLSH Sisters in the Philippines are working to provide even the most basic necessities to as many vulnerable communities as possible.

Some of the ways in which the OLSH Sisters have helped local communities thus far include:

• Running a community pantry in Surigao, where families are encouraged to take only what they need. In this way, more families can have access to the food they need and the OLSH Sisters can help as many people as possible.

• The distribution of rice to construction workers in Manila, where lockdowns have meant work has been stopped, and so has pay.

• A livelihood programme for families in Lapu Lapu. This programme caters especially to women whose husbands lost their jobs because of lockdowns, teaching them practical skills they need to earn money to contribute to their family living expenses.

• The provision of care packages to trisikad (Philippine pedicab) drivers in Cordova, who would have earned approximately 150 – 300 Philippine pesos (the equivalent of €2 – €5) per day prior to the pandemic.

• A six-day training course took place at the end of July for an indigenous Filipino group called the Badjao. Their training was free of charge, while MSC donations paid for their meals, which needed to be provided as they can no longer go fishing (which is also their main source of income). The skills taught included measuring, cutting, and machine work/sewing, providing those in attendance with useful practical skills that may bring in a much-needed wage. Those on the training course are leaders of their respective tribes, and were very grateful for the opportunity.

“This pandemic has opened the minds and hearts of our people to work together as a community and help each other in whatever way we can.”

Dear Fr Michael and our generous donors,

In many different parts of our world and especially here in the Philippines, people are just in need of basic necessities as the end of this pandemic is nowhere near in sight. A lot of families we minister to have suffered much as their loved ones got so sick and even died.

Nevertheless, this pandemic has also opened the minds and hearts of our people to work together as a community and help each other in whatever way we can. Last April, May and even up to this time, community pantries are mushrooming and made a huge difference in the lives of our people suffering from COVID-19.

Your generous donation of €5,000 through Sr Jenny Christie and our sisters at the generalate, made a big impact in the lives of our poor people whose lives are becoming even more helpless with on-going lockdowns brought about by the detection of new COVID variants. Thank you very much, dear Fr Michael, and the generous donors who enabled you to help us reach out to those most in need. You are helping us reach more people whose daily lives can be made a bit easier with your generosity.

On behalf of the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart here in the Philippines, I would like to thank you for enabling us to distribute assistance to more or less 150 families from Visayas and Mindanao, and here in Manila, who came alternately due to COVID restrictions. Your donations also helped our indigenous people with their meals during a six-day skills training offered by the non-government organizations.

Rest assured of our prayers that God will continue to bless you and protect you from all harm so that you can continue to help others in need.

Much gratitude,
Sr Ruth FDNSC

 

A virtual celebration: The 2021 MSC Novena to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart

Heartfelt thanks to all who participated in our 2021 Novena to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, which took place from Tuesday, August 31st to Wednesday, September 8th at the Sacred Heart Church on the Western Road, Cork.

While this year’s Novena once again took place behind closed doors due to COVID-19 restrictions, it was nonetheless a truly blessed celebration of a much-loved annual tradition. It is of course difficult to navigate a new way of living, and in this case, a new way of praying, but the fact that we could not come together in person did not take from the wonderful sense of community and connection that comes with being part of our great family of faith. Over 9,300 people joined us in prayer via our live stream over the course of the nine days, reminding us of the tremendous spirit of our extended Sacred Heart family, at home and across the world.

The theme of our 2021 Novena to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart was “Hope of the Hopeless”, and Fr Paul Clayton-Lea was the lead celebrant this year.

