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Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus & Mary |
Dear Friends of Sacred Hearts
Missions,
 During
August, I had the opportunity to visit the Bahamas Islands and
meet with our SS.CC. members, Fathers Michael Kelly, Martin Gomes
and Patrick Fanning.
Our focus was on one of what is called
“The Family Islands,” with our particular discussion centering on
Long Island, a fifty minute flight from Nassau. We asked ourselves:
By having an SS.CC. priest ministering
to the population of some 4,000, can we bring the witness of Christ
by breaking the cycle of generational poverty?
If people continue to be poor from one
generation to the next, we must question what can be done to bring
about change.
No one wants to see grandparents, their
children, their grandchildren remain caught up in poverty, having to
rely on welfare, with only the hope of receiving minimal education.
In
my missionary work with the children of the leprosy patients, I
fondly remember
John and Mary who came to the
Rehabilitation Center as children.
Both were Hansen’s Disease patients who
had been cured.
They received primary education and then
were given on-the-job training to become leprosy paramedical workers
with skills in physiotherapy. What a joy it was to see them grow up
and, on their special day, be married together. Would you believe
they are grandparents today?
And their children and grandchildren are
spared any sickness,
are educated and live amongst the
middle-class in society.
Wherever the Church is present,
that cycle of witnessing to Christ by
reaching out to meet the needs of the poor
can
bring change.
If
a commitment is able to be made by Sacred Hearts Missions to go to
Long Island,
Bahamas, we would hope to form a C-I-M – Community in Mission -
which would include several sisters, brothers and one or two
priests.
Their living and working together will
bear witness to God’s Love as they reach out in small educational,
medical or rehabilitation programs.
To be able to
teach computer skills to the young;
to have a reading room where resources
are available for self-education; to sponsor
tutorial programs for those who would
like to pursue on-line college correspondence course;
to offer some sign of hope to those who would otherwise continue in
the succession of generational poverty.
By bringing the Love of Christ to God’s people,
the Church can help to
transform years of dependence into a new
lives filled with growth, development and a feeling of self-worth.
 A
true lifetime of commitment can be no better exemplified than by one
of our dearest Sacred Hearts Missions benefactors, Constance
Collinge, who celebrates her 100th
birthday on October 17th.
A longtime friend to Father Gabriel,
“Connie”, who attends daily Mass, has volunteered weekly for the
last ten years at a local food pantry and says simply, “I do it
because I want to feed the hungry.”
She is a tremendous inspiration to us
all,
a great witness to faith and a wonderful
example of how even one person can truly help to bring change to the
life of others.
Thank
you for helping us so others have a reason to "be glad and rejoice".
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Sincerely,
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Fr. William
F. Petrie, ss.cc., Provincial
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The happy day on which John and Mary
exchanged vows.
As grandparents today, they are cured
of Hansen’s Disease and are proud to be able to witness the
success of two generations of their family. This was made
possible because of the Church’s missionary activity.
Through your generosity we are able to continue to witness
God’s love.
Thank You!
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Helping the Needy and Abandoned Around the World
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