JOHN RATE MSC, MAY HE REST IN PEACE

As visitors to our site would have been reading about John in hospital, news came through that he died during last night.

Steve Dives sent the following message:

It is with great sadness that I advise that our  dear brother John Rate died suddenly last night at 10pm. He was in hospital in Adelaide and yesterday morning had shown signs of improvement. His suffering and pain is now over and he is with the God he loved and served so faithfully. May John now rest in the peace and joy of God’s eternal presence. We pray too for John’s family and for the many people who were touched by John’s love and ministry in so many places.

The photo above, with John in the centre, is a tribute to his years-long ministry with Marriage Encounter.

MESSAGE FROM HENLEY BEACH, JOHN RATE MSC, HEALTH, CONCERN AND PRAYER

I thought I would send an update on Father John. John remains in hospital and his current situation is considered grave. That said, he has weathered the past few days when his kidney went into failure and it was doubtful he would respond to the treatment options, however his blood results today show a more positive outlook, as he remains the same, not worsening. His medical team hope that his body will start to process fluid and stop it building in his body and lungs.

His sister Colleen and brother Paul spent the night with him last night and have returned to Melbourne for the moment. John's personal network of friends have ensured he has someone with him, however on medical advice, he is not to have visitors outside of this, for the present time. It is critical that he remains rested and that outside infection is limited. Should this change we will let you know.  Noreen.

Many calls and well wishes are being sent to John and he knows that you have him in your prayers. He is grateful for the outpouring of love from our wonderful community. A message book will be left at the back of the church for those wishing to pen a personal note, we will ensure these are read to him.

MSC-OLSH INVOLVEMENT WITH ABORIGINAL PEOPLE

From the OLSH Parish Bulletin, Randwick (Fr Peter's Back Page)

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Peter Hearn MSC has been PP of Randwick for many years. He spent a number of years in the Northern Territory.

The MSC-OLSH involvement with Aboriginal people and the acquiring of land for them in the Northern Territory.

 With the possible exception of the Tiwi Island people (North of Darwin), the Aborigines contacted by MSC and OLSH Missionaries in the Northern Territory from 1911 onwards, were in desperate need when measured against a number of social indicators such as health, attachment to land, psychological well-being and their capacity to cope with the dominant culture.

Protecting existing lands:

When Fr Francis Gsell went to Bathurst Island, now Nguiu, in 1911, both Bathurst and neighbouring Melville Islands had been parceled out as pastoral leases by the Commonwealth Government with no sense of their ownership by the Tiwi people. Fr Gsell single-handedly moved the Federal Government to proclaim the Tiwi Islands an Aboriginal Reserve, removing the pastoral leases. He had seen the deprivation of Aboriginal people in Darwin because of their close contact with the European culture and was determined to provide a buffer for the as yet untouched Tiwi Islanders – although Pearl Divers visited the Islands and in their wake children of mixed-descent were the result, whose care became an issue for the Government and the missionaries in the decades following – another story.

Retaining people on their existing lands:

At what was then Port Keats, now Wadeye, South-West of Darwin, the land of the Murrinpatha and other tribes was already a reserve when the first MSCs were asked by the Government to set up a mission there in 1935. Partly this was to try and stop the drift of Aboriginal people to the white settlements – eg the mining areas of Daly River and Pine Creek from the 1870s where alcohol, opium and prostitution were rife, causing havoc to Aboriginal health and well-being. By the 1930s, whole tracts of land had been deserted by the allure of white settlement, and some of the smaller tribes of the Daly River had ceased to exist. Jesuit missionaries had endeavored to anchor the Daly tribes in their own land, but they had been recalled in the late 1880s.

The Mission at Port Keats did anchor the remnants of around seven tribes there allowing them to regroup and rebuild in numbers. Later Missionaries were instrumental in having abandoned cattle stations added to the reserve for future generations. So, this was a case of keeping the people on their own lands.

Acquiring land for landless people 1:

Perhaps Alice Springs provides the greatest saga of MSC-OLSH and Aboriginal people creating a future together. When the first MSCs arrived there in 1929, Alice Springs had a white population of around 400. However, Aboriginal people were drifting into the town fringes as pastoral leases were taken up dislodging them from their traditional lands. Fr Paddy Moloney found an atmosphere of intense bigotry and racism on the part of some people in the town. After a fruitless eff ort to find land in an area removed from the town, he obtained a grant of 425 acres at Charles Creek, on the outskirts of Alice Springs. There, housing, gardens, workshops, and a school were opened for the people. They were forced to move with 48 hours’ notice during WWII to Arltunga, an abandoned mining town 110 km east of Alice Springs.