Fr Paul is a priest of the Archdiocese of Armagh, who has enjoyed a wide and varied ministry to date and is currently the priest in residence in the parish of Termonfeckin, Co. Louth. Having studied Education and Family Ministry at Fordham University in New York in 1988, he also ministered in the Riverdale area of the Bronx at the time, and has since served as a teacher of politics and religion, a college chaplain at DKIT, a Diocesan Advisor for Religious Education, and a parish priest. Author of In The Light Of The Word: Family Life Through The Lens Of Scripture, which was published by Veritas in 2018, Fr Paul is also about to resume his position as editor of Intercom, the monthly magazine of the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference. We were delighted to welcome Fr Paul to the Sacred Heart Church, and we are very grateful for his contribution to this year’s celebrations.

“May Mary and her merciful heart bless all of us.”

Fr Paul provided us with pause for thought in his daily sermons, summing up our great blessings in the closing Mass on the evening of September 8^th. “Wouldn’t it be beautiful to be free of the lure of the world?” he asked. “Free from the things that draw us in and suck us in all the time, making us want this and want that and want more. Mary may not offer us all the wealth that we want, all the success that we want, but she will make sure that we do not want.”

“May Mary and her merciful heart bless all of us,” he concluded.

At the closing Mass, Fr Tom Mulcahy MSC spoke on behalf of Fr Michael O’Connell, who had travelled to Dublin on the final day of the Novena to attend the Perpetual Profession of Br Giacomo Gelardi to the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. “Fr Michael asked me to speak to you to thank you for being with us and walking with us,” said Fr Tom. “We’re a tremendous outreach in the world; I remember being at an international conference and one of the Indian brethren said, ‘If it weren’t for the Irish Province of the MSCs, we couldn’t continue’. So, we’re helping so many other people. You’re helping so many other people. You walk with us and pray with us and celebrate with us.”

Once again, we send our sincere thanks to everyone who took part in what was a truly blessed occasion, and for your ongoing friendship and support. God bless you all.

If you would like to watch this year’s Novena Masses,
please click here to view recordings of our 2021 MSC Novena to the Sacred Heart.

 

Congratulations to Br Giacomo Gelardi MSC on his Perpetual Profession

On September 8^th, 2021, Br Giacomo Gelardi MSC made his Perpetual Profession to the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart at the Sacred Heart Church, Killinarden – a truly great occasion for the Irish Province of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, and for the Sacred Heart family all over the world.

Irish Provincial Leader, Fr Carl Tranter MSC, spoke of “great joy for the Irish Province, and indeed, for the entire congregation of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart” on the occasion of Br Giacomo’s Final Profession.

“Heartfelt congratulations to Giacomo on the occasion of his Final Profession in Killinarden on the afternoon of September 8th.

We had a really lovely celebration, warmly hosted by the parish and local community with a reception afterwards in the parish primary school.

Giacomo’s mother, Francesca, his sister, Maria and his brother Luca, had been able to travel from Italy for the celebration. Twelve MSCs also joined Giacomo for the occasion.

Thank you for your ‘yes’, Giacomo; to the call of the Lord on your heart, and to this little Society of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart and its mission.  We are proud to count you as a brother among brothers and continue to hold you in our prayers for the next step of your journey.”

Fr Con O’Connell MSC, one of the Vocations Directors for the Irish Province, also writes of the “great celebration” that comes with Br Giacomo’s profession:

“It was with great joy that the Chevalier Family yesterday celebrated the final vows of Br Giacomo Gelardi MSC. He is now a full member of the Irish Province of the MSC.

Originally from Urbino in north-eastern Italy, Giacomo worked for many years in the pharmaceutical industry. It was in his mid-thirties while living and working in England that he felt called to religious life and priesthood.

Br Giacomo has completed most of his training so far at our formation house in Dundrum, except for his novitiate year, which he did in Myross Wood in Leap, West Cork. It was there that he took his first vows.

Over the last few years, Giacomo has spent a lot of time in our parish of Killinarden, West Tallaght, Dublin, so it was appropriate that it was in Sacred Heart Church, Killinarden, that he made his final profession of vows. He did this in the presence of some of his fellow MSCs, family, friends and local parish members.

