News & Events | December 22, 2025
Lord Jesus, make your home among us today.
Transform our hearts by your love;
open them to your Father’s will
so that we may offer ourselves for others
and work for a just and peaceful world.
May your birth overcome human discord,
calm human violence,
and reconcile us all to one another.
Amen.
Prayer taken in part from This Day of God, Community Prayer Book of the Priests of the Sacred Heart
Holiday reminders
The Provincial Offices will be closed Dec. 24-26 for Christmas and Dec. 31 and Jan. 1 for New Year’s. Also, there will be no Fridge Notes published next week; the next issue will be on January 5, 2026.
Sacred Heart Seminary and School of Theology is on Christmas break until January 11.
Common Dehonian themes of service and social justice
As a way of saying “thank you” to our staff and their families at the Sacred Heart Center in Eagle Butte, SD, representatives from the Lower Brule Pastoral Team and St. Joseph’s Indian School delivered 40 turkeys and hams to the center last week. Among those joining Fr. Greg Schill, SCJ, for the three-hour (one way) drive were Fr. Floribert Bulo Dhelo, SCJ, Sr. Yollie Nobabos, TMM, and Sr. Ramona Pandan, MCM.
This was the first visit to the Sacred Heart Center for Fr. Floribert, Sr. Yollie and Sr. Ramona. The center was begun by the Priests of the Sacred Heart in 1982 and continues to offer Family Violence Services (including shelter, legal advocacy, and transportation), Child Services, Community Outreach, and the Bear Necessities Thrift Store.
“The Sacred Heart Center reminds me of our ministries with the Priests of the Sacred Heart in the Philippines,” said Sr. Yollie, who is a member of the Theresian Missionaries of Mary. “I have ministered with the SCJs for almost 10 years. In keeping with the Dehonians’ emphasis on promoting social justice, they established a residential facility in Cagayan de Oro (Philippines) for victims of sexual abuse. The Kasanag Daughters Foundation is a haven for sexually abused girls. It offers integral healing programs to help them regain self-worth and eventually find their way back to the mainstream of society.”
Fr. Floribert, an SCJ from the Democratic Republic of Congo, said that the Sacred Heart Center also reminded him of similar ministries in his home province.
“I was wordless to see the support provided to these people, thanks to the generosity of benefactors. It reminded me of our Dehonian ministries in the Democratic Republic of Congo where we serve children who have become orphans due to war and poverty. The Priests of the Sacred Heart provide housing, food, clothes, and an education for their future.
“I am grateful to our donors, whom I respect so much. If you have the opportunity to witness the work that you have made possible you will be speechless with tears of joy.”
Click here to read more on the province website.
January birthdays
Among those celebrating birthdays in January: Dcn. Hung Pham on Jan. 12, Fr. Ushindi Kambale Sahani on Jan. 13, Fr. Guy Bertrand Wabo on Jan. 16, and Fr. Ralph Intranuovo on Jan. 20. Happy birthday!
Dehon Book Club meets on Jan. 9
Fr. Joseph Mukuna, SCJ, director of the Dehon Study Center, writes that the next meeting of the Dehon Book Club will be on Friday, January 9, 2026, at 1pm (Central). “As we will still be in the Christmas season, we will look at Fr. Dehon’s 1871 Christmas Sermon,” said Fr. Joseph. “The theme of our discussion will be ‘Christmas and the Incarnation: Ancient Heresies, Contemporary Cultural Expressions, and the Christological Response of Fr. Léon Dehon.'”
Click here to access Fr. Dehon’s 1871 “Sermon for Christmas Day.”
Participants are welcome to take part in-person at the Provincial Offices or via Zoom: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81515880849
Questions? Contact Fr. Joseph at Jmukuna@dehoniansusa.org.
Question for reflection from Fr. Joseph: “How does Father Dehon’s Christmas sermon from 1871 address both ancient and modern heresies related to the Christmas story and the doctrine of the Incarnation? Please identify specific errors and explain how Dehon explicitly or implicitly refutes them in his message. Provide one or two citations to illustrate.”
At the service of the Church
The December issue of As a Rule focused on Rule of Life No. 30, which states that the Priests of the Sacred Heart “readily place ourselves at the service of the Church in its various pastoral works.”
What does that mean to one of the congregation’s youngest entities, the District of India? The superior of the district, Fr. Michael Augustine, SCJ, wrote that “Our young Dehonian confreres in India, without claiming perfection, are well disposed, determined and dedicated to embracing various pastoral activities to keep the founding charism of the Institute alive and active. By so doing, our confreres inculcate, integrate, interiorize, internalize and incorporate the spirit of the Institute, i.e. ‘responding to the urgent needs of the Church and of the World’ (Cst. 1) and they strive to do their utmost best to bring about the Reign of the Heart of Jesus, i.e. the Reign of love, joy, peace, hope, and justice in Souls and Societies as willed by our Founder.
“Through these spiritual, pastoral, ecclesial and social activities which clearly radiate our ‘Dehonianity,’ they aspire to become benevolent beacons of hope for the hopeless, help for the helpless, a voice for the voiceless and thus they concretely and consistently experience and exhibit the ‘Passion for the Word’ and ‘Passion for the World’ as did our Founder.
“We need a God-centered vision for our gospel-centered mission as Dehonians in this ever-transforming world of today to keep the legacy of our Founding Father relevant for our times during the Dehonian Jubilee. Let us firmly resolve ‘to think globally and act locally’ like Fr. Dehon to make our considerable, concrete and consistent contributions to the mission in the Church.”
Click here to read Fr. Michael’s full reflection, as well as that of Fr Joseph Mukuna, SCJ, director of the Dehon Study Center, who focused on the “two primary concepts regarding our congregation’s apostolic nature: indetermination and determination.”
Fr. Michael is pictured above with Fr. Vien Nguyen, SCJ, during a visit to the US Province in 2023.
Links from the JPR Office
Fr. Joseph Thien Dinh, SCJ, province director of Justice, Peace and Reconciliation, shares the following links which SCJs and collaborators may find helpful:
CLICK HERE for the Conference of Major Superiors of Men “Advent Resources for Care of Creation from the Catholic Climate Covenant.” Although initially posted for reflection during Advent, the themes found in many of the resources are significant for any time of year.
CLICK HERE to view “Michael Bublé – Live from the Vatican, a Concert with the Poor.” Hosting the event: Pope Leo XIV.
The road to sainthood
The general website recently published an interview with Fr. Ramón Domínguez Fraile, SCJ, general postulator, in which he talked about the upcoming beatification of Fr. Martino Capelli, SCJ.
“In the middle of World War II, Nazi troops invaded Italy, and the Bologna region was occupied by numerous German forces,” said Fr. Ramón, giving background to Fr. Capelli’s story of martyrdom.
“Fr.Martino Capelli went to a small village near Bologna to help another priest, Monsignor Melini,” continued Fr. Ramón. “It was there that he met Don Elia Comini, who would become his companion in martyrdom. It was during that summer of 1944, when these events occurred, that the Nazi troops committed massacres in the Monte Sole region, near Bologna.
“Fr. Martino Capelli and Don Elia Comini died and were martyred on October 1st, but other priests, religious, and many people were also murdered. They were killed due to their status as priests and, above all, because they had stayed in the village to help the population.”
Click here to access the interview. It is available as a YouTube video in Italian with English subtitles and as English text.
Merry Christmas from Rome!
The following is a Christmas card from our superior general, Fr. Carlos Luis Suárez Codorniú, SCJ. Blessings to you as we enter the Christmas season and open ourselves to the possibilities of a new year!
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