A 2020 Mary MacKillop reflection.

8^th August was the feast of St Mary of the Cross, who was banished and excommunicated for a time, can teach us courage – Interview with Josephite Superior General, Monica Cavanagh.

Catholic Leader

By Emilie Ng

THERE was the time she was forced to leave Queensland, then banished from Adelaide, not to mention the unbearable five-months of excommunication by her own bishop – if anyone knows about isolation, it’s St Mary of the Cross MacKillop.

And now, in the middle of a possible second wave of coronavirus, Australia’s first saint is facing isolation once more.

Hundreds of pilgrims would normally flock to Mary MacKillop’s tomb in North Sydney this time of year to mark her feast day on August 8.

Instead, the doors to her chapel will be closed, as Sydney works to suppress the virus, which is largely affecting Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland.

Public events and Masses, including Saturday’s MacKillop Mass in Brisbane, will be limited to online streaming.

It’s unfortunate timing as this year marks the tenth anniversary of St Mary MacKillop’s canonisation in Rome.

But Sr Monica Cavanagh, who is congregational leader of the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart, the order co-founded by St Mary MacKillop, said there was possibly no better time to remember the outstanding nun, who like many Australians impacted by COVID-19, experienced loneliness, isolation, and even restriction of movement.

“I think throughout her life she had many experiences of feeling perhaps isolated, as in her excommunication, when she couldn’t actually have contact with the Sisters,” Sr Cavanagh said.

“I think there’s a couple of times in her life when she said the struggle had been so great that she felt like giving it all up.”

Sr Cavanagh said a letter Mary MacKillop wrote in 1874 could sum up what some Australians were feeling now.

The saint wrote the letter while in Scotland awaiting a decision from Rome regarding her order’s constitutions.

“Cried myself to sleep,” Sr Cavanagh read.

“Was so weary of the struggle and felt so utterly alone. Could not pray or say my ordinary Rosaries – only offered my weary heart’s trials to my God”.

Another trial came through the clash between Bishop James Quinn, the former Bishop of Brisbane.

“In the Queensland story, when the Sisters were leaving in 1879, the paper recorded the people thanked the sisters and Mary got up to answer and she couldn’t speak and burst into tears at the thought of leaving these people behind,” Sr Cavanagh said.

More than 100 years later, and St Mary of the Cross is now the patron saint of Brisbane.

Sr Cavanagh said St Mary MacKillop, who suffered ill-health for much of her life, would also be close to those whose health have been impacted by COVID-19.

Her courage in the face of adversity, Sr Cavanagh said, was what Australia needed to get through the pandemic.

“I think one of the great qualities was her capacity to persevere in the face of adversity,” Sr Cavanagh said.

“That quality I would then name as courage – she was a courageous woman.

“One of the lovely things in the midst of all of this is Mary shows her humanity.

“She never lost sight of the God who loved her, but she didn’t deny that she felt those things.

“I think she’d say to us, don’t deny what you’re feeling, because those feelings are real, but they can be a pathway to hope and faith.”

For St Mary MacKillop, that pathway was often paired with an act of charity and compassion, to quote her famous phrase: ‘Never see a need without trying to do something about it’.

Sr Cavanagh said she hoped on St Mary MacKillop’s feast day that Australians would find their own way to do “the MacKillop thing”.

“What I’d be saying to people is what’s the MacKillop thing that you can do on this feast day?” she said.

“We’re not going to be able to gather to celebrate in the ways that we would normally, so is there a MacKillop thing I could do through someone living near me, through making a connection.

“She’d be encouraging us to use all those means of connections, and really just to be that little word of hope or word of kindness for people.”

Goilala reconcile with God and France.  A PNG story. Death of Fr Jules Dubuy MSC

Esther Bralyn Wani, NBC News PNG

Tim Brennan sent a message from the French MSC Provincial, Daniel Auguie, concerning the death of Fr Jules Dubuy in 1952, considered an accident but revealed that he was murdered. The retiring ambassador to PNG wrote to the Provincial about a ceremony of reconciliation for August 6^th.

Here is the report of the occasion by NBC PNG.

In a historic and first of its kind ceremony, the people of Goilala in Central Province have reconciled with the Catholic Church and the people of France for a murder that took place 68 years ago.

