Vow renewals
Congratulations to Frater Jonathan Nguyen Vuong, SCJ (above, second from right), who renewed his vows yesterday during Mass at Queen of Peace Church in Olive Branch, MS. Fr. Jack Kurps, SCJ, vice provincial, received them.
Tonight, Frater Hung Pham, SCJ, Frater Truc Tran, SCJ, Frater Thuan Nguyen, SCJ, Frater Michael Wodarczyk, SCJ, and Frater Jacob Smith, SCJ, will renew their vows during Mass at St. Joseph Chapel at Sacred Heart Monastery.
Please keep our formation community in your prayers.
Prayer is key
Fr. Vien Nguyen, SCJ, and Fr. Rafael Querobin, SCJ, took part in the annual assembly of the Conference of the Major Superiors of Men (CMSM) in Atlanta. CMSM is a pontifical conference dedicated to advancing the well-being, community life, ministry, and mission of religious in the United States, as well as fraternal support among leadership. Our own Fr. Thomas Cassidy once served as president of the Conference.
Topics discussed at the assembly included the changing face of the Church in the United States, as well as those who serve it. Approximately 25% of Catholics in the US are immigrants; the fastest growing population of Catholics is in the South. Religious communities are becoming increasingly international, which is both a blessing and challenge. There are cultural and language differences, but also generation gaps, and challenges in providing appropriate formation for limited numbers of vocations.
“As we navigate these changing realities in religious life, Archbishop Gregory John Hartmayer, OFM Conv. of Atlanta, one of the presenters, reminded us of the importance of being faithful to the charism and spirituality of our religious community,” said Fr. Vien. “According to him, this faithfulness must be rooted in our commitment to personal and communal prayer.”
Back to school!
Pictured above are a few images from Dehonian schools around the province starting the new school year. In Mississippi, teachers and staff from Sacred Heart and Holy Family schools began their first day back with a liturgy, celebrated by Fr. Jack Kurps, SCJ. Fr. Guy Blair, SCJ, led the Opening Day Mass at Holy Family for the students. Frater Jonathan Nguyen Vuong, SCJ, offered a blessing for this year’s class of eighth-graders during their pep rally. And at St. Joseph’s Indian School, teachers and staff gathered in the gymnasium for an in-service day prior to the start of the new academic year. Not pictured are students and faculty at last week’s “Meet the Teacher” event at Our Lady of Guadalupe school in Houston.
Please remember
Herry Yulianto, the father of Fr. Hendrik “Ardi” Ardianto, SCJ, died last week in Indonesia. Fr. Ardi is a member of the pastoral team in northern Mississippi. Please keep the family in prayer.
The call to serve
Fr. Henry Nguyen, SCJ, province vocation director, is featured in this year’s Vision Magazine, a national resource for those discerning a religious vocation. In a Q&A, Fr. Henry is asked what drew him to religious life. His response:
“The calling to serve. I have always centered my life around service; if it wasn’t with the Church, it was with the local community.”
When asked what he enjoyed most in his ministry, Fr. Henry said that “In my parish, I like celebrating the sacraments with the faithful, especially Reconciliation. In vocation ministry, I like accompanying serious discerners, helping them toward an authentic response to God. I’m also a chaplain with the Vietnamese Eucharistic Youth Movement, one of my best ministry experiences to date.”
Click here to view a PDF of the magazine; Fr. Henry’s profile is on page 68. Click here to view the online profile.
Registration reminder
Dehonians who have not yet registered for the October 7-10 Dehonian Conference on the Dual Threats of Climate Change and Nuclear Weapons are asked to do so as soon as possible.
“This week, we remember the horror and destruction caused by the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki 79 years ago,” wrote Fr. Vien Nguyen, SCJ, to members of the province last week. “In the news, we hear about the on-going destruction caused by the wildfires in both the US and Canada, the extreme heat in many parts of our country, and the increasingly violent storms affecting different parts of our world. For numerous reasons, the climate is changing and the threat of nuclear war or of a nuclear accident is increasing.
