“A place of welcome”: A note from Cuan Mhuire, Ballybay

Cuan Mhuire is Ireland’s largest voluntary provider of addiction treatment services and rehabilitation, working with people who suffer from alcohol, drug, and gambling addictions. With 2,500 people admitted to their centres across Ireland every year, Cuan Mhuire has treated approximately 100,000 people since its foundation in 1966. Their programmes range from 12 weeks to 20 weeks, and beyond, personalised to each individual case, with additional aftercare, family support, and life skills training. The Cuan Mhuire mission is “To provide an environment in which people who feel rejected and dejected because of their addictions become aware of, and learn to deal with the underlying problems relating to these addictions and discover their uniqueness, goodness, giftedness and their real purpose in life.”

Bro Giacomo Gelardi MSC recently visited the Cuan Mhuire centre in Ballybay, Co. Monaghan, where MSC funding recently allowed for the replacement of the chapel roof. George, one of the Cuan Mhuire Ballybay team, writes to tell us more about the centre and the work done there on a daily basis.

Cuan Mhuire Ballybay

“We were delighted to welcome Bro Giacomo to visit us here in Cuan Mhuire Ballybay in recent times.  It was an opportunity to thank the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart for their funding support for the replacement of our Chapel roof, which over the years had fallen into a very poor state of repair.  We were very grateful to have this work completed late last year and to know that our little Chapel is safe and dry.

Cuan Mhuire Ballybay first opened its doors in 2007 as a Transition House, providing continued support to men who, having completed a Cuan Mhuire Residential Treatment Programme, need extra time and aftercare to continue their recovery and often to address issues such as homelessness.  The house caters for 12 male residents, and gives them opportunities to access training, employment and, through one-to-one work, address barriers to independent living.”

“Faith and special devotion to Our Lady has always been at the heart of all we do here in Ballybay.”

“In addition to the Main House for the residents, the adjacent Fitzgerald Centre provides a strong community dimension.  The Centre is used to support those in addiction, their families, and the wider community.  Our weekly Aftercare meeting is held there as well as Alcoholics Anonymous, Gamblers Anonymous, Al Anon, and Gam Anon meetings.  On any given week more than 160 people avail of our services, which also include counselling, family advice and support, as well as referrals to Cuan Mhuire Treatment Centres.  At the heart of all our services is our ‘Open Door’ Policy and people come from the greater Cavan/Monaghan area to seek support.  As part of our community outreach, we are also happy to offer the use of our facilities to various local and community groups supporting the elderly, mental health, and family support services.

We are very fortunate to have beautiful grounds, which are maintained by our residents.  Sitting in a quiet corner is our little flag-stoned chapel.  It is modelled on the City of the Poor Chapel in Lourdes. This is a non-denominational place of prayer and quiet for people to visit of all faiths and none.  It is open 24 hours a day and it provides an oasis of peace for people from far and wide.  Faith and special devotion to Our Lady has always been at the heart of all we do here in Ballybay.  Each year, our Cuan Mhuire Ballybay Novena takes place from August 7th to 15^th, and it draws people of every age and walk of life.  An average of 350/400 people attend daily.”

“Cuan Mhuire Ballybay is above all a place of welcome.”

“As with all aspects of life, Cuan Mhuire Ballybay activities have been restricted due to COVID-19.  We have endeavoured to maintain contact and offer support to people through telephone calls.  We look forward to gradually re-opening all our services in the coming months and most especially to our Novena again in 2022.

We were delighted to be able to share our story with Giacomo during his visit, we and look forward to welcoming him back to visit us again – he knows where we are!

Cuan Mhuire Ballybay is above all a place of welcome where those in need due to addictions or other life difficulties can find support, feel at home, and find the healing that they need to continue their life’s journey.”