It was that of French Catholic priest, Father Jules Dubuy at the Ononge Parish in the Woitape Local Level Government of the District in 1952.

The Dubuy Reconciliation ceremony took place on the 6th August this year - the date the priest was murdered.

This after two years of planning by the locals with support from their local Member, William Samb who is also the Minister for Transport.

The Goilala people believed that the death of the priest had cast a generational curse on them which has seen a lack of government services in the District and even their children not going far in their education.

“We have seen developments in terms of Infrastructure, human resource and the way of life for other Papua New Guineans and more so Central province and we (Goilala District) are doing soul searching. When I first went into parliament, I have been asking, is there an issue that we need to address, and thankfully the story of Fr. Dubuy and how he died came up.

“If you look at Goilala, you will see remnants or evidence of the Frenchmen, the road, the building, the airstrip, while the only services that the government can boast of is the Tapini road and the Tapini High School, apart from that, most of the services are run by the Catholic Church, started by the missionaries," Mr. Samb said.

Representing the people of France and the family of late Fr. Jules Dubuy, was French Ambassador, Philipe Janvier-Kamiyama.

The families of the late Fr. Dubuy were unable to be there for the reconciliation ceremony due to COVID-19, but instead sent a letter.

Ambassador Janvier-Kamiyama said the gestures of the Goilala community to reconcile will further strengthen co-operation between France and Goilala.

“I hope co-operation can be established between this region and France, in line with the past actions of the missionaries, especially those of Fr. Dubuy, and so that what they have undertaken can be continued,” Mr. Janvier-Kamiyama said.

Fr. Dubuy’s family wrote that “for the French and Europeans, this ceremony serves as an example that can inspire many countries recovering from war, to build from it, humane, generous and positive societies and that the Goilala people are showing the way.

“In conclusion, we do more than forgive you and in memory of our great-uncle Jules, let us express our most sincere wishes that this ceremony will contribute to the happy development future relations between all the inhabitants of the district, and even of the province and beyond,” Ambassador Janvier-Kamiyama read from the letter.

Bishop of the Bereina Catholic Diocese Otto Separy, accepted the locals’ apology on behalf of the Church.

The event ended with a traditional reconciliation ceremony, and the blessing of late Fr. Dubuy’s grave.

The Jules Dubuy Reconciliation Association will now be turned into the Dubuy Foundation to develop old infrastructure in the area while the Ononge parish will be turned into a cultural heritage site.

NEVILLE DUNNE – PANEGYRIC  - a tribute and our opportunity to learn the life and ministry of our confrere

Unless the grain of wheat falls on the ground and dies, it remains only a single grain; but if it dies, it yields a rich harvest.  (Jn. 14. 5 – 6)

In Milne Bay we sometimes translate this image as:  if the coconut does not let go and fall to the ground, it will only ever be a coconut.  But if it lets go and falls to the ground and dies, it becomes a coconut tree and produces thousands of coconuts.

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When Neville was appointed area superior of Milne Bay in 1980, the Provincial, Fr Dennis Murphy, sent him a short letter of congratulations and offer of support.  In reply, Neville wrote a long letter in which he praised Dennis for a eulogy he had delivered recently, for Bert Cuneo,  for his ability to see beneath the surface to the goodness of people. Neville commented that, if Dennis were to preach his eulogy, he would have to work hard and search deeper to discover the goodness.

This morning it is my privilege to try and explore the goodness of his life, to speak of his moments of dying and the abundant harvest his ministry produced.

Neville came to us from Downlands College, one of six students who went to Douglas park in 1951, it is said as a result of a retreat preached by Fr Frank Quirk.  Neville had been school captain during his final year and had been a member of the first fifteen rugby team for four years.  He was fly – half.  Those who know rugby tell us that a good fly-half needs two qualities: an ability to read the play and to adapt quickly.

In the documents for vows and orders there is one heading that reads:  piety/religious spirit/ discipline/ zealousness.  In the application for deaconate, Jim Cuskelly wrote of Neville:  Exemplary in all these things. One of the men who was a few years junior to Neville at Croydon told me: He did not talk much, but if Brother Dunne spoke, we all listened and followed his advice.

