dehoncanada

On Sunday June 26, 2022, one of our honorary members, Marjorie Moore, died at The Redwoods, a retirement home in Ottawa. She was 83. Marjorie worked with Fr. Bill More for many years in the Separated and Divorced Ministry. We remember her in our prayers.

The Region after two years of not coming together for the feast of the Sacred Heart felt free enough to resume the tradition of gathering at the community house in Ottawa. The Ottawa community hosted the event on June 22 and 23 with a holy hour on the first day and the Eucharist of the Sacred Heart on Thursday June 23. Fr. Greg Murray presided and preached.

On Saturday, May 28, Fr. Claude Bédard passed away in Montréal hospital after having received the Sacrament of the Sick from Fr. General Carlos Ruiz. On Thursday, June 2, in the presence of his confreres from the three communities, we celebrated the funeral services in the church of his baptism: Saints Martyrs, in Montréal North. In his homely, Fr. Richard Woodbury recounted the rich life of Fr. Claude as teacher, parish priest, missionary in Congo, guest master of an aids hospice in Montréal, in charge of the Mission Office. After the funeral services Claude was buried in cemetery of Grenville, Québec.

From May 26 to June 2 Fr. General and Stephen Huffstetter, the Vicar General, held their visitation of the Canadian Region. It started in Montréal where they also witnessed the death of our confrère Claude Bédard. From there they travelled to Ottawa where they met with the Regional Council. They participated in the funeral Eucharist for Claude Bédard at Saints Martyrs in Montréal. From there they travelled to visit our Toronto community.

Last week Fr. Antonius Suedi Oki Kuncero, SCJ, arrived in Toronto from the Indonesian Province. He will spend a few days in Toronto. He will then head to Montréal to join our community there. He will begin by learning French. He will be ministering to the Indonesian Catholic community of the Montréal area.

Fr. Oki is 40, professed first vows in 2002 and was ordained in 2010.

Nine Sacred Heart priests serve six parishes in Ukraine and work in a student dormitory. One of the parishes, the Sacred Heart Parish of St. Teresa of the Child Jesus in Irpień near Kiev, is close to Kiev airport, which is particularly heavily contested.

Persevering in the war zone

Father Piotr Chmielecki SCJ, deputy mission procurator in Poland, has been in contact with Father Andrzej Olejnik SCJ, parish priest at Sacred Heart Parish in Irpień near Kiev.
“Pray for us, pray, pray …”. This is what Fr. Olejnik answered when asked how he and the confreres were doing. “The Charity Center and the Church (under construction) of the Sacred Heart priests are located exactly nine kilometers from Hostomel Airport, currently a location of fierce fighting, and 26 kilometers from the Maidan of Independence, the very center of the capital of Ukraine.

We can hear the artillery shelling of Hostomel Airport all the time. I never expected to experience a war as an adult … I had already survived the 1992 war in Moldova-Transnistria as a child, but at that time I did not understand what happened. What I know and hear now is terrible for me.”

Of the nine Sacred Heart priests in Ukraine, only one is from the country itself, two are from Moldova, and six are from Poland. The foreign confreres could have left Ukraine unhindered, but they remain at their mission posts.
Father Tadeusz Wołos SCJ, deputy provincial, says: “We do not want to leave our parishioners without pastoral assistance. We will stay with them until the end. We remain ready to welcome people by providing them with places to sleep, necessary food, some financial help, etc.” The confreres also celebrate Holy Masses and broadcast them online.
“People are scared, but well organized. Many prefer to stay in their homes rather than flee. For now, they still have food and all the necessary means to survive. Everyone is waiting for the war to end as soon as possible,” Father Wołos continued.

Help for refugees
Still, of course, many people are fleeing. The Sacred Heart priests in Poland are taking care of the refugees who have already arrived and expect many more to arrive. They have taken some of them in or are organizing shelters, providing all the necessities of life, and giving pastoral assistance.
In addition, the priests of the Sacred Heart are urgently looking for housing for the refugees. Donations help to pay the rents and to provide the refugees with the basic necessities – clothing, food and hygiene articles in the first place.
As of Sunday (Feb. 27, 2022), some 368,000 people were already fleeing, according to the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR; according to the Polish Border Guard, more than 200,000 refugees arrived in Poland alone.

In Transnistria, which is in a delicate situation politically, the soup kitchens, first aid supplies and other aid projects of the Sacred Heart priests are also open to refugees. There are not very many yet – mostly relatives or friends of Transnistrian residents. But the communities are ready to receive more refugees. They also need help to feed them and provide them with enough clothes.

Meanwhile, Bishop Dr. Heiner Wilmer SCJ, who is also chairman of Justitia-et-Pax, has called for unity and solidarity in Europe – especially with regard to the war refugees. He calls Russia’s attack “a serious crime” and an attack on the European project.

(A report from the German Province)

The new regional council began its work by a first presential meeting at our community house in Montréal. The new team consists of Fr. Gustave Lulendo, Maurice Légaré, Greg Murray and Willyans Raposo.

After a hiatus of two years, Fr. Stephen Huffstetter, the General Vicar, was finally able to visit the communities of the Region. He arrived in Montréal on September 11, Ottawa on September 13 and Toronto on September 15. In the picture he is shown with the Ottawa community.

Fr. Greg Murray will begin his new ministry on July 3rd, 2021, in the Archdiocese of Gatineau (St. Aloysius Gonzaga, St. Columban, St. Malachy and Our Lady of Victory). He will be residing at St. Aloysius Gonzaga: 

300 de l’Abbé-Murray St. Gatineau, QC  J8P 4Z4

Tél.: 819-663-5244 Fax: 819-663-2078

 Best wishes for his new ministry.

Le P. Greg Murray commencera son nouveau ministère le 3 juillet 2021 dans l’Archidiocèse de Gatineau (St. Aloysius Gonzaga, St. Columban, St. Malachy et Our Lady of Victory). Il résidera à St. Aloysius Gonzaga:

La communauté de Montréal s’est réunie dimanche soir, 20 juin, pour un souper d’au-revoir au P. Greg Murray, qui commencera dans les prochaines semaines, un nouveau ministère dans l’Archidiocèse de Gatineau. Pour l’occasion, les PP. Roger Phaneuf et Richard Woodbury s’étaient déplacés pour rejoindre les résidents du boul. Gouin. La soirée s’est déroulée autour d’un bon repas préparé au BBQ. Le P. Greg a quitté Montréal lundi, le 21 juin, pour rejoindre la communauté d’Ottawa en attendant d’emménager dans un presbytère de la région de Buckingham, avec le P. Élie Muzungu Kasongo.

The Montreal community gathered on Sunday, June 20, for a farewell dinner to Fr. Greg Murray who will begin a new ministry, in a few weeks, in the Archdiocese of Gatineau. On this occasion, Frs. Roger Phaneuf and Richard Woodbury, joined the residents at Boul. Gouin for a nice meal cooked on BBQ on the porch. Fr. Greg left Montreal on June 21 to join the Ottawa community before moving in a parish in or near Buckingham, with Fr. Elie Muzungu Kasongo.