Here they ran out of water and had to move a few kms to another site and with the failure of the water supply there, Bishop John O’Loughlin successfully obtained a grant of land in what is now Santa Teresa for clans of the Eastern Arrente Tribe. During a six-year drought, Santa Teresa was overwhelmed by Aboriginal people moving there, facing starvation according to a newspaper article in Alice Springs – but it was a safe place.

Acquiring land for landless people 2:

Finally, the Daly River natives had been dislodged from their tribal lands over many decades, and so the Bishop acquired a peanut farm as the base for an MSC mission there in 1955. None of these missions was supposed to become a township – rather to be a place for education, training in trades, and for care of the elderly and sick. Circumstances beyond the control of the missionaries saw each place become in fact just that, a township, with all the administrative issues that came with it. It is a fascinating story.

FOR YOUR COLLECTION OF OLSH IMAGES.

A number of visitors to our site say that they have been collecting images of the Sacred Heart and Our Lady of the Sacred Heart.  Here are some more images of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart.

The above image is named as: A SHADOW OF HOPE, with the comment: Our Lady of the Sacred Heart is also known as the Hope of the Hopeless. There are times that all we need is a shadow of hope. And it's more than enough. — at MSC OLSH Shrine and Spirituality Center - Canlanipa, Surigao City, 8400 Ph.

Many images are circulated from the Philippines and from Michael Angelo Acera Dacalos MSC, with thanks.

US icon, and from the US

And from Latin America

Santo Domingo

Dominican Republic

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LIFE IN OLSH PARISH RANDWICK

FINDING TRUE JOY AND BLESSINGS IN LIFE: A MIGRANT STORY

From the OLSH Randwick Parish Bulletin, her story by Jana Rajnoch.

In 1982 the Rajnoch family – my parents, Zdenka and Jan, my two brothers Paul and Lukas and myself at a young age arrived in Australia. We first stayed at the Endeavour Hostel in South Coogee. We were very blessed to land in Australia and stay in such a beautiful part of Sydney.

Coming from a communist country, unable to freely practice our faith, we had to leave everything behind as have many others. My parents couldn’t tell anyone we were leaving for safety reasons, knowing they would most likely never see them again. I admire the strength, courage and faith of my parents, especially my mother, to leave everything they knew, everything they had as well as their families and friends, knowing they may never see them again. My younger brother was only one and a half years old the day we crossed the border and we left with two suitcases that contained mainly nappies.

Arriving in Australia after staying in a camp in former Yugoslavia for three months, my father was the only one who spoke a bit of English. The first few years were challenging as they are for many, arriving in a new country with a different culture, not speaking the language and not having the education and qualification recognised.

My parents had to take whatever jobs they could. With three children and language limitations they didn’t have many choices. They were grateful for everything. They worked hard, starting from scratch and were grateful to live in a free country where you can freely practice your faith. My older brother and I started working as soon as we could while we were still at school so we could pay for our school fees, uniforms, school books, and other expenses to help our parents. We really had to pull together in every way and whenever conflict arose, we had to put our differences aside. I remember how mum would walk home after a long day at work instead of catching a bus so she could save a few cents to be able to buy a loaf of bread for us.

In the first few days after our arrival we went for a walk to Coogee Beach and on the way it was the first time we saw a fruit and vegetable shop full of fresh produce. We were really taken by that. We were able to buy ONE apple. I still remember how the five of us shared our first apple at Coogee Beach, a very special moment till this day.

All these experiences made us very resilient and grateful for all we have. As we had no family and didn’t know anyone, we were forced to work   through our differences at times and many challenging situations along the way. This also strengthened my faith as often I turned to God and was always drawn to the Shrine of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart. All these experiences were great training for life in communication, patience, conflict-resolution, gratitude, appreciation and how to deal with things in various situations throughout life.