After his ordination in 1959, Neville was appointed to the MSC mission in Eastern Papua, to Sideia Island, as a teacher and pastor.  At that time there was a girl’s school and a boy’s school at Sideia to primary level, but they were being combined into one high school under the leadership of Fr John McGhee.  Neville taught himself to teach science, because no one else was willing to do so.  In 1965, Neville took over as headmaster of the new Sacred Heart High School and began to make plan to move the school to the mainland at Hagita, where there was space for expansion.  In 1969 they moved from the order and stability of Sideia to the rain, mud, flooded rivers and disorder of Hagita.

Being the founding Father of Sacred Heart High School, Hagita, was both part of Neville’s harvest and of his dying.  Most missionaries cope easily with the personal poverties of their situation (poor accommodation, leaking roofs, boring diet, limited recreational facilities), but the experience of real poverty of resources to build and develop can be either deeply dispiriting and disheartening or it can deepen the heart and spirit.  It seems to depend on two movements of heart:  letting go of ego (it is not my work, it is God’s work, and will happen in His good time); and gratitude for whatever resources one is given.  Neville grew in patience, in acceptance of reality and in gratitude for the resources he was given.  With Graham Furness he taught himself to become a draughtsman and quantity surveyor.  He begged architects and borrowed a bulldozer and grader as needed.  With our MSC brothers, with Graham and with Ray and Hank Flapper, the school was built slowly each year.

At the same time Neville was leading staff to set the intellectual and spiritual foundations of the new school.  He often spoke about the need for a well-rounded education (what later came to be called integral human development).  In this, he was supported by his senior staff, especially the OLSH Sisters, Margaret Jennings, Evelyn Page, Helen Warman, Maria Koae, Zita Pushai nd others.  These Sisters, together with Michael Morwood, Mick Puls, Col Milne and myself were the core staff for several years.

Neville never drank alcohol, but he did keep a bottle of whiskey in his house.  This was for John Guise (later Sir John Guise, the first Governor General of Papua New Guinea.  John was the local member of the Legislative Council / House of Assembly; whenever he returned from meetings in Port Moresby he would walk or catch a ride from the airstrip, look for Neville and ask for  “a cup of tea” and they would tell stories for hours.  John Guise adopted the school and helped obtain government grants for building and administrative costs.

His students of those years (Danny Luke and Carrie are here today) remember Neville as always kind and compassionate, friendly and firm, gentle and humble.  That is a beautiful harvest.

The 1970’s were a time of rapid change for both the country and the Church.  The country in its journey to independence and the Church changing from a mission to a local Church.  We had three years of meetings and workshops leading up to the general assembly of the church in 1975, with the theme: We are Church, Alive in Christ.  The goal was to help people understand that the church was no longer a foreign mission, or just the priests and religious, but a local church involving all.

Bishop Moore had been sending an MSC priest and an OLSH Sister to the East Asian Pastoral Institute in Manila for the past few years, to help prepare his co-workers to form people in this new way of being church and to learn about Vatican 2.  In 1974 /75 Neville and Helen Warman were sent.  Neville wrote about this year as a wonderful experience, the first time he had the opportunity to read more widely and reflect and share since his seminary days.  There was some discussion that he might stay on at EAPI and pursue a Masters in Ministry or Spirituality, but this did not happen.  Neville accepted this with good grace and returned to PNG.

He was appointed Paris Priest of Budoya on Ferguson Island, with a plan that he would gain parish ministry experience and then work in the new Pastoral Training Centre that Bishop Moore was establishing to train more lay leaders for the emerging church.

In 1980, Neville was appointed Area superior of the MSC in Milne Bay.  His main challenge as superior was not with the Australian MSC, most of whom were independent workers and fairly set in their ways.  His challenge was how to integrate Papua New Guinea MSC into such an established order so they would feel welcomed and be productive.  It was as Area superior that Neville attended the second Chapter of the PNG Pro-Province in 1986.  He was shocked to find himself one of those nominated for Provincial and, after the second ballot,  elected.  He wanted to refuse his election but Kees Braun, the Superior General who was present at the Chapter told him:  Please, Nev, accept it.  They need you now; they just voted for you; you are now a member of this new Province.

