News & Events | February 16, 2026
Lent begins this week with Ash Wednesday, February 18
“With ashes today, the priest traces on my forehead the sign of penitence and the sign of death. What am I? Dust and ashes. I am but nothingness; however, I will go to God and I will go with humility. I will go with the awareness of my weakness, but confident anyway, because God is good, because the Son of God took on a Heart to love me, and he broke this Heart to let flow on my soul the fragrance of his mercy.”
– Leo John Dehon, SCJ, The Year with the Sacred Heart
Who was Fr. Dehon?
On February 10th, 4th and 5th-grade students from three of our Dehonian schools took part in an online competition with questions about the life of Fr. Leo John Dehon, our founder. Students in the competition represented Sacred Heart School in Southaven, MS, Our Lady of Guadalupe in Houston, TX, and St. Joseph’s Indian School in Chamberlain, SD. “Students from Holy Family School in Holly Springs, MS, were unable to participate as planned,” said Bridget Martin, principal of Sacred Heart. “They are still feeling the impact of the January 24th winter storm that shut down much of Mississippi. The city is under a boil alert so the school is without drinking water.”
Sharmel Olsen, principal of St. Joseph’s, was the moderator. Principals from all four of the schools created questions based on information sheets that the Dehonian Associates office published last year on the life of Fr. Dehon.
“I was deeply impressed by both the depth of the questions and how well the students responded,” said Fr. Vien Nguyen, SCJ, who led the opening prayer. “The questions explored Fr. Dehon’s witness of God’s love, his perseverance amid challenges, his concern for workers, his collaboration with others, and the enduring legacy of his life and charism. Kudos to the teachers and principals for introducing our students to the life and witness of Fr. Dehon!”
The regenerative power of love
To illustrate the theme of this month’s issue of As a Rule, Sr. Ramona Pandan, MCM, shared a story from her second year of teaching:
“I had a student who was older than his classmates. On the first day of school, he behaved in a way that frightened the others. He kicked the chairs, scattered them across the room, and sat in a corner as if nothing had happened.
“After class, I approached him gently and asked if we could talk. ‘I don’t want anything blocking my way,’ he said. Then I asked softly, ‘What is really bothering you?’ At that moment, he broke down in tears and shared the pain he carried—his father showed him no love, only hardship. He and his younger siblings suffered physical abuse at home.
“When I eventually met his father, I realized he had spoken honestly. From then on, I became someone he could trust. I listened to him, supported him, and showed him the concern and understanding he had never received from his parents. Slowly, his behavior changed. His classmates began to love him because he treated them like younger brothers and sisters.
“Even though his home situation did not change, HE changed. And through that experience, I learned to approach my students with gentleness and love rather than judgment. Many of them carry wounds from circumstances they never chose.
“When we bring Christ’s love to the people we serve—treating them gently and giving them what they need—one truly feels the Spirit of God in our midst. And as I witnessed the healing of this student, I felt my own heart being restored, reminded that love has the power to mend both the giver and the receiver.”
Sr. Ramona is a part of the pastoral team serving our Dehonian ministries in South Dakota; she is pictured above (with flowers) celebrating her birthday in January. Click here to read Sr. Ramona’s full reflection, as well as one written by Fr. Tom Garvey, SCJ, in 1993 (d. 2002).
Please remember
+ Gwen Savage, the wife Ed Savage, died on February 6. She was 79. Ed worked for the Sacred Heart League and Sacred Heart Southern Missions for more than 43 years. He served for most of that time as manager of Planned Giving and the last five years was as Director of Programs. Click here to read Gwen Savage’s obituary.
Another snowy visit
Mother Nature has not been kind to our Brazilian exchange students from Colégio e Faculdade São Luiz!
Last year they were making snowmen in Mississippi and this year they were simply “making do” as a brutal winter storm knocked out power, iced roads and closed schools and businesses for a week in January. With the power out at Sacred Heart Southern Missions‘ volunteer house, the students moved to cots at Sacred Heart School – Southaven, MS where generators kept the heat on and water running.
But even in the midst of a weather-adapted schedule the Brazilian students joined their Mississippi counterparts in online classes (including doing a little teaching of their own during math classes), strengthened friendships, and as they wrote in their report to classmates back in Brazil: “lived intensely the four pillars of a Unesco education: learning to know, learning to do, learning to live together, and learning to be.”
Closing shot
Our second-grade students at St. Joseph’s Indian School in South Dakota were looking for a few sympathetic ears on which to practice their newly developing reading skills. They found them in a barn, more specifically, the Equine Therapy Barn. A few of the students are pictured below, reading to their four-legged listeners. Click here to learn about the Equine Therapy program at St. Joe’s.
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