After the church celebration he and all his guests were treated to a fabulous reception laid on by the parish. While numbers had to be restricted due to COVID-19, guidelines it was a great celebration.

Br Giacomo’s journey continues as he moves on to our community in Western Road, Cork. Do keep Giacomo in your prayers as he prepares for Diaconate and then Priesthood. Thank God for his generosity in devoting himself to religious life within the MSCs.”

We join Fr Carl and Fr Con in sending our heartfelt congratulations to Br Giacomo, and we wish him every blessing as he continues on the path of his missionary journey.

Click here to watch Br Giacomo’s Perpetual Profession ceremony.
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A province of hope and love: A letter from the MSC Province of the Pacific Islands

Bro Gerald Warbrooke MSC is stationed in Wailoku, located in Suva, the capital of Fiji. In February 2020, he celebrated his Silver Jubilee, marking 25 years as a Missionary of the Sacred Heart. Here, via the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart Australia, he reflects on the establishment of the new MSC Province of the Pacific Islands.

“On the 17th October 1998, the new formation house up in Wailoku, Suva, was blessed and opened for the students and formators. Today, candidates come not only from the traditional source of Kiribati, but also from Samoa, Fiji, Chuuk, and Wallis and Futuna.

Since the General Conference of 2014 in Guatemala, the General Administration had journeyed with the Pacific Union offering support and guidance, and on the 10th of May, 2021 the Province of the Pacific Islands was canonically erected.

At present there are 49 local members of the province – one bishop, twenty-four priests, seven brothers, and seventeen students. Members from other provinces also help in the direction of the province and its ministries: from Indonesia, Korea, Australia, Philippines, and the U.S. The membership of the province is still generally young, and the ministries and works of the PPI are geographically scattered over the Pacific.

The province consists of two districts: the Northern District, consisting of the island nations of Chuuk, the Marshall Islands, Kiribati, and Nauru, and the Southern District, which consists of the Fiji Islands, Wallis and Futuna, Samoa, and the Kingdom of Tonga.”

“As a province, we want to be a sign of hope and love to everyone.”

“We take this opportunity to thank the past and present General Administrations for their support and guidance through the years that we were a Union. We also thank the Australian Province and the Papua New Guinea Province, who both played a major role in our growth towards becoming a Province. We also extend our sincere gratitude to all the entities of the Congregation who have generously provided us with finance and personnel over the years since the beginning.

As we begin this new chapter as a province, we are reminded that the Society of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart was born in the midst of the uncertainties and calamity of the French Revolution. In a similar way, our province is erected in a time of great suffering and misery because of the pandemic affecting countries all over the world. As a province, we want to be a sign of hope and love to everyone as we stand in prayer and solidarity with all those suffering from this deadly disease.

As members of a new province, we will fix our eyes on Jesus and together contemplate his compassionate heart. It is in the compassionate heart of Christ, we can find true healing, peace, and comfort at this challenging time.

May God bless and protect us all from this pandemic. May our Mother Mary, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart continue to intercede for us and protect our humble province.”

Bro Gerald Warbrooke MSC

For the latest news and updates from the MSC Province of the Pacific Islands, please visit their Facebook page.

With “joy and gratitude” from our OLSH Sisters in Brazil

At the beginning of 2021, our mission friends and benefactors blessed us with wonderful support for our 2021 MSC World Projects Appeal, which featured global outreach projects run by our Sacred Heart Sisters of the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart.

These projects included several OLSH outreach programmes in Brazil, from nutritional and educational provisions for a care centre for vulnerable children, to helping a children’s choir with new equipment, to providing essential liturgical items for the celebration of Mass in remote communities, to teaching local women practical skills such as sewing, empowering them and enabling them to earn money for themselves and provide desperately needed support for their families.

“We can put our hands and our lives at the service of our charism and mission.”