The challenge he faced as Provincial were on a much bigger scale to anything he had previously faced.  The challenge of inadequate buildings / office space was solved when the Australian Provincial, Fr Jim Littleton, gifted the buildings at Two Mile to the PNG Province, with the understanding it could also be used as a transit house for other MSC.  The challenges of establishing and strengthening processes and structures for finance, formation and governance were gradually resolved.  The biggest challenge was negotiating the relationships of the new PNG Province with the groups of MSC from other Provinces -  Australia, France, Germany, USA.  This was an impossible task – among us Aussies there were at least three different ideas about the relationship.  Neville wisely did not try and force any model but allowed things to change and grow slowly.

Neville wrote about his time as Provincial:  I tried my best to bring stability and a sense of unity.  One measure of his success was that the next three Provincials all asked Nev to be part of their Provincial Council for the institutional memory and wisdom he provided.

When Neville ended his time as Provincial as the end of 1992, he had planned to have a break and then join Frank Dineen at the Chevalier Retreat Centre in Vunapope.  This Centre was one of Neville’s initiatives as Provincial.  Frank was the founding Director and had been working there for five years.  However, Frank was suddenly recalled to Australia at the beginning of 1993, so Neville enjoyed a very short break before beginning his final ministry as a retreat provider and spiritual director in Rabaul.  Each year he would lead retreats for several hundred tertiary students at Teachers Colleges and the School of Nursing, usually in groups of about 30 students.  He was always available for spiritual direction for many Sisters and other Church personnel in Rabaul.  The thousands of people he influenced made him a household name in many parts of PNG.

In 2009, I led a retreat for clergy of the Rabaul Archdiocese.  We had several sessions of 1 on 1 deep conversations and affirmation.  Neville shared with me some of his spiritual journey.  He told me how he found freedom in prayer through his chaplaincy of charismatic Catholic groups; he had even experienced talking in tongues, but believed this was to witness his authenticity to the group when he preached St. Paul’s “better way”.  He shared his mantra for centering prayer, which was the holy Name of “Jesus”,  the name on his lips when he died.

When I marvelled at all the things he had achieved as leader and helper he said he did not do much, only that he wanted to help people appreciate how much God loved them and respond to that love.

The words from the students at St, Mary’s School of Nursing at the back of our booklet this morning witness how much Neville was appreciated by these students and many others:  He was so very special to all of us.  He really touched our lives with God’s compassion and merciful love.  He was a true man of God who lived his MSC vocation.  Thank you Fr Neville.

I imagine a sense of great excitement in heaven last Saturday afternoon; excitement from Nev’s parents and brothers, from Bishop Moore and his fellow missionaries, and from the Kalabaku’s and Kaidoga’s, the Nimagore’s and Nogei’s, the Ganisi’s and Dindillo’s and little Martina whom we buried at Hagita many years ago.  All excited to meet their friend again and welcome him home.

 Paul Jennings MSC

3^rd August, 2020

Paul Jennings MSC

August 3rd 2020

Photos: John Walker MSC

Chevalier Family Social Justice, First Friday intention: Domestic Violence.

This month’s intention is particularly important for Australia. Below some statistics and Catholic outreach.

CENTACARE

The challenge of statistics as they highlight alarming realities

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 75^th Anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima - a Catholic memento, a Jesuit story.

Today is the 75^th anniversary of the explosion of the first atomic bomb in Hiroshima. Father Arrupe, who was the leader of Jesuits between 1965 and 1983, witnessed –being maybe the only Spanish- a catastrophe that put an end to the Second World War in the Pacific.

Born on 14 November 1907 in Bilbao, Pedro Arrupe left to be a missionary in Japan as Saint Francis Xavier, one of the founders of the Society of Jesus. He arrived in that Asian country in 1938 and he immediately started to learn the Japanese language and customs. On 8 December 1941, a few hours after Japan joined the battle, he was arrested and imprisoned by the local authorities under the accusation of being a spy. He was released a few weeks after and later, appointed novice master in Nagatsuka, a small locality seven kilometres away from what will later be the epicentre of the nuclear explosion in Hiroshima’s centre.

Arrupe wrote in a book –‘I lived the atomic bomb’– his experiences the day of the tragedy and the following months. On 6 August 1945, he was in a house with 35 young people and several Jesuit fathers, when, at 8:15 hrs, he saw “a very powerful light, like a magnesium explosion, shot before our eyes”.