Celebrating 18 years of the MSC community in Vietnam

August 15^th 2021 marked the 18^th anniversary of the foundation of our MSC community in Vietnam, which was established in 2003. MSC Fr Hoàng, one of the original MSC students in Vietnam and current leader of the MSC community there, shared a letter celebrating the 18-year anniversary with the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart Australia website.

18 years of grace of MSC in Vietnam: 2003 – 2021

August 15th

Dear brothers,

A journey of 18 years, it is a quite long enough period with so many memories and graces for our small MSC community here in Vietnam. It is a great chance for us to stop and look back in the attitude of thanksgiving to God and expressing our deep gratitude to our mother Province, the Province of Australia and to those who have journeyed and been part of us, the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart in Vietnam for the last 18 years.

The presence of the community in Vietnam has been found and fostered constantly and generously by the Australian Province, since during the time of Jim Littleton as Provincial, till the decision to begin during the time of Bob Irwin, with the support, development and encouragement during time of Tim Brennan, John Mulrooney and now Chris R McPhee. And of course there have been so many other MSCs of the Province being present with us during those times. They have brought so many good things to us, their zeal, love, simplicity, humor, wisdom, …, above all MSCness and Spirituality of the Heart.

In the 18th anniversary of MSC in Vietnam, we would like to give thanks to God for His grace and His Son’s Heart, Jesus Christ our Lord, through the charism of the Holy Spirit that He gave to our Founder, we have chance to experience God’s deep love and bring His love to everywhere and everyone. We also express our gratitude to all those who have been with us in many ways. May God continue to bless us.

A blessing and happy anniversary to everyone!

Because of the pandemic that we cannot gather for this special celebration, thus each house will have mass in the house with the same intention of thanksgiving to God’s grace and gratitude to the Province. And then each house may have a simple ‘meal’ together.

Once again, happy the foundation day of MSC in Vietnam.

In Jesus’ Heart!
Hoàng MSC

Find out more about MSC COVID-19 relief ministry in Vietnam

Images via the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart Australia website.

 

Fr Alan in South Sudan: Ticket to Ride

Every couple of months in Loreto Rumbek, we have a celebration. It’s something of a bittersweet gathering with pizza, Coke, a few tears, and plenty of good humour. We had one only last Wednesday. They mark the departure of the graduates from our intern programme as they go on to further education. This time, we had three go to university in Nairobi, where two will study business, and one brave soul will train to become a social worker. Where she will even begin when she returns here is a mystery to me, but it is a welcome start. They will be welcomed in Nairobi by twenty other Loreto graduates who have gone before them and have, in fact, paved the way for them. Among our alumni we have women studying nursing, teaching, logistics, child protection, commerce, and medicine.

As I have mentioned before, decent education is a rare and precious commodity in South Sudan. Anytime I’m driving to a nearby school or going into the local town, I’m struck by the number of children who are out tending cattle, instead of being in class. Boy and girls, who are younger than my own niece of seven spend their entire day bringing the goats, sheep, and cows to the watering hole and back again. Many are dwarfed by the size of the animals they look after. Their education will be sporadic at best, but more likely non-existent.

Last week, we had our entrance of our Loreto Primary and take up was brisk. Families contribute the equivalent of the cost of a chicken for a year’s education, a daily meal, and free healthcare in our clinic. When we had the entrance exam for our secondary school last month, demand was once again far in excess of what we had available. The secondary girls have just finished their end of term exams and started their holidays, but we are looking forward to welcoming them back, along with our new first years at the beginning of September.

The children who get into primary school are fortunate to have access to basic education denied to many of their peers. Girls who manage to get into secondary school even more so, but where do they go to from there? One of Loreto’s most successful programmes is the internship programme. Each year, secondary school graduates apply to return to the school to become an intern. This means they work across a wide variety of roles, such as teaching assistants, translators in the clinic, administrators in the school office, or team leaders in the agricultural project.