Sr Marisa writes from São Paulo, in gratitude for the support received from our mission friends here in the Irish Province. “We express our joy in knowing that our charism and mission are alive in the world,” she says. “The MSC Mission Office in Ireland, through your generosity to finance the missionary and pastoral projects of our Province, has provided us with excellent opportunities to make the Heart of Jesus known and loved in the different situations of vulnerability experienced by a portion of the Brazilian population.”

She continues, “Through the unity of our congregations and with the financial assistance provided by the MSC Mission Office of Ireland, through your donors, we can put our hands and our lives at the service of the same charism and mission and to continue the dream of Fr. Chevalier, allowing God’s love and goodness to reach the farthest places in the world.”

“We reaffirm our gratitude and prayers to you, your staff and your donors and pray that they will receive in blessings and graces for what you have given us by financing our missionary action in the Church of Brazil.”

“With joy and gratitude I come to thank all of you for your generosity.”

Sr Janete also writes from Campinas, from the Madre Anastácia childcare centre. Part of the ministry the Sisters at the facility offer is to collect food donations and redistribute them to those in need. They had been receiving a small subsidy in order to be able to pay the cost of the driver who carried out these deliveries, but since that funding stopped, the Sisters had been extremely worried about how they would be able to continue.

“With joy and gratitude I come to thank all of you for your generosity,” says Sr Janete. “This funding means that it will be possible to keep our employee, Alexsandre, who plays the very important role of driver at our care centre, Madre Anastácia.”

“The driver at our daycare transports donations of clothes, foods, and furniture that we receive to donate to needy families in our region. With your help, we will be able to continue our work. The Sisters here are always very grateful for all your help and generosity. God bless you all!”

Fr Alan in South Sudan: Lions, Snakes, and the World’s Deadliest Predator

When you are asked what is the deadliest animal that you’ve come across in South Sudan, people are hoping for something dramatic. On my first weekend here, when I was mapping out a potential jogging route around the Loreto campus, I came across a snake thicker than my arm struggling with his evening meal. Now I walk and as I do so I keep my eyes firmly on the ground. My godson has been delighted to hear that I have found scorpions on four different occasions wandering around my bedroom. All were dispatched with a trusty badminton racket that was left behind by my room’s previous tenant. Considering how difficult it is to play badminton by yourself, especially with no shuttlecock, I suspect they may have used it for a similar purpose.

When it comes to dangerous animals, Hollywood with its big budgets and daring adventures has got it badly wrong. Sharks, the subject of several blockbusters, languish in 15th place killing about ten people a year. Lions are responsible for up to a hundred deaths. Hippos, or ‘Rou’ as they are known locally, are at 11th place, killing five hundred people annually. Snakes earn something of their fearsome reputation with fifty thousand deaths and clock in at 3rd place. Surprisingly our most fearsome enemy is also among the smallest. Each year an incredible two million deaths are caused by mosquitos. The toxic and highly evolved diseases that the female carries, make this tiny insect that weighs the same as a grape seed, our greatest predator.

As I have mentioned before, we have been waiting for months for rain. Since the arrival of the rainy season, the community around the school have been working feverishly preparing the soil, sowing the seeds, and keeping an eye on the weeds. The rains were late this year and so far have been sporadic. We are waiting to see how good the crop will be. However, as sure as night follows day, the rains also meant the return of mosquitos. In the dry months, they are not much in evidence and those who fancy themselves thrill-seekers sleep without a net. Not now. They are back, and once again, the number of malaria cases are soaring.

The Primary Health Care Clinic was originally set up to look after the two thousand primary and secondary students, the local workers, and the staff on the ground in Loreto every day. This number does not even include the people our nursing teams looks after in our community outreach programme. Last week alone we had 302 cases of malaria just from the primary school.

The problem is that in the evening families prepare and eat their meals around a fire in front of their homes. This is the time that the mosquito hunts. In addition, people’s houses or tukuls are often made with rough blocks and a grass roof, although some are fortunate to have corrugated metal. Anyone who has been on holidays in warmer climates know how good mosquitos are at exploiting even the smallest crack in a wall or hole in a net.