When we opened the door of the room facing Hiroshima, “we heard a huge explosion, similar to the roar of a terrible hurricane, which took doors, windows, glasses, unstable walls…, that broke to pieces and fell over our heads”. These were three or four seconds “that seemed to be lethal”, although all those present there saved their lives. However, there was no trace of a bomb exploding there.

Arrupe was seven kilometres away from the explosion’s epicentre when he saw a “very powerful light”

“We were going round the rice fields around our house to find the bomb’s place, when, fifteen minutes later, we saw that a thick smoke was rising in the city area and we could clearly see big flames. We went up a hill to see better and we could distinguish the place where the city used to be, because what we had in front of us was a completely devastated Hiroshima”, Arrupe narrates.

“A huge lake of fire” spread in front of them, which minutes later “blew Hiroshima to smithereens”. Those escaping the city did it “with difficulty, without running, as they would have wanted to escape that hell as soon as possible, because they could not do it due to the awful wounds they had”.

Arrupe, who had studied medicine, and the rest of Jesuits, improvised a hospital in the novitiate’s house. They were able to take more than 150 injured people and save almost all of them, although most of them suffered devastating effects of the atomic radiation in the human being. More than 70,000 people died the day the bomb exploded in Hiroshima and 200,000 more were hurt. At the end of 1945, the number of deaths had amounted to 166,000 people.

August – the month for formation, professions, ordination, for Filipino and Vietnamese students in the Philippines.

Eight MSC Filipino and Vietnamese novices have been invested with the religious habit of the Missionaries of the Sacred as they started their Novitiate Formation.

We join them in prayers thanking God for the gift of vocation to the religious life. We thank God for the courage of these young men and pray that more will consider the religious and missionary life!

The rest of the photos/posters explain themselves.

Jules Chevalier and his visit to the Cure of Ars.

Today is the feast of St John Vianney, the Cure of Ars. We know that the Cure died not long after Jules Chevalier’s visit in 1859.

Here is the version from biographer, Henri Vermin MSC.

By the way, below is a site address worth knowing – from the National Shrine, OLSH, Australia. And listed is the historical content – worth bookmarking if you are interested in research.

            The first pilgrimage was made possible through the generosity of one of the Canons of the Bourges Cathedral, the Abbe Guay d'Aubilly. "This priest,” wrote Father Chevalier “was a dear friend of mine, and had always shown great interest in our work." Father Piperon refers to him as "a saintly priest who spent all his money on charitable works, and for a long time had been the Director of the Sodality of the Holy Childhood in the diocese." In 1859 he proposed to Father Chevalier that they both go together to the Shrine of Our Lady of Puy, then on to La Louvesc, La Salette, to la Grande Chartreuse and finally to Ars. "I accepted all the more willingly," wrote the Father Founder "since he offered to pay all the expenses."

               I arrived in Ars on the morning of July 14th. My main concern was to know if it would be possible to obtain an interview with the Cure. The first news I received was not encouraging as some of the townspeople told me he was ill, and had not even been visiting the church for some days past. I decided to call at the mission-house where he lived and make further enquiries. I chose the wrong hour to call, as it was half-past twelve and the Fathers were still at lunch. I rang the door bell, and waited. There was no response. I had the temerity to ring it a second time and that more loudly. I could hear footsteps coming quickly down the passage-way, and the door was flung open abruptly. A priest asked me what I wanted in a rather angry tone of voice. I enquired if it would be possible to see the Cure.     

               "No," he replied irritably, "All we get here are importunate priests asking the same thing. The Cure is not receiving visitors."                                                                                                                

               He then closed the door.

               I was bitterly disappointed and began to make my way to the church with my head bowed and tears coming to my eyes. Hardly had I gone a few yards when I heard a voice calling after me. "Father, Father - just a minute'." I turned, to see the same priest who had just closed the door on me. Father Toccanier was his name.

               "Father” he said, "I must apologise for my bad manners; we are so much disturbed every minute of the day that I could not control my annoyance. Come in, and I will try to get the Cure for you within the next quarter of an hour. He is slightly improved this morning."

               "I had waited a short time when the door opened and the holy Cure came in, a surplice across his arm. His face was pale, his figure gaunt; his eyes were sunken in their sockets yet keen and full of life; his head was bowed and his body stooped from his many penances and macerations. I thought I was seeing a vision from another world. He bade me sit down, and asked me where I was from and what I had come to ask him. After introducing myself, I told him all about our small Congregation and my hopes for it. He listened intently as I told him it was completely dedicated to the Sacred Heart and to Our Blessed Lady. He gave me great encouragement telling me to have confidence.