Interns who work for one year will have their third-level course funded anywhere within South Sudan. However, if they successfully complete two years, we fund their university education in Kenya, where the standard is significantly higher, and the options afterwards are far greater. At €5,000 per university student for studies, accommodation, health, and food, it is a significant investment, but one that is ultimately worth it.

Coming back to the three women from last week’s celebration, they took off from Rumbek on Saturday with their tickets firmly in hand. They will have only a week to prepare their documentation, arrange passports, and sort out COVID tests before flying to Kenya. It is undoubtedly an exciting time. To reach as far as they have demonstrates their extraordinary commitment to education in the face of nearly overwhelming odds. Each one has a story of determination and sacrifice that is simultaneously unbelievable and inspiring. This latest step is only one more in a journey which will hopefully lead them home, and they can help in the building up of their community, especially opportunities for girls and women in South Sudan.

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

PLEASE HELP US TO TRANSFORM LIVES IN SOUTH SUDAN

“A roaring lion”: MSCs respond to COVID-19 in Vietnam

The Missionaries of the Sacred Heart Australia website has reported on the current COVID-19 situation in Vietnam, where our missionaries are responding “with an inspiring MSC spirit”.

The people of Vietnam are currently under a martial law curfew between 6.00pm and 6.00am since the beginning of August, with approximately 80,000 cases at the beginning of the month.

With one of our MSCs in Vietnam referring to the virus as “a roaring lion”, we read that “many people are poor, homeless, and hungry”. The hospitals are full beyond capacity, with temporary hospitals being built as quickly as possible to accommodate the overflow of patients in need.

 

MSC communities in Vietnam are doing all they can for those who need their help. As well as sourcing food from wherever they can, they are also sharing their own rations of rice and vegetables with the poor and hungry, obtaining travel permits so that they can move around their local regions distributing food and necessities.

While the final professions of several of MSCs waiting to take their vows in Vietnam will have to be postponed due to the current restrictions, MSC Fr Chung writes that the ministry of MSC communities in the region “keeps our heart burning for our mission of spreading love of God for others”.

 

We join our voices with our Australian brothers as they say: “Thank you to all our Vietnamese MSC brothers in Vietnam, the Philippines, and Australia, for spreading the compassionate love of God by how you live your lives, wherever you are.”

PLEASE SUPPORT OUR GLOBAL MSC COVID-19 RELIEF MINISTRY

Images via the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart Australia website.

Green shoots: Tending gardens and growing together in South Sudan

We were delighted to received recent communication from our OLSH Sisters in South Sudan, where a project funded by generous donations from our mission friends here in the Irish Province will see a new vegetable garden, with its own solar-powered irrigation system, established in Aluakluak, Mapuordit.

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. The region of Mapuordit is currently home to a small community of OLSH Sisters who minister to the needs of families in the area, facilitating the care and education of over 700 children at nursery and primary level.

Since 2020, the Irish Province of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart have been helping our OLSH family in South Sudan, by raising funds to build gardens around the OLSH schools in Mapuordit, which will help to provide a stable and sustainable source of food and water to families in the region who have very little. Further fundraising took place in 2021 as part of our annual MSC World Projects Appeal, with a wonderfully generous response from our mission friends here in the Irish Province.

The Sisters grow vegetables such as sweet potatoes and green vegetables for consumption by local families, using the natural resources available to provide a much-needed food source. The land in the region is extremely fertile, but with six months of regular rain and a six-month dry season, the gardens need a simple irrigation system, made up of bores which are drilled and fitted with a pump, a tank, and a watering system, to allow them to be used on a year-round basis.

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.

A place to grow in Aluakluak

The current project aims to provide a fully solar-powered irrigation system for a garden that will assist in supplementing a food supply for at least 30 families in the region of Mapuordit, especially during the six-month dry season in the area.

The initial plans placed the project in the Jur area of South Sudan, with preliminary meetings taking place at state level, at regional level, and at a local level, with the local Jur chiefs involved in the decision-making process as a location was chosen. However, project supervisor Sr Rita Grunke FDNSC reports that an “intense disunity” and “instability” among the Jur chiefs meant that it was “impossible to proceed” in the proposed location at this time.