The situation this year has been complicated further by a lack of testing kits to determine if someone has malaria and if so, which type it is. Each requires different treatment. Insecurity on the roads mean that trucks from Nairobi stopped coming for a week, so deliveries are backlogged. We are fortunate to have a good working relationship with local NGOs and were able to make up a shortfall, before getting an emergency supply flown in from Juba.

While COVID continues to dominate the headlines, the challenges of malaria have been largely overlooked by the international community. It is a forgotten epidemic by an almost invisible predator that is wreaking havoc on already vulnerable populations. It has been pointed out by more than one commentator that if malaria was as big an issue in Western society as it is here, we would already have developed several effective vaccines. If these past two years have taught us anything, it is that we have the ability if we really want to. Until the situation changes, our nursing team is working flat out and will continue to do so until the rainy season ends in November. It’s going to be a long three months. Please keep them in your prayers.

Bi Nhialic arrer kek yin,
Fr Alan

Read more from Fr Alan’s missionary journey in South Sudan:

• Looking for a Sign on the Way to South Sudan
• Building a Better Future in South Sudan
• Christmas Greetings from Fr Alan in South Sudan
• A Cup of Sugar and Maybe a Goat
• Mock Exams and Real Life in South Sudan
• As Easy as Baking a Cake
• Holy Week on the Move
• Three Arrivals and a Party
• Celebrating the Missionary Life
• Seeds of Hope
• Young People Fighting COVID-19 in Rumbek
• Ticket to Ride

PLEASE HELP US TO TRANSFORM LIVES IN SOUTH SUDAN

“Thank you for allowing us to continue helping those who suffer”: A letter from our OLSH Sisters in the Philippines

At the beginning of 2021, our mission friends and benefactors blessed us with wonderful support for our 2021 MSC World Projects Appeal, which featured global outreach projects run by our Sacred Heart Sisters of the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart.

These projects included support for the victims of Typhoon Vamco (locally known as Typhoon Ulysses) in the Philippines. The most powerful typhoon to hit the country in seven years, it caused untold damage and left in its wake loss of life, severe flooding and damage amounting to millions of euro. A community of 25 OLSH Sisters have been ministering to badly affected families in two very poor areas of Manila, and Sr Ruth S. Yburan FDNSC, Regional Leader of the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in the Philippines, writes to thank our mission friends in the Irish Province for their compassion and support.

“Even prior to the typhoon, the people here had very difficult lives.”

“You cannot imagine my joy, relief, and excitement when I was informed that €21,000 had been donated towards assisting the victims of Typhoon Ulysses,” writes Sr Ruth. “Last year, we received €10,000 from the Irish Province of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, and we used it for the most needed things: at that time, food, clean water, and the basics of life. At the same time, we were able to meet each family and learn their situation and their needs.”

“COVID has interrupted our mission to the people, but we are in a position now to re-start this privileged work. The very generous donation, which we appreciate very much, arrived at the perfect time. Sr Leda and I visit San Mateo and Montalban ones or two days per week. On each trip, Sr Leda and I go to visit a family and see the state of their house. Even prior to the typhoon, the people here had very difficult lives, and many lived in homes made of timber, corrugated iron, strong cardboard, plastic, newspaper. There is no running water at all.”

“Upon meeting the family and speaking with them, we work out together what they need to re-establish themselves. This could be lumber, nails, iron, etc. We go with the family to the local hardware stand, where we like to do our business to support the owner in his little trade store. Once the necessary materials are located and the price paid, with the generosity of MSC Mission Office, Cork, the family takes home the needed materials and can work on their ‘new’ house.”

“Both we, the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in the Philippines, and the people of San Mateo and Montalban express our deep gratitude for the hope you give us. We remember you daily in prayer. Thank you for allowing us to continue helping those who suffer.”