Postcard from South Dakota
“On Friday, March 14, Bishop Scott Bullock came to the SCJ community house in Chamberlain to meet with the Lower Brule pastoral team,” wrote Fr. Greg Schill, SCJ, local superior of the South Dakota community. “Bishop Bullock was ordained and installed as bishop of the Diocese of Rapid City on September 23, 2024. The meeting was an opportunity to introduce ourselves and SCJ ministries in South Dakota, as well as the role the MCM and TMM sisters in this ministry.”
Fr. Vien Nguyen, SCJ, provincial superior, was also a part of the meeting. Members of the pastoral team, including the MCM and TMM sisters, Fr. Greg, and Fr. Vien are pictured above with the bishop (back, center) at the community house on the campus of St. Joseph’s Indian School. Also included is Frater Truc Tran, SCJ (far right), who is in the middle of his pastoral year; he is a seminarian at Sacred Heart Seminary and School of Theology.
Dilexit Nos and Fr. Dehon
On March 14, the 182nd anniversary of the birth of Ven. Fr. Leo John Dehon, the Dehon Study Center hosted the first of three presentations on Dilexit Nos, Pope Francis’ encyclical on the love of the Heart of Jesus. The sessions – held via Zoom – are led by Dr. Jeremy Blackwood, associate professor of Systematic Theology at Sacred Heart Seminary and School of Theology.
“Renewing the Sacred Heart: Dilexit Nos and Fr. Leo Dehon,” was the title of the first session. To give a sense of why Pope Francis wrote the encyclical, Dr. Blackood quoted one of its opening paragraphs:
“[L]iving as we do in an age of superficiality, rushing frenetically from one thing to another without really knowing why, and ending up as insatiable consumers and slaves to the mechanisms of a market unconcerned about the deeper meaning of our lives, all of us need to rediscover the importance of the heart.”
The Holy Father “suggests that Sacred Heart devotion could be a key in overcoming that sense in the modern world,” said Dr. Blackwood. “And I think that vision resonates well with that of Fr. Leo John Dehon.”
Dr. Blackwood went on to say that one of the challenges of modern society is “a denial of the heart. We find ourselves unsure of what to do with an image that’s not purely intellectual nor purely moral. The heart does not calculate. It doesn’t follow clear rules. It is not subject to capture by technocratic or bureaucratic systems, and it often refuses to simply do what it’s told. We also find ourselves unsure how to nail down the image in the first place. Are we talking about emotions, the mind, how we feel, how we imagine?
“…Reflection on the heart and through the heart requires an openness and a vulnerability to which many of us are strenuously opposed, but without that vulnerability, we’re closed off from love.”
As Pope Francis writes: “It is only by starting from the heart that our communities will succeed in uniting and reconciling differing minds and wills, so that the Spirit can guide us in unity as brothers and sisters.”
This echoes Fr. Dehon who saw the heart as “the site or the center point of all that we are,” said Dr. Blackwood. “The connection point of our relationships with others; the point at which we understand the meaning of our life.”
A recording of the Zoom presentation will soon be made available by the Dehon Study Center. The next two presentations are on June 18 and on August 12 (as a part of the commemoration of the centenary of the death of Fr. Dehon).
All you have to do is start
“As a young student, I had a desire to explore, and especially, to be with the needy,” wrote Fr. Christian Hoper, SCJ (pictured above), in the March issue of As a Rule. “I decided to become ‘a spy‘ who secretly escaped from the monastery on some nights. I took my bicycle and went to the edge of the Code River in Yogyakarta. In that place, I encountered approximately 30 children who were very poor. They didn’t have access to education. I become a volunteer, and with others, taught several subjects. I did this at night without my formator knowing.
“But then one day my rector called me. ‘I saw you outside at night; where were you going?’ he asked. I was honest and told him that ‘I went to edge to the river of Code and became a volunteer teacher for the children there.’ He asked me, ‘Why did you do that like a robber in the middle night and not tell me?’
“He told me to continue to do my work and not to be afraid to do something for the social good.
“‘Show them the joy of Gospel and your life as a religious,’ he said. ‘There is no reason to forbid you from doing good for the poor and the needy.’
“Going out from our comfort zone to live the Gospel can be hard. Sometimes it is fear that keeps us from doing the right thing. Or we simply don’t know how to start. My brothers and sisters, all you have to do is start and God will show you the way. If it is good He will open the way for you. Sometimes, God shows us ways that we would never expect.”
Click here to read Fr. Christian’s full text, as well as a reflection by Fr. Emerson Ruiz, SCJ, a member of the Brazil-Saõ Paulo Province who is an alumnus of SHSST’s ECS program, as well a graduate of the specialized study program at the Centro Studi Dehoniani in Rome.
Welcome!
On March 13 the Montréal community welcomed Fr. Patrice Kimbwini Koshi, SCJ (pictured above), from the Congolese Province. He will stay in Montréal until the end of the month, and then join the Ottawa community to study Conflict Resolution at St. Paul’s University. His email address: [email protected]
Also, Fr Manuel Alberto Carvalho Vicente moved from Ottawa to Montreal, and he is now a member of the Montreal community.
Keep in prayer
Please keep in prayer Mark Peters, former JPR director of the US Province, who has been diagnosed with a rare blood disease. He is undergoing chemotherapy at Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee while awaiting a possible bone marrow transplant.
Adaptations make altar accessible
Fr. Greg Speck, SCJ, wrote from the Sacred Heart retirement community in Pinellas Park, FL, to note that just in time for Lent, the community has adapted its chapel to allow for priests in wheelchairs to celebrate Mass at the altar.
“Generally, all altars are too high,” wrote Fr. Greg. “We have gotten one that accommodates wheelchair height. All wheelchairs fit under the altar top making it as comfortable to celebrate Mass there as to sit at any table. Most altars, including the original altar here, have a platform base or braces around all four sides blocking access to a chair. Finally, the space to maneuver a wheelchair around the altar and through the chapel required some simple rearrangements. Happily, as all the members of the community gather each day, the adjustments, arrangements and adaptations made to the chapel now make it possible for all to preside.”
Assignments
The following assignments were announced at last week’s Provincial Council meeting:
– Fr. Rafael Querobin, SCJ, has been assigned as a formator, effective June 1.
– Br. Brian Tompkins, SCJ, has been assigned as a formator effective June 1.
– Fr. Joseph Thien Dinh, SCJ, will become province director of JPR as of July 1.
– Fr. Jerzy Mordalski, SCJ, will be presented to the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston to serve as pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Houston, effective May 1.
– Br. Andy Gancarczyk, SCJ, has been assigned as residential coordinator of the ECS program effective May 1.
Budget reminder
All province budgets are due to the Provincial Treasurer’s Office by April 4. Questions? Contract Kevin Stanke.
Formation
Last week the Provincial Council voted to approve Fra. Long Nguyen, SCJ, for ordination to the transitional diaconate and voted to approve SCJ Fra. Hung Pham’s request for final vows. Fra. Hung’s ceremony is expected to take place during the Provincial Election Assembly in June.
Arise!
On Saturday, April 5, the Dehonians’ Vocation Office and Sacred Heart Seminary and School of Theology are partnering with Arise Milwaukee to host an Arise Worship Night in the seminary chapel. The evening will include Eucharistic Adoration, confessions and music. Fr. Henry, vocation director, will lead Adoration and the Procession, and several other SCJs will be available for confession.
Click here for more information, or contact the Province Vocation Office.
On St. Patrick’s Day we pray…
Prayer attributed to St. Patrick
