PROFESSION

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INTERNATIONAL

TRANSFER

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PDC DEVELOPMENT

1

SHARING OF

MEMBERS

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GENERAL CHAPTER

4

INTERNATIONAL

COURSE

4

TRI-GENERALATE

5

CHEVALIER FAMILY

5

UPDATE 5

JPIC EVENTS

6

JPIC CALENDAR

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Inside this issue:

ISSUE NO. 3-2014/May

PROFESSION

FIRST PROFESSION

On January 25, 2014, Sister Claudia Jeannette Acosta Estrada who complet-ed her novitiate in Peru made her first profession and joined the Community of Guatemala. We rejoice and thank the Lord for Sr. Claudia and assure her of our prayer and support. May she experience God’s blessings as she begins her life and journey as a Missionary Sister of the Sacred Heart.

INTERNATIONAL TRANSFER

PNG: Sister Friederika Ahlers from the PNG Province has transferred back to the German Province due to health issues. Sister first went to Papua New Guinea in 1968 and she spent 46 years of her missionary life there. As a teacher and administrator Sister Friederika generously shared her talents and gifts in service to the church, the community and people of Papua New Guinea. These past years she dedicated herself to promoting better life conditions for women in difficult situations. We appreciate her many activities and availability for service in PNG and above all her love and personal presence to the sisters. We graciously thank Sister Friederika for her dedication in all her missionary endeavors and wish her a peaceful transition.

PDC DEVELOPMENT

PNG: YOUNG WOMEN’S HOSTEL AND CHILD DAY CARE FACILITY Newly Completed Facility of the PNG Province

CONGREGATIONAL NEWSLETTER

M I S S I O N A R Y S I S T E R S O F T H E S A C R E D H E A R T O F J E S U S

Sr. Hubertine Babe, msc provides this update on the completion of the Young Women’s Hostel and Child Care Facility in Port Moresby, a project of the MSC sisters in PNG. The National Pastoral Plan of the Bishops in PNG and Solomon Islands developed at the General Assembly of the Church of PNG in 2004 empha-sised that, “It is a key priority for the Catholic Church that children be loved and cared for. The poor and disadvantaged are to be a high priority. As Church we are committed to empowering people towards greater self-reliance, ensuring justice in employment conditions and opportunities and ensuring respect for the rights of all but espe-cially women and children.” (National Pastoral Plan for the Catholic Church in PNG p.11). In 2009 we, the Missionary Sisters in PNG (MSC PNG) decided to provide safe accommodation for single women and a Day Care Facility for children in Gerehu, Port Moresby after receiving many re-quests, including from the parish priest for this much needed ministry for children. There is a great need for affordable and secure housing for single women who come into the city to do their studies and also for our working single women. Many wom-en have accommodation with their relatives which is usually crowded and sometimes these women are victims of emotional and physical violence occurring in the homes. The sisters see the need to give our women life skills training so we plan to have residents from mixed backgrounds and also involve some young women to share their work experiences. Our resi-dents will include some professional women and we would like to have more participation and net-work among the women in the wider community.

The women in PNG are growing stronger in their contribution towards our society. We would like to empower our women through intercultural living so that we as a society can build up ourselves, learn-ing how to be helpful and cope well with the ten-sions. Sr. Dorothy Patiu, province leader has appointed Sr. Hubertine as the manager of the new facility. Sr. Gabriella who just completed two years training in early childhood development will co-ordinate the child care work assisted by Sr. Theclar, a communi-ty health worker who has experience in child development and health. Sr. Bernadette Vitus will join the staff assisting in both the hostel and child care facility. The staff will work to promote the integral human development values of PNG; improving the life choices and opportunities of those who are unfortu-nate. A further purpose of the project is to achieve income generation for long term sustainability of this service. The plan was to open the facility in March 2014; but unfortunately this was not possible since some-times work moves more slowly than planned in PNG. There were many delays but we are now very close to the completion of the buildings. We expect to receive our residents at the end of April or early May 2014 once we receive our certificate of occu-pancy. We would like to thank the congregation for the prayer and financial support of this project. We ask that you continue to pray for us that we will worthily serve those to whom we are being called in ministry.