The decision was then made for the project to go ahead in Aluakluak, an extremely active area of the parish where “a strong, dedicated women’s group” had been applying for funding for a development such as this one for several years. Here, the garden will be located between the primary school, which currently has approximately 560 students enrolled, and the nursery, which last year catered to 160 registered students. Both the primary school and nursery are run by the parish at a very high standard, with older Primary 8 students having won places at the Loreto Girls’ Secondary School and the De La Salle Boys’ School, both located in Rumbek.

Families of the primary and nursery students in Aluakluak will all benefit greatly from the project; the students themselves will have vegetables to supplement their school meals, and parents will be able to take away vegetables for evening meals for their families.

“A community willing to help itself.”

In February of this year, a well was installed to provide a source of water for the garden in Aluakluak. “Things move slowly in the region,” explains Sr Jenny Christie FDNSC, International Development Office for the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart. “All of the materials have to be brought in from elsewhere, and then the workmen have to be available” – and naturally, COVID restrictions and lockdowns have made progress even more challenging in recent times.

Despite the challenges, the local community has been working together to ensure progress moves as efficiently as possible, where 25 ladies from the area each dug four holes for the metal fence posts.

Project supervisor Sr Rita Grunke FDNSC expresses her “deep gratitude and blessings abundant” for the €25,000 funding sent by our MSC Missions Office here in the Irish Province, as without irrigation, crops cannot be grown, and local people will be unable to become more self-sufficient and develop their own food security.

“Deep gratitude for your generous involvement in this project,” writes Sr Rita. “Be assured it will serve very needy families, as well as a community that is willing to help itself.”

“Thank you for keeping Mapuordit alive.”

LEARN MORE ABOUT OLSH GLOBAL OUTREACH

Novena to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart 2021

Novena to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart 2021

Our annual Novena to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart is a beautiful time of reflection and thanksgiving, when we bring our prayers and petitions before Our Lady.

Our Novena of Masses runs for nine days and will take place from Tuesday, August 31st to Wednesday, September 8th.

All are welcome to join in the Novena by watching our daily Masses live from the Sacred Heart Church in Cork. These Novena Masses will take place daily at 10.00am and 7.30pm.

Please note that this year’s Novena to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart will be streamed online only, due to ongoing COVID-19 government restrictions.

 

Be part of this year’s Novena to the Sacred Heart

At this special time of year, you can help us to help others by supporting our ongoing mission projects, and in gratitude for your contribution, we will be glad to remember your intentions at our daily Novena Masses. You can then submit your personal prayers and intentions online, and our MSC priests will remember your petitions specially throughout the course of the Novena.

The theme of year’s Novena to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart will be “Hope of the Hopeless”, and it will be celebrated by Fr Paul Clayton-Lea.

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 very much look forward to welcoming Fr Paul to the Sacred Heart Church as we celebrate this year’s Novena together.

Each year, the Novena to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart offers great solace and comfort, as we bring our intentions before our Holy Mother. The past year and a half has brought with it enormous challenges, and now, we look to the future with renewed hope; all are very welcome to join us online for our Novena Masses as we come together to reflect and give thanks in the grace and love of Our Lady.

OLSH Novena at the Sacred Heart Church, Western Road, Cork

Daily Novena Masses: 10.00am & 7.30pm

Day of Reconciliation: Friday, September 3rd
Day for the Dead: Monday, September 6th
Day of Healing: Tuesday, September 7th
Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament: Thursday, September 9th (10.00am – 2.00pm)

All are very welcome to join us for our daily online Novena Masses on our live stream. While we continue to be restricted in our ability to pray together in person, we remain ever united in spirit as part of our great family of faith.

We welcome each and every one of you to this year’s Novena to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart.