I went to Brigidine College. A stand-out experience was being part of the school orchestra playing the violin, and the school orchestra performing at the Opera House. I have moved in and out of the area a few times and every time I’m back, I enjoy coming to OLSH as this is the parish where my faith really deepened and strengthened as I went through various challenges throughout my life.

Having faith can get you through anything in life. I had faith in the past, however as I went through some difficult times in my life, I have witnessed and experienced many miracles and blessings along the way which are humanly impossible and for which I am very grateful. Having had the grace to experience these, it really strengthened my faith to another level where I have total certainty God exists.

The peace, serenity, calm, hope, strength, and guidance God provides when we truly surrender is humbling. Being present in every moment and notice all the beauty around us that God created, as well as being grateful for everyone and everything and acknowledging all the blessings and miracles in our daily lives gives us so much peace in our hearts. The impossible becomes possible and when we let go of the past and forgive others for their actions, however hurtful and painful they may have been, we gain so much peace, joy and freedom in our hearts and in our life. I feel truly blessed and have so much to be grateful for in every moment.

We can all choose to hold onto hurts, resentments and any injustices from the past and be captive to that, or we can find the hidden blessing in every situation and find the peace and joy in our hearts.

PAUL STENHOUSE MSC, NEW BOOK, ISLAM: CONTEXT AND COMPLEXITY

James Murray writes about this book:

For anyone requiring deep background re the most fraught problems of this millennium (and a carryover from the first) the answer is in Islam: Context and Complexity. As always with such background of real value, this is a work from primary sources carried out by a scholar who has been on the ground.

It is a work for the general reader but more especially for the security specialist, overt and uniformed, wishing to understand the culture that inspires Islamic Statists.

The chapters include ‘Christians in Pre-Islamic Arabia’, ‘Islam and the West: The First Five Hundred Years’ and ‘Joining some of the Dots: Zero Tolerance for Extremist Islam’.

The author? Who else but Paul Stenhouse MSC, veteran editor of Annals Australasia? In compiling the work, Father Stenhouse drawn a series of essays printed in Annals between January 2015 and August 2016.

Appropriately the work goes out under a new Australian Scholarly Publishing imprint, Pamphleteer, betokening a time when free discussion was the order of the day (RRP, $29.95.)

And from the website of Australian Scholarly publishing:

Islam is not homogeneous. Its complexity, however, is bewildering for non-Muslims, most of whom know little or nothing of Islam, and generally – like Pope Francis – see it as a peace-loving religion. Others find this claim difficult to accept in the light of the violence and cruelty perpetrated in the name of Allah by Muslim fighters against innocent fellow citizens who are not Muslims, and also against many fellow Muslims. Paul Stenhouse’s deep scholarly interest in Samaritan history and traditions has taken him on intellectual and literary paths ‘continually crisscrossed by Islam and its Quran, Islamic Law and Islamic history’. Here, he seeks to offer some light on the background to tragic events unfolding throughout the Middle East, Africa, Pakistan, and Central and Southeast Asia, as well as in the USA, Europe, the UK and Oceania.

SOME RECENT MSC APPOINTMENTS AND RETIREMENTS

A list of appointments in the Province, but some acknowledgements of some veterans and their service and news of the retirements.

Paul Cashen has been appointed Administrator of Hindmarsh-Findon until the end of 2019 and Administrator of OLSH in Henley Beach parish from January 1^st 2020.

Leo Wearden has been re-appointed Superior of Northern Territory starting January 1^st 2020.

Fr. Danh who was ordained and MSC Priest in July has arrived from Vietnam. He will spend some time at Erskineville with Tru and Peter and then move to Bathurst Island, Northern Territory where he will work for a year assisting Patrick Mara.

Harold Baker will retire to Kensington monastery.

Jim Littleton will retire from being National Dir of Lay MSC at the end of 2019.

John Rate will retire from being Parish Priest of OLSH Henley Beach at the end of 2019.

Albert Yelds will retire from being the director of the Pastoral Institute in Kiribati and has been appointed to Kensington monastery.

Bill Cunningham will move to St. Joseph’s Nursing home.

And, Meta Jackman has recently commenced as Senior Adviser, Professional Standards and Safeguarding.

Eulogy: Sr Marina O'Donnell fdnsc

As with so many eulogies of our OLSH sisters, looking  back on long lives and ministries, there is so much history, especially of service in PNG.