The newly constructed hostel and child care facility with two buildings is located in Gerehu, Port Moresby. It is situated in an MSC parish and an área where the MSC sisters have been doing ministry for many years. The sisters’ convent is adjacent to the new facility.

May God Bless this new venture!

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SHARING OF MEMBERS

NAMIBIA: DAYS OF PRAYER AND SHARING OF EXPERIENCE

On the 29th of December 2013 to 5 January 2014 we the temporary professed sisters, novices and pre-novices from the Namibian province com-menced our annual retreat under the theme “Faith is the Breath of our Being”. Fr Julius, msc and Sr. Cecilia Nangombe, MSC were the directors of the retreat. These were indeed days of silence, prayer and contemplation as we journeyed with our Lord. We were challenged to look into ourselves to see how we can influence, transform and strengthen the lives of people by our lives as young MSCs making the love of the Sacred Heart known every-where. We were asked to reflect on what it means to be a Missionary Sister of the Sacred Heart and how to be an effective witness of the Lord. We learned from each other as we shared our experi-ences. There were moments of renewal, transformation and indeed grace filled days for we took the oppor-tunity to see how we live out our consecrated vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. As we approached the end of our journey we were encouraged to take our vocation serious: to be genuine and authentic in who we say we are; to be the persons God wants us to be and do our apos-tolate with joy and love. We are to proclaim his unconditional love and compassion to all the people especially the poor and marginalized, never letting go of the charism and spirituality of our founder and living according to our motto: to makethe Heart of God known and loved every-where.

On the 2nd of January three candidates and three postulants took the next step in religious life while the six novices completed their canonical year. On the 5th of January the twelve of us renewed our com-mitments to follow Christ through service being witnesses of his Heart in our society. This was a happy and joyful day for all of us. In January we, the temporary professed sisters also had a course conducted by Srs. Cecilia Nangombe and Bonifacia. We were enriched and gained new insights. We looked at our own life history and differ-ent aspects of our lives to understand the source of conflicts, to listen to our feelings/emotions, to listen actively and make peace with those who have hurt us and to appreciate those who uplifted our self-esteem and confidence.

Sr. Cecilia has made us aware of how to deal with others especially in community so that we make our communities places of joy and love. As we spent time looking at ourselves, Sr. Bonifacia spoke to us about how to love ourselves, self care and HIV/AIDS. We are grateful to Sr. Cecilia and Sr. Bonifacia for their efforts, encouragement and wisdom. May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be Loved Everywhere!

- By Sr. Elisabeth Amunyela, MSC -

Temporary Professed Sister

Shrine of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in Otjiwarongo,

the location of the Formation House

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GENERAL CHAPTER

STAFF AND RESOURCE PERSONNEL

We are happy to share further information about the staff and resource persons for our general chapter. We will have two outside speakers, Fr. Frank Morrisey, OMI, a Canon Lawyer will help us to better understand matters pertaining to the Constitutions, and Fr. Gerardo Aste, SJ will guide us during the three days of reflection and discernment at the beginning of the chapter.

Resource Persons: Fr. Francis Morrisey, OMI (Canada) Fr. Gerardo Aste, SJ (Peru)

Facilitator: Sr. Kate DuVal, SSND (USA)

Presider of Elections: Sr. Klara Sietmann, MSC (Peru)

Secretaries: Sr. Deborah Reho, MSC (USA) Sr. Nicola Sprenger, MSC (Philippines)

Translators: German: Sr. Kunigunde Holtmannspötter, MSC Sr. Simone Petra Hanel, SSpS Spanish: Fr. Vincent Screene, MSC (June 1-9) Fr. Hugo Londoño, MSC (June 10-25) Ms. Luisa Sara Portocarrero Cevallos Korean: Sr. David Park, MSC Sr. Maria Kim, CDP

Site Coordinator: Sr. Juana Valera, MSC (Peru) We are grateful for the assistance of the staff and resource persons.