We hope and pray that these nine days of prayer will be a grace-filled and blessed time for all of us.

TAKE PART IN OUR 2021 OLSH NOVENA

The MSC Message: Summer 2021

Welcome to the Summer 2021 edition of the MSC Message!

This summer’s edition of the MSC Message is a slightly different one, as we share just some of the ways in which our MSCs have been working to provide COVID relief aid around the world. 

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

• Find out more about the ways in which MSCs are protecting lives from COVID-19 in India, with reports from Fr Darwin Thatheus MSC, Regional Superior in Bangalore.

• Read about MSC COVID outreach in Brazil, from the distribution of basic care packages to the provision of safe and secure housing for families who have lost their homes.

• Learn more about MSC COVID relief aid in the Philippines, where communities are struggling desperately to fight the pandemic in the wake of appalling typhoons.

• Meet the new MSC Vocations team.

• Read a message from Bro Giacomo Gelardi MSC, who has been ministering throughout the pandemic in Killinarden, Dublin, an area already plagued by issues such as violence and drug and alcohol abuse.

Read the MSC Message Summer 2021

MSC COVID-19 Ministry: Relief projects in the Philippines

The MSC Mission Office in the Philippines is currently raising funds to coordinate a mission outreach programme for families who have been severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since the onset of the pandemic in early 2020, millions of people in the Philippines have lost their jobs and livelihoods, and have been relying on government assistance and charitable donations. This is of particular concern in areas where poverty has long been a pressing issue, where families were already living hand-to-mouth and were struggling to put food on the table. Now, with a second wave of COVID-19 wreaking further havoc across the Philippines, many families have the very real worry of how they are going to feed their children, as well as the overwhelming fear and uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus threat.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has affected so many lives of Filipino people,” writes Fr Samuel Patriarca MSC. “Millions have lost their jobs and businesses, which lead to a great impact in the livelihood and food system of the country. Food security is one of the main adversities that every Filipino has been dealing since the start of the pandemic. As the country is on verge of the second wave of COVID-19, more and more people become hungry and most of them rely on relief drives organised by the government and other civic organisations.”

The MSC Mission Office in the Philippines has been providing relief assistance where possible since the pandemic took hold, providing food and essential items to families in need. Their next mission outreach programme, which they aim to run this summer, will see relief distributions to 3,000 families across three of the most badly affected areas in the country: Luzon (Sta. Quiteria and Caloocan), Visayas (Camotes Island and Cebu), and Mindanao (Butuan and Agusan del Norte).

Each relief pack will provide food and basic items that will act as a lifeline to these families, at a cost of 500 Philippine pesos – approximately €8.50 – per pack.

Just €8.50 will provide an emergency relief pack
for a family in the Philippines. Can you help?

“We hope that through this project, we will be able to help the most vulnerable sectors of the society, the poor.”

– Fr Samuel Patriarca MSC
Director of the MSC Mission Office in the Philippines

PLEASE SUPPORT MSC COVID-19 RELIEF IN THE PHILIPPINES

MSC COVID-19 Ministry: Outreach programmes in Brazil

The coronavirus has torn through Brazil, where the death toll of half a million people was the second-highest in the world in June 2021. With the situation labelled as “critical”, the pandemic continues to have a devastating effect on health, employment, and social and financial security – and our MSCs across Brazil are doing their best to help those who need it most.

Distributing care packages in Muriaé

The São Paulo Social Work Project is based in the city of Muriaé, in Minas Gerais, Brazil, where MSC missionaries help the poorest people every day. The project works daily on two main purposes: The provision of essential medicines which are expensive, or unavailable via public health services, and the distribution of food baskets, containing basic necessities.

In addition to food and medicine, the project also provides families in need with nappies for young children, and hygiene and cleaning products, which are more crucial than ever in the current pandemic.