Throughout her long life, in the congregation of the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred and before, Sr Marina always sought to serve others with justice and love. This came from her faithful life of prayer which began at her mother’s knees in her earliest years. Her first teachers of the Catholic faith were her parents, John and Mary both of whom were thoroughly imbued with this same faith as is shown by their having their home consecrated to the Sacred Heart and saying the family Rosary every night as well as their devotion to the sacraments and the Mass. This faith was transmitted to their four children, Mary, Edmond, Patricia, and Josephine.

After her schooling at Our Lady of the Rosary and Our Lady of the Sacred Heart College, Kensington where her love of the Sacred Heart was reinforced it seemed a natural progression that Patricia would join the Sisters who taught her and enter the novitiate at Hartzer Park, Burradoo on the feast of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in 1949. After her profession in 1951 and her teacher training at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Training School, Kensington began her lifelong ministry of teaching. Her life at this time really exemplified the corporal and spiritual works of mercy.

For many years Sr Marina had a great desire to spend her life bringing the love of the Sacred Heart to the people of Papua New Guinea and this became a reality when she went there in 1955, a year after she made her final profession. She was to spend the next 51 years there and lived through many changes in the country. When she first arrived, PNG was under the administration of Australia and she experienced the move to self-government and Independence which was attained in 1975 and then the gradual changes that came about after that momentous and peaceful event.

Marina’s ministry was mainly in the field of education. She taught in primary and high schools and as a lecturer at Sacred Heart Teachers’ college at Yule Island in the late sixties. Marina spent 11 years teaching in primary schools in the Mekeo at Inauaia and Veifa’a and many years around Port Moresby in various schools.

Over the next twenty-six years Marina taught in High Schools throughout the country at Papitalai on Manus Island, Yule Island, Mainohana, Hagita and Vunapope. She was an excellent teacher, demanding much of her students and was much appreciated.

When asked to write about significant events or experiences in her life as a Daughter, Marina wrote “My most significant experiences have been during the last six years of my missionary life in Daru (in the Western Province). Here I met real poverty – people, children who were hungry, were ragged and dirty, suffering sickness silently because they didn’t have two kina to go the hospital. People rejected by their families because they were HIV or dying with AIDS. Stealing and crime were rife and living standards sub-human.”

Many of the people living on the island of Daru are refugees who have fled West Papua for fear of Indonesian rule to which they had probably objected. Marina was the first of our Sisters in PNG to officially minister to people with HIV/AIDS when she became the Diocesan AIDS Coordinator. She set up a Care Centre in Daru and sometimes met with opposition from people in the Health Department. In 2002 Marina obtained an Advanced Certificate in Counselling and Care from the PNG National AIDS Council and in 2005 did a further extension course in “Mother to Child Transmission”. For six years Marina was fully committed to this most difficult but needy mission. She was one of the early Daughters to form a community in Daru.

On her return to Australia Marina continued to give food and drink to the hungry and thirsty, to visit the sick, to bury the dead and to comfort the afflicted as she worked with the St Vincent de Paul society with the poor and lonely in the Daceyville area. Later, in her years of retirement she became more contemplative and spent her days in prayer praising God and asking assistance for all the people whom she had taught or helped in any way.

We now say farewell to a wonderful missionary and a true and devoted Daughter of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, who has inspired so many people. Dear Marina, may you now rest in peace and joy with the God you have loved and served for so many years here on earth.

LETTER FROM VIETNAM,  BOB IRWIN MSC

New symbol in student house chapel.........for beginning of school year

Greetings from Saigon, and happy Mid Autumn festival to you.

 

You may not have realized that we are now in the middle of the eight lunar month, hence the festival. It is sometimes called "moon cake" festival...hence the ubiquitous moon cake, with a crust made from lard, and filled with practically anything. Anyway, have a good weekend!

 

     It seems ages since I last wrote, and I could put that down to being very busy, but you would soon see through that. However, it has been pretty busy, even for me. The students are all back from pastorals and holidays etc, so there have been gatherings to celebrate, to begin studies, masses, recollection days etc etc, and with Thoi away, for health check ups, the load gets passed out a bit..

 

MSC, MSC Sisters and OLSH aspirants

 

     Since I last wrote, I have been back to the barber, but it was disappointing, because my hair style was not depicted on the walls, and the dog slept most of the time I was there.