INTERNATIONAL COURSE

From July 6 – August 2, 2014, Cor Novum will offer the course “Spirituality of the Heart: Yesterday; Today, Towards the Future” in Issoudun, France. We foresee 15 MSC Sisters participating in the course. They are as follows:

India: Sr. Arokia Mary Sr. Bindu Chacko Sr. Veronicka Mary

Korea: Sr. Marie Fiat Joun Sr. Noel Kim Sr. Pascalia Lee Sr. Marie Paul Bae Sr. Claudia Jang Sr. Marin Park

Namibia: Sr. Bernadette Shousiku Sr. Monika Sheehama Sr. Merciana Tamuti Sr. Elfriede Nakale

Sutri: Sr. Johanna Kwon As usual, after the course the Sisters are invited to visit the Generalate and the Motherhouse in Hiltrup. We, the members of the General Administration, as well as the Sisters in Germany are happy to meet with the visiting Sisters for some dialogue and to facilitate their visits to important places in Italy and Germany.

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TRI-GENERALATE GENERAL CHAPTER: DAUGHTERS OF OUR LADY OF THE SACRED HEART

From March 24 – April 3, 2014, at their General Chapter in Nemi, Rome, the FDNSC Sisters elected Sister Marife Mendoza as Superior General and the following members were appointed and confirmed as General Councilors:

Sr. Laurentia Piranti (Indonesia) Sr. Merle Salazar (Philippines)

Sr. Elly van Dijk (Netherlands) Sr. Madeleine Ngoy (Congo)

From left: Sr. Marife, Sr. Elly, Sr. Laurentia, and Sr. Merle.

(At present Sr. Madeleine is in Canada.)

We wish them blessings and the guidance of the Holy Spirit as they take up the role of leadership for their congregation. CHEVALIER FAMILY

LAY ASSOCIATE MEETING

Sr. Barbara represented the Tri-Generalate at the bi-annual meeting of the International Lay Coordina-tion Committee of the Chevalier Family held from April 4-6th in Lyon, France. Fr. Hans Kwakman, msc representing Cor Novum also attended the meeting. Roland Douchin, the secretary of Cor Novum assist-ed with the French and English translation and also presented a new design under construction for the Cor Novum website which will include a section for the laity. Elisabeth Hartmann, coordinator of the

laity in our German province and a member of the committee was present for the meeting. Representing the International Lay Coordinating Committee of the Chevalier Family, Rita Cleuren and Hannie Jansen recently visited Cameroon where they gained a better understanding and appreciation of the lay movement of the Chevalier Family there. They shared their experience and the hopes, positive undertakings and concerns of the laity in Cameroon. Hans Kwakman, msc recently was in Korea where he also met with the laity.

DECREE FOR THE CAUSE OF SAINTHOOD

On Tuesday, April 15, 2014. the Holy Father Pope Francis promulgated the decree which declared the Servant of God, Bishop Alain-Marie Guynot de

Boismenu, MSC, “VENERABLE”.

Pope Francis recognized the heroic virtues of Bishop Alain-Marie Guynot de Boismenu (1870-1953) who served as the apostolic vicar of Papua New Guinea.

Receiving this good news, the MSC sisters share the joy of our MSC priests and brothers.

UPDATE

CONSECRATED LIFE

Through the recently pub-lished Circular Letter, entitled “Rallegratevi” or “Rejoice”, the Congregation for the Insti-tutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life (CICLSAL) opened the spiritu-al itinerary toward 2015, the year which the Church is ded-

icating to Consecrated Life. A common path for personal reflection and dialogue is being offered.