The São Paulo Social Work Project is funded by donations from local people, and additional resources made available by the parish. The distribution of food, hygiene products, and medicine takes place from the project’s head office, or care packs are sent by volunteers to the homes of those who are unable to collect them in person.

The monthly cost of the project is estimated at approximately €770. This currently provides food baskets for around 80 families every month, along with the distribution of over 200 medicines monthly.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, requests for help from the São Paulo Social Work Project have increased significantly, as many people in the region find themselves unemployed and without the means to support their families. MSCs in the region are currently trying to raise funds for a year’s worth of relief aid, amounting to €9,240 in total.

Just €9.60 will provide food, medication, and cleaning products for a family in Muriaé for a month.
A donation of €115.50 will give that family these necessities for a year.

A contribution of €9.60 will provide food, medication & cleaning products for a family in Muriaé for a month.

Sowing seeds for the future in Rio de Janeiro

The São Francisco de Assis Social Work Project was founded by MSCs in São Gonçalo-RJ, Brazil, in March 1988. The project originally began with the establishment of a community crèche to help single mothers and their children, before the implemention of a larger-scale project in 2005, which aimed to support disadvantaged parents and children in the area, providing opportunities for personal development and professional qualifications. With the help of this programme, single parents and vulnerable families have been able to work towards gaining education, qualifications, and paid work, all with the aim of providing independence, dignity, and an improved quality of life.

The São Francisco de Assis Project are now raising funds to help vulnerable families in Rio de Janeiro in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Their latest project, named The Desert Also Produces Flowers, will focus on:

• Promoting health and wellbeing following the pandemic, with specific attention on women’s health.
• Working with the local community employment centre to run workshops for people who are lacking in the necessary skills to find employment. These workshops will include computer skills, caregiving for the elderly and infirm, sewing and clothing production, and beauty courses.
• Developing and running educational courses to help people in financial difficulty to gain qualifications, prepare for the world of work, and improve their quality of life in the aftermath of the COVID pandemic.

The Obra Comunitária São Francisco de Assis are working to raise a total of €2,900 in order to be able to fund this new community programme, which will run for a period of 10 months.

Can you help to give a family in Brazil a second chance?

A focus on family in Pinheirinho

The ongoing plague of the coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated existing problems of violence, marginalisation, and poverty in the area of Pinheirinho, in the city of Curitiba, and MSCs in the region are working to help vulnerable families who are struggling with a lack of facilities, a lack of support, and often, a lack of the most basic necessities.

The Projeto Família Viva, or the Living Family Project, hosts weekly meetings for 120 families in the area, with talks on themes such as addiction, health, family values, and spirituality. Monthly meetings also promote self-help, with particular emphasis on support for those struggling with alcoholism, or with family members who are dependent on alcohol.

Home visits are carried out by volunteers, who provide help and offer much-needed social interaction to those who are alone. Workshops are also held, teaching skills including knitting, embroidery, painting, and making clothes and rugs. Monthly bazaars are held to sell the products made during craft workshops, with all funds raised diverted back into the project.

The ministry provided by the Projeto Família Viva is invaluable; in addition, the group supply essential care packages to families in need every month, containing food, medicine, and basic necessities. MSCs in Pinheirinho are working to raise funds to continue the work of the Projeto Família Viva, and the provision of essential items to families who have been left without the means to support themselves as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

A donation of just €19 will provide a monthly care package for a family in need in Pinheirinho.
Can you provide a Brazilian family with this lifeline?

Just €19 will provide a monthly care package
for a family in need in Pinheirinho.

Providing a safe haven in Minas Gerais

The Pró-Moradia Housing Project was founded by Fr Tiago Prins MSC in 1992, in Muriaé, Minas Gerais, a region of Rio de Janeiro that is significantly affected by poverty. Fr Tiago developed this project with the aim of being able to give low-income families access to safe, secure, and comfortable housing.

Sadly, the number of people living on the streets in Rio de Janeiro is increasing rapidly due to the harsh rise in unemployment brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, exacerbated by the lack of support from the Brazilian government.