No photo of the haircyt sent, so a picture of the crowded student house instead

 

The 22nd August was not a good day. My bus to the city was involved in an accident with a delivery truck, not serious, a bit entertaining, actually. They were each trying to beat the other around a corner, waving to each other to move over, but the bluffs didn't work, so they locked together. After considerable remonstrating and checking, they simply moved on. Of course, while they were haranguing each other, the motorbikes just went up onto the footpath, without a second thought.

 

Speaking of bikes and traffic

 

On  in to town I went, and manged to get robbed, walking down a main street (Pasteur street). Sporting my multi-pocketed backpack, all closed, and money, passport and phone all safely in the innermost pocket, some so and so managed to get the phone. I noticed a fellow who was going the same way as I, and he seemed a bit lost. Anyway, his technique was clever, as he ended up standing behind me at each intersection. So, no drama, just makes one a little more paranoid!  With the postulant director's help I got a new phone (better one!). The phone company cancelled my number on the stolen sim card, and put it on a new sim card....all for 30 cents Oz.

 

 

Five postulants plus THI, just graduated in top five of seminary, Sr yen OLSH, and DANH at uncle Bob’s

 

     Last time, I mentioned that I was planning to go out of town for a mass of thanksgiving for our newest ordained, Danh. Anyway, I chickened out. It turned out it would mean leaving at 2.30 am and traveling a long distance and then getting home late. Discretion the better part of valor. Since then, Danh has celebrated many thanksgiving masses and one I attended was particularly memorable, with a large number of disabled people, with whom he had been working previously. Since ordination he has also said the funeral mass for his grandmother and celebrated the wedding of his sister. He is now in Oz and will spend c. 12 months with the Tiwi people on Bathurst and Melville Islands.

 

     Better go. Hope you are well. MSC here are wonderful to be with. Vietnam is a great place to be,(25 million visitors this year) despite the fact that the traffic is more dramatic and noisy than Wagner's flight of the Valkyries.      Lots of love. Stay well. God bless.  Let's keep each other in our prayers.                  

 

(Uncle) Bob

DARAMALAN COLLEGE, CANBERRA, HEART SPIRITUALITY AND SOCIAL CONCERN

From the Daramalan College website:

The foundation for a Spirituality of the Heart can be found in our own personal experience of God’s love. In the First Letter of St John (4/15) we find a basis for this ”We ourselves have known and put our faith in God’s love towards ourselves”. That contemplative act of knowing God’s love is the heart of this Spirituality.

Jules Chevalier saw the Sacred Heart as the gateway to understanding Jesus and the gospels. He became very much aware of the concern that Jesus felt in his heart for the ordinary person; it was a compassion for all who were suffering, be it physically or spiritually. He never preached a religion based on fear or legalism.

Consequently a Spirituality of the Heart is also missionary by nature. Jules Chevalier had a very strong sense of mission and just as Jesus was sent into the world to bring to people an awareness of God’s love, so we share in that mission. The MSC endeavour to help other people believe in this love and so change the world by building a community of love.

The motto of the Sacred Heart highlights this missionary spirituality: “May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be everywhere loved” and at Daramalan we have adopted this ethos with passion and fervour.

From Cathnews  12th September:

A new alliance is taking aim at the Future Fund – Australia’s national "nest egg" – by questioning the billions of dollars invested in fossil fuel projects from the nation’s wealth fund. Source: Caritas Australia.

Activist groups, not-for-profits, fund managers and climate change advocates have united with the Our Future Fund initiative and students from around the country. The alliance is seeking 10,000 signatures in 10 days to garner support for the initiative in the lead up to the September 20 “climate strike”.

The initiative is backed by Caritas Australia. The Future Fund currently manages $200 billion – in essence, it is Australia’s savings fund – however, billions of taxpayer dollars are being invested in the fossil fuel industry.

Daramalan students of the Heart

Statement, Kate Grimwood, Daramalan.

Kate Grimwood, a year 12 student at Daramalan College in Canberra, said given the fund’s stated mission to invest for the benefit of future generations, and the fact it has already made investments based on ethical considerations (such as refusing to invest in tobacco), it should reflect the beliefs and values of this generation.

“The Finance Minister is going to be gone before I am: it’s me, my friends, my family and my children who are going to have to suffer the consequences of the decisions you're making,” she said.