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During this journey, all are encouraged to revisit the richness of the Magisterium of the Church and the teachings of the Holy Father giving attention not only to the basics of following Christ but its fruits or results. In a communication about the letter, “Rejoice”, Nicla Spezzti Broken, secretary of CICALSAL shared the following: A vocation founded on Christ in the form of the Gospel, overflows with joy, “That my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full.” (Jn 15, 20). In the world there is often a lack of joy. We are not called upon to perform acts or to proclaim epic sounding words, but to witness the joy that comes from the certainty of being loved, of being saved by faith. Our memories are short and sluggish experi-ences prevent us often to look for the "land of joy" in which to enjoy the reflection of God, and find the roots of the Spirit. (see www.vidimusdominum.org)

Letter is available online at: www.cori.ie/justice2/66-Executive_ Board/786-rejoice-pope-francis-to-religious

JPIC EVENTS

MAY 3: WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY

This day was declared by the U.N. to raise awareness of the im-portance of freedom of the press and remind governments of their duty to respect and uphold the right to freedom of expression enshrined under Article 19 of the Universal

Declaration of Human Rights. The date also marks the anniversary of the Declaration of Windhoek, a statement of free press principles put together by African newspaper journalists in 1991.

UNESCO marks this day by conferring the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize on a deserving individual, organization or institution that has made an outstanding contribu-tion to the defense or promotion of press freedom anywhere in the world, especially when this has been achieved in the face of danger.

JUNE 4: INTERNATIONAL DAY OF INNOCENT CHILDREN VICTIMS OF AGGRESSION

On 19 August 1982, at its emergency special session on the question of Palestine, the General

Assembly, “appalled at the great number of inno-cent Palestinian and Lebanese children victims of Israel’s acts of aggression”, decided to commemo-rate the 4th of June each year as the International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression. The purpose of the day is to acknowledge the pain suffered by children throughout the world who are the victims of physical, mental and emotional abuse. This day affirms the UN's commitment to protect the rights of children.

Two young residents from the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) Acqba Jaber camp for Palestinian ref-ugees in the West Bank.

JULY 9, 2014: INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF ARMAMENTS

The observance of the International Small Arms Destruction Day is part of an ongoing effort to reduce armed violence and support the rule of law around the world.

Excess, loosely secured, or otherwise at-risk small arms, light weapons and munitions pose both a security and humanitarian risk worldwide. In 2001, the United Nations called for an international observance of the impact of illicit flows of small arms and light weapons. Since then more than 1.4 million small arms and light weapons, and 80,000 tons of munitions, and almost 32,000 man-portable air-defense systems, which could have posed a threat to global aviation in the hands of terrorists or insurgents have been destroyed.

All nations are encouraged to continue implement-ing relevant UN and regional instruments on the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons and to consider further steps to enhance international cooperation in preventing, combating and eradicat-ing illicit brokering in small arms and light weapons.

Chinese made Type--72SP anti-vehicle landmines are stacked in preparation for their destruction in eastern Libya on March 21, 2012.

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Love must urge us on… we meditate on the infinite and divine love.

This love must inflame and enkindle us; it must inflame everything that comes in contact with us.

Love is stronger than death. It is creative to reach its goal…..

(Fr. Linckens – Retreat 5th Talk)

JPIC CALENDAR

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P V

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M T

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May 01 International Workers’ Day/ Labor Day (St. Joseph the worker) 03 World Press Freedom Day (UN) 15 International Day of Families (UN) 19 Fight Hunger: Walk the World 21 World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development (UN) 31 Feast of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart World No-Tobacco Day

June 04 International Day for Innocent Children Victims of Aggression (UN) 05 World Environment Day (UN) 12 World Day to Combat Child Labor (UN) 17 World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought (UN) 20 World Refugee Day (UN) 26 International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking/ International Day in Support of Victims of Torture (UN) 27 Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

July 09 International Day for Destruction of Armaments 11 World Population Day (UN) 16 World Day of Men and Women of the Sea