Each house costs approximately €1,600 to build, and the houses themselves are built on a volunteer basis by their future residents. MSCs in Muriaé are appealing for the funds to build 10 new houses, to help those families who have lost their livelihoods and their homes due to the coronavirus pandemic.

For €1,600, a displaced family in Brazil will have a new home. Can you help?

For €1,600, a family in Brazil will have a safe home.
Can you make a difference?

PLEASE SUPPORT MSC COVID AID IN BRAZIL

MSC COVID-19 Ministry: Protecting lives in India

It has been impossible to avoid news reports of the horrific effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in India. Harrowing images of overcrowded hospitals and mass open-air cremations have appeared in our newspapers and on our television screens. The disease has run rampant throughout the country, infecting millions and killing hundreds of thousands. MSCs in India have been doing their very best to help those in desperate need; however, it is often a case of trying to do an awful lot with very little.

“In India, the situation has become worse,” writes Fr Darwin Thatheus MSC, Regional Superior in Bangalore. “In many areas, daily life has come to a halt.”

The Indian government has put in place an ongoing lockdown with an advisory to stay at home, and so many people, including daily-wage labourers, have lost their livelihoods. They now have no income at all and are locked in a serious struggle to meet their daily needs.

MSCs in India have been providing a rapid response programme to ensure that those in need have essential relief supplies, including dry rations and basic hygiene necessities.

To date, the MSC Mission Office in India have provided help with:

• Food for daily-wage workers who have lost their income.
• Groceries and dry-ration supplies for poor families and migrant workers in Bangalore City and beyond.
• Dry-ration relief supplies for rural parishes ministered to by MSCs.
• Food and provisions for widows and elderly women.
• Medical assistance for COVID-19 patients.
• Dry-ration supplies for school staff at the Chevalier Academy. The school caters for students in a rural parish, where poverty is rife. The school has not been able to function properly during the COVID pandemic, and so the staff have been out of work, without pay. The MSC Indian Mission Office have supported 57 teachers and staff members with food and essential provisions.
• Distribution of hand wash, face masks, and sanitiser for residents of homes for the elderly, along with nutritional food such as eggs, buttermilk, and Ragi, a whole-grain which is rich in fibre, calcium, and Vitamin D.

“We have helped those affected by the pandemic in whatever way we could help,” writes Fr Darwin. “While adhering to all safety and hygiene measures, we began our relief service by providing a meal or packed grocery kits to the marginalised and the low-income segment of our society, which is largely made up of daily-wage workers, migrant labourers, construction site workers, and needy people at old-age homes and night shelters in the states of Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala.”

“We want to continue to help people during this ongoing lockdown situation,” says Fr Darwin. “We want to provide them with food and other provisions as much as we can. But due to a lack of funds, we have not been able continue our service for the people.”

“These are unprecedented times and we are a close-knit community in the Heart of Jesus. We would greatly appreciate it if you will help us to fight against this pandemic with whatever you can.”

“Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have carried out COVID relief for those in need with dry rations, medical aid, and educational help for disadvantaged children. Unfortunately, we have not been able to continue our relief work due to a lack of funds.
It would be a great blessing for the poor people if you would help us to help them.

Together, we are stronger. Together, we can overcome.
Big or small, every effort counts and it will all have a great impact on someone’s life.

Individually, we are just one drop.
Together, we are an ocean.

– Fr Darwin Thatheus MSC
Regional Superior in Bangalore

Can you help our MSCs to protect lives in India?

PLEASE SUPPORT MSC COVID-19 RELIEF IN INDIA

“Yes, miracles happen!”: The Profession of Fr Gerwin Mendoza Lumanglas MSC

Fr Gerwin Mendoza Lumanglas MSC, of the Philippine Province, professed his final vows to become a Missionary of the Sacred Heart in May of this year, while being treated in hospital for pneumonia and acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. In his own words, he shares his story, travelling from the brink of death to a hopeful, faith-filled future.  

