Happy Independence Day!
The Provincial Offices will be closed July 3-4 for Independence Day.
Did you know that July 4 is not only the birthday of the United States, but the date on which the Priests of the Sacred Heart received its final approval as a religious congregation?
“I knew that the question of our approbation was to be decided on June 11,” wrote Fr. Leo John Dehon. “These were days of anxious anticipation. At 1:00 pm on the 11th a welcome telegram arrived. It happened: the approval of the Congregation is granted forever and of the Constitutions for ten years… Our decree of approbation is dated July 4 [1906]. I received it on July 17 upon the return of Fr. Barthѐlemy. Our Constitutions have hardly been modified at all.”
Click here to read more in the most recent issue of Dehonian Spirituality. Note: the Dehonian Spirituality e-publication will go on summer hiatus for the month of July.
On the move
Last week members of the Dehon Formation Community packed up the last of the community’s belongings in Chicago. The formation community is now a part of the Sacred Heart Monastery Community. The renovated fourth floor at SHM received its occupancy permit last week; members of the formation community will soon transition to the new space. Fr. Bob Tucker, SCJ, will be one of the first to move in.
However, not all members of the Chicago community will be moving to the monastery. Fr. Joseph Mukuna, SCJ, who is doing graduate studies at Loyola, will live in student housing. He is on a home visit in DR Congo, but when he returns his new address will be:
Baumhart Hall, Room 2108
26 E. Pearson
Chicago, IL 60611
Fr. Louis Mariano Fernandes, SCJ, of India, will stay at Baumhart Hall while Fr. Joseph is in Congo. As of August 1, Fr. Louis will be at:
St. Mary of the Lake Parish
4200 N. Sheridan Road
Chicago, IL 60613
As we noted last week, Fr. Bob Bossie, SCJ, has moved to Presence Retirement Community. Dn. Juancho Castañeda Rojas, SCJ, moves to Our Lady of Guadalupe in Houston. Fr. David Szatkowski, SCJ, is now a member of the Mississippi community in Nesbit. Fr. Andrzej Sudol, SCJ, associate novice master, now joins the novitiate community full time.
Frater Long Nguyen, SCJ, will be among those moving to SHM. He notes that he has a new phone number: 312-241-7050.
Congratulations and welcome!
Jacob Smith, 18, of Spring, Texas, will be one of the new students joining the formation community in fall. He was accepted as a candidate by the Admissions Board during its weekend meeting. Jacob will begin philosophy studies at Marquette University in Milwaukee.
Human trafficking seen but not always noticed
Br. Duane Lemke, SCJ, grew up in rural South Dakota. As an adult, he ministered there. It is a place that he felt that he knew well.
But in 2008 he was shocked to learn that two employers in Oacoma, a town just across the river from St. Joseph’s Indian School, had been sentenced for enslaving Filipino workers at the owner’s hotel, as well as farming them out for work in area fast food restaurants.
Br. Duane shared the story with members of the South Dakota SCJ community. In collaboration with the North American Migration Committee, he and Fr. Jan de Jong, SCJ, recently organized a presentation for the community about human trafficking in the state.
Continuing to discuss the incident in Oacoma, he said that “this is a town that SCJs in South Dakota know well and visit multiple times during the week.” Yet even he, a native South Dakotan, had no idea that human trafficking was taking place right at the doorstep of the Dehonian community.
“This is not something happening somewhere else, but in the very areas served by the Priests of the Sacred Heart,” said Br. Duane.
Click here to read more on the province website.
Keep in prayer
In recent weeks Fr. Ed Kilianski, SCJ, provincial superior, has been treated for an infection on his toe. Unfortunately, it has not responded to medical intervention. Today he will have surgery to more aggressively address it. Although he is not expected to spend much time in the hospital he will need to be monitored following surgery. Because of this, he will not be able to attend the General Chapter in Rome. Fr. Quang Nguyen, SCJ, as first councilor (vice provincial) will take his place. Please keep Fr. Ed in prayer.
Also, please keep Fr. Johnny Klingler, SCJ, in prayer as he continues to be treated for cancer. He has been released from the hospital and is now at the Congregational Home in Brookfield, WI, for rehab. He is in Room 1278.
Council dates
The new Provincial Council set its meeting dates through the end of the year. There will be a transition meeting of the out-going and in-coming councils on September 18-19, and then council meetings on October 23-24 and December 18-19.
The current council has a meeting August 14-15.
Note that these and other events, as well as the birthdays of SCJs in North America, are listed in the US-Canada Google calendar. Click here to access it. A link to the calendar is also found at the bottom of all pages in the US Province website, and the calendar itself is on the homepage of the Members section of the site.
Sr. Norma in the news
Dehonians in the US Province are familiar with Sr. Norma Pimentel and her work with refugees in the Rio Grande Valley. Sr. Norma spoke with SCJs at their assembly in 2017. She and her work were featured in an opinion piece in the Washington Post June 29. Click here to read it.
Our thanks to Fr. Tom Cassidy, SCJ, who shared the link.
In the Holy Land
Students from Sacred Heart Seminary and School of Theology participating in the archeological dig in the Holy Land sent a dispatch on June 25, shortly after their arrival:
“Jordan River, Masada, Qumran, and the Dead Sea. Think hot, very hot and dry, very dry. We renewed our baptismal promises in the Jordan River at a place where Jesus might have been baptized by John. ‘You are my Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.’ Coming up out of the water these words resounded in our hearts. We travelled then along the Jordan to the Dead Sea area and rode the tram to the mountain-top palace of Herod the Great, a place called Masada. We baked in the sun as we marveled at the ingenuity required for living on top of a mountain in the middle of a desert. We next toured Qumran, saw the caves where the Dead Sea scrolls were discovered, and then moved on to float in the Dead Sea. The ancients were whispering to us all day, asking us why we have come and what we are hoping to find among the ruins and the eager tourists. Perhaps we will find out tomorrow.”
Welcome students!
The first summer session of the ESL program at SHSST begins this week. This year’s group is expected to be even larger than last summer’s. Br. Duane Lemke, SCJ, and his crew have spent much of the past few days running back and forth from the airport, settling the new students. Welcome!
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