                  He told me my trials, which I would feel keenly, had only just begun. The powers of Hell he said, would do everything to try and destroy the work, as its object was the salvation of souls and the Glory of God. He warned me that the agents of Hell would raise such fury against the work that at times I would think it must fail. However, the Heart of Jesus and the Mother of God would intervene to the confusion of its enemies. Strengthened by his, words I asked him if hE would make a Novena for the Congregation. He willingly agreed, and told me he would commence it on July 16th.

                  Commending myself to his prayers I took my leave, and immediately returned to Issoudun. A short time after my return, we learnt of the death of the saintly Cure. He is surely our protector in Heaven."

http://www.sacredheart.org.au/nationalshrineOLSH/Chevalier%20and%20Family.htm

RESEARCH MATERIAL

INSTALLATION OF THE RELIGIOUS OF OUR LADY OF THE SACRED HEART, ISSOUDUN  Annales de NDSC, 1874

TO THE MEMORY OF FATHER CHEVALIER  Mother Marie Louise Hartzer FDNSC 1907 

FATHER JULES CHEVALIER  Henri Vermin MSC 1957

THE SPIRITUALITY OF FATHER FOUNDER:  E. J. Cuskelly MSC 1959

FIDELITY TO THE SPIRIT OF THE FOUNDER:   J. Bertolini MSC 1965

FATHER CHEVALIER: THE MAN OF AN IDEA AND OF A WORK J. Bertolini, MSC 1969

JULES CHEVALIER: TALKS TO MSC AND FDNSC NOVICES  Sister M. Venard, FDNSC 1972

CHARISM OF FR JULES CHEVALIER: J. Van Kerckhoven MSC 1974

OUR LADY OF THE SACRED HEART: PART SHE PLAYS IN CHRIST’S MISSION TO THE WORLD J.F.McMahon 1974

JULES CHEVALIER, MAN WITH A MISSION  E. J. Cuskelly MSC  1975

EVANGELIZATION THROUGH COMPASSION  Dennis Murphy M.S.C.

FATHER FOUNDER'S CONCEPT OF HER ROLE IN OUR FDNSC VOCATION Sister M. Bernard, FDNSC  1975

HIS PERSONAL CALL, AND PERSONAL RESPONSE J. Savage, MSC 1976

THE MISSIONARY CHARISM OF JULES CHEVALIER IN RELATION TO THE LAITY Dennis J Murphy MSC  1993

FATHER JULES CHEVALIER: WHO WAS HE?  Jean Tostain MSC 1995

FATHER CHEVALIER AND HIS TIMES  Fr Jean Tostain MSC   1999

FAMILY OF JULES CHEVALIER:  LAY ASSOCIATES    Klaus Sanders, msc 2000

THE HEART OF THE WORD INCARNATE  Fr. Dennis Murphy 2002

SPIRITUALITY OF JULES CHEVALIER:  John Franzmann MSC 2005

COMPASSION: THE DRIVING FORCE IN THE LIFE OF JULES CHEVALIER Fr Dennis Murphy MSC 2006

LAY MISSIONARIES OF THE CHEVALIER FAMILY IN THE CHURCH OF TODAY  Norma Salgado, lmsc 2009

SOME SIGNFICANT AUGUST DAYS FOR THE CHEVALIER FAMILY. 2020

Looking at a number of the entries, August seems very much an OLSH month,

A re-enactment of the arrival at Yule Island

Mary Louise Hartzer, the foundation, arrivals in Yule Island and Kiribati.

1 August, 1887
The first four FDNSC Sisters arrive at Yule Island, PNG.

3 August, 1899
First community of MSC Sisters is established in Hiltrup, Germany: two Sisters of Divine Providence and one MSC candidate. Sister Servatia, one of the Divine Providence Sisters, is appointed first Superior General of the MSC Sisters, Hiltrup.

4 August, 1859
The saintly Curé d\'Ars, Jean-Marie Vianney, dies, shortly after the visit of Father Chevalier on 14 July, 1859.