“In response to these dual threats to life as we know it, the US Province and the Canadian Region of the Priests of the Sacred Heart are sponsoring a Dehonian Conference to deepen our understanding of these dual threats, to promote a transformation of heart and mind on these issues and to develop a collaborative Dehonian response…
“All SCJs are encouraged to attend, but also those with whom we serve in ministry: parish staff, teachers, administrators, and others who help us to continue the work of Fr. Leo John Dehon.”
Click here to access the registration form.
The Preparatory Committee includes Fr. Jack Kurps, SCJ, committee chairperson, Fr. Bob Bossie, SCJ, Fr. Paul Hoang, SCJ, Fr. Peter McKenna, SCJ, Fr. Ushindi Kambale Sahani, SCJ, Ms. Lily Ooi, Mr. Joe Tyrell and Sr. Cathy Bertrand, SSND who will facilitate the conference.
We remember the founder…
Today, August 12, we begin a year-long remembrance of our founder, Fr. Leo John Dehon, in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of his death. He died in Brussels, Belgium, on August 12, 1925.
Born in 1843 into a French aristocratic family, Fr. Dehon went on to become a champion of the working class, founded schools, established a newspaper, and became immersed in a wide variety of social projects. He established the Priests of the Sacred Heart in 1878; a religious community now found in over 40 countries on five continents.
This morning Dr. Paul Monson, Vice President of Intellectual Formation and Academic Dean at Sacred Heart Seminary and School of Theology, shared the following reflection in commemoration of the founder’s death:
“Exactly 99 years ago, at 12:10pm on August 12, 1925, the human heart of Léon-Gustave Dehon ceased to beat. The soul of this restless heart entrusted itself to the mercy and love of Christ’s Sacred Heart, a heart to which Fr. Dehon had dedicated his life. A life of zeal and risks. A life of triumphs and failures. A life ending in exile, a life of a rejected migrant. Fr. Dehon died in Brussels, not his native France. Twice the world had driven him and his companions from St. Quentin, the birthplace of the Priests of the Sacred Heart. First anticlerical laws in 1903, then German bayonets in 1917. His young congregation lay scattered and ravaged by war. Post-pandemic trauma and economic fears enveloped a fraught political landscape. At his funeral a week later in St. Quentin’s basilica, Fr. Dehon’s body lay under a temporary roof supported by a maze of scaffolding, holding up collapsed walls riddled with bullet holes.
“Whatever our intentions, whatever the path that brought us to SHSST, a life that ended 99 years ago has impacted our lives. May we pray that our efforts this year impact lives far into the future, in ways great and small, in and through the Heart that animated the heart of Fr. Dehon.”
Dehonian Jubilee begins
“With joy, we Dehonian religious and members of the Dehonian Family will enter the Jubilee Year 2025, announced by the Holy Father, as a year of grace for the entire universal Church,” writes Fr. Carlos Luis Suárez Codorniú, SCJ, superior general, in his letter commemorating the founder’s death, as well as announcing preparation for the 150th anniversary of the congregation. “As we join the Church for the Jubilee as ‘Pilgrims of Hope,’ we will also undertake our pilgrimage of thanksgiving to God for the Centenary of the birth into heaven (vere dies natalis) of our Founder, Venerable Fr. Leo John Dehon, and the 150th Anniversary of the founding of our Congregation…
“I invite you to take advantage of this time, individually and communally, to revisit our identity and our mission through prayer, study and also our apostolates.
“With these words, on this day of August 12, 2024, in this house where our Venerable Founder Father Léon Jean Dehon died on August 12, 1925, I declare open the journey of our Dehonian jubilee, which runs from this memorable day until June 28, 2028. May these years of preparation, formation and celebration renew our response to the vocation of love and reparation that we have received, increase our missionary zeal, strengthen our unity and our passion for justice and peace, for the care of our common home, so that we may always and everywhere be ‘prophets of love and servant of the reconciliation of men and the world in Christ’ (Cst 7).”
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