MSC Australia

150 Years

On Sunday 25^th October the MSC Superior General, Father Mark McDonald, presided at the Eucharistic Celebration marking the 150^th Anniversary of the introduction of devotion to “Our Lady of the Sacred” at the Church of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, Randwick. Father Jules Chevalier bestowed this title on the Mother of God to highlight her close relationship with the mission of the Heart of her Son. Chevalier was convinced that the beginnings of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart owed everything to Mary. In 1859 he also visited John Vianney, the Curé of Ars, shortly before the death of the saintly priest, to discuss his dreams for his new foundation of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. The Curé assured him that Mary would do all the work in the new society. Many MSC, Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, lay members of the Chevalier Family, parishioners and friends joined in a deeply memorable and joy-filled celebration.

The Basilica of the Sacred Heart at Issoudun in France was constructed by Chevalier as centre for the devotion and it continues today to be one of the major centres of devotion to the Mother of Christ. The devotion helps us appreciate Mary’s place in the plan of God, her profound and intimate association with the love of God (symbolised in the Heart of Jesus), how she is loved, how she loves and how she leads us to share in the love of Christ. The Australian National Shrine is situated in the church at Randwick.

Ordination of Peter Hendricks

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The Australian Province recently celebrated the ordination of Peter Hendricks. In the evening of Friday 4th September last, peter was ordained to teh ministerial priesthood by Bishop David Walker of Broken Bay. The ordination took place in St Thomas' Church, Willoughby - an MSC parish. A crowd of parishioners , felllow MSC and other priests took part in a very joy-filled celebration. Willoughby is also the site of the MSC initial formation community and Peter had been working in the parish for about 2 years, first as a seminarian and recently as deacon. The parish community had been involved in the preparations for the ordination and the festivities continued into the early hours of the morning. Peter celebrated a Mass of Thanksgiving in the same church on Saturday evening.

APIA

Missionaries of the Sacred Heart from across Asia and the Pacific are meeting in Manila.

Known as APIA, representatives from Korea, Japan, Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Papua New Guinea, Australia and the Pacific are meeting to discuss formation of religious in today's world. Justice Peace and the Integrity of Creation is another one of the working groups.

Besides these two activities there is also a meeting of the MSC Leaders from all of these countries.

The APIA Conference will conclude on October 2nd.