5 August, 1982
MSC Sisters open a Novitiate in Bangalore, India.

11 August, 1905
MSC General Chapter at Louvain, in Belgium. Decisions taken were:  to revise the Constitutions of Father Founder, to move the Generalate to Rome, and to drop the \'fourth\' vow. This \'Vow of Stability\' could be taken by individual members to stay in the congregation until death, and also included being willing to be sent on mission anywhere in the world by the Pope or religious superior.

13 August, 1904
The Baining Martyrs: Father M. Rascher, together with three MSC confreres, a Trappist Brother, five MSC Sisters and seven Catholic Bainings, are killed in the Baining Mountains, East New Britain, PNG. Their cause was introduced but has lapsed.

14 August, 1895
Arrival of the first FDNSC in Nonouti, Gilbert Islands (Kiribati).

15 August, 1945
MSC Sisters in PNG are released from Ramale Camp, New Britain.

20 August, 1848
This date remembers the death of Jean-Charles Chevalier,  the father of Jules Chevalier.

27 August, 1837
This date recalls the birth of Marie-Louise Mestmann (Hartzer) in Wissembourg, France.

30 August, 1874
Foundation of the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart by Father Chevalier in Issoudun, as a Sister Congregation to the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart.

Three posts for this weekend: New MSC Bishop, 60^th anniversary celebration and tribute to Neville Dunne by Bishop Rochus Tatamai MSC.

Announcement of Bishop Valentim Fagundes Menezes MSC

Today Wednesday July 29, the Apostolic Nunciature in Brazil announced the decision of Pope Francis to appoint Father Valentine Fagundes Menezes Bishop for the Diocese of Balsas, currently provincial of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart (MSC) of the province of Rio de Janeiro.

He has been parish priest in the Paroquia de Nossa Senhora do Sagrado Coracao (OLSH)

Photos of the celebration of Ted McCormack’s 60^th anniversary of ordination at Monivae.

With Jonathan Rowe, Danny Franc and Fiona Mulhall

Tribute to Neville Dunne whose Requiem and funeral take place on Monday August 3^rd.

It is with great sadness and deep grief that we learned from Fb that our dear MSC confrere, an MSC and pioneer teacher at Hagita Sacred Heart High School in Milne Bay Province, who was Superior for the MSC PNG Pro-Province, then Province then was a standing member of all the consecutive Provincial Administrations and Councils due to his institutional memories, was a Charismatic Administrator, Retreat and Spiritual Director.

On behalf of the Catholic Dioceses of Kerema, Bereina and Kavieng, Bougainville, Alotau-Sideia, Lae and Kimbe, Daru-Kiunga and the Archdioceses of Port Moresby and Rabaul with the relevant Tertiary Institutions including the Catholic Laity, Families, children and Youths, we sincerely thank you personally with your immediate family and the MSC Australian Province for firstly assigning and allowing you to be a missionary in PNG beginning in Alotau-Sideia then to the rest of PNG.

Rev Father Neville Dunne MSC you were a household name and a missionary personality, an educator, formator and spiritual mentor and Director to many PNGs as well as others throughout the world. Your tireless commitment and engagements in all forms of Apostolic works in parishes and schools with spiritual inputs and conferences gave you the opportunity to instruct minds, to form hearts and transform the lives of so many generations in PNG. We will forever remember you for your approachable personality and your deep spiritual example and role model. We pray with you that the Sacred Heart of Jesus that you'd strived tirelessly to promote throughout your lifetime and ministry will now open wide to welcome you home sweet home, good and faithful servant to enjoy your reward that had been prepared for you since the foundation of the world.

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Golden Jubilee of Profession, Paul Browne MSC

Congratulations to Paul Browne on his Golden Jubilee. After his novitiate at Douglas Park, he made his first vows on August 1^st 1970.

Paul made his profession as an MSC Brother. In 1974, he began studies for the priesthood at St Paul’s National Seminary, Kensington. He was ordained on 20^th August 1977,

Later, Paul was appointed to the MSC Community in Japan and served as the community leader.

After his return from Japan, he was at St Mary’s Douglas Park. In 2013, he was Novice Master and is seen with his novice, Khoi Doan Nguyen, and formators, Frank Dineen and Phil Hicks on Khoi's profession day.

He belongs to the Kensington community.