Final Vows: In God’s Hand

“I am Gerwin Mendoza Lumanglas, MSC of the Philippine Province, 37 years old, presently assigned to the Chevalier School, Angeles City Pampanga, Philippines, as a Campus Ministry Officer. I joined the MSC in 2013 and made my First Profession on June 2nd 2016.

I have encountered many challenges in my journey as an MSC. The most recent one was on May 3rd 2021. I was brought to the hospital and was diagnosed with pneumonia and acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. My blood count level went down to the lowest. My haemoglobin was only 5. The normal level is 140 – 175. My platelet was only 7. The normal level is 150 – 400. I was at the brim of death.”

“Yes, miracles happen!”

“On May 12th 2021, while at my hospital bed, I professed my vows for life of obedience in fraternal charity, consecrated celibacy, and evangelical poverty in the MSC Society. Dedicating myself to God and the Society of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart while in the four corners of my room in the hospital was very memorable for me. I was very alive and happy to utter the words of my commitment to the Society in front of my Provincial Superior, Fr Bogey Cabrera MSC, together with my witnesses, the Rector of the Chevalier School Fr Ben Roquero MSC, and our Chevalier School secretary, CFLA member Mr Lamberto Arcilla II.

Yes, miracles happen! God works mysteriously. I was terrified and helpless at that moment, but instead of losing hope, I placed my complete trust and faith in the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, and fervently asked for the intercession of our Father Founder – Jules Chevalier. Now, I feel okay and vibrant, although I have to submit to chemotherapy sessions to ensure complete recovery.”

“Thanks for the Love and Mercy of God. Everything happens with a purpose. I know that I have still a mission to fulfil and that is ‘to be the heart of Jesus here on earth’. May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be loved everywhere, now and forever. Amen.”

Fr Gerwin Mendoza MSC
(Province of Philippines)

Images courtesy of the MSC General Bulletin (June 2021) and the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart Australia website

A note from Fiji: Reflections in a pandemic from Bro Warren Perrotto MSC

Bro Warren Perrotto MSC, originally from the US Province, ministers with the MSC community in Fiji. Here, via the Facebook page for the MSC Province of the Pacific Islands, he shares his thoughts on the most recent wave of COVID-19 in the region.

A New Wave

“Since March, the COVID-19 virus has landed on Viti Levu, Fiji, via a repatriation flight. One passenger was contaminated. Different from the first wave, the 2021 invasion began to sweep at a rapid speed throughout the isle. The government and police have sanctioned restrictions, such as lockdowns and quarantines, including masks when going outdoors. The island also has a curfew, and all schools are closed until further notice.

However, the rapid pace of the virus throughout the island is primarily due to the lack of cooperation of persons not following the government’s restrictions, including not wearing a mask, not keeping social distance, such as social gatherings, drunkenness, and not following curfew hours (6.00pm to 4.00am). The arrest of these people does not seem to have much of an impact.

All of these things have a devastating effect on the Fijian economy. There is unemployment, lack of food and water supplies, marital violence, and violence among the youth, accompanied by psychological stress. On writing this, on June 27^th 2021, we have 3,329 active cases, 15 deaths, and 736 recoveries.

Australia and New Zealand deserve our appreciation. These two countries generously gave aid to Fiji. They have donated thousands of needles, food supplies, and necessary medical equipment. These have been a significant contribution to contain the virus from spreading. Most MSCs here in Fiji have received their first ‘jab’. We must wait three months for our second injection.

The real heroes and heroines in this pandemic are the nurses, doctors, volunteers, and police. Each day they risk their lives to assist and protect the people from this sickness. We thank them for their unwavering dedication.”

Bro Warren and the Fiji community are among many MSCs around the world who are working together to combat the spread of COVID-19 among the poorest and most vulnerable. Please keep them in your prayers.

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