THE NEWS FOR THE WEEK OF February 5, 2007...
Provincial’s time Fr. MacDonald is in Pinellas Park this week for a community visit. Transitions Tom Bridges has signed paperwork dispensing him from vows. He moved out of the 37th Street Community on February 3 and is now in Bethlehem, where he is doing hospital volunteer work. He thanks the SCJs for their support and prayers for him, especially during these recent months of discernment. He especially thanks the provincial administration for its concern and generosity, as well as the members of his community at 37th Street. “Please continue to pray for me as I do you,” he added. “Though I have left the community, after 26 years I still feel like I am a part of the SCJ family.” Tom welcomes e-mail. You can reach him at: tcbscj@hotmail.com Thanks Br. Larry Gauthier thanks SCJs for their prayers, cards and other support during his recent illness. He reports that he is feeling much better and on the road to recovery. To South Africa Fr. Jan de Jong and Fr. Charles Brown are in South Africa for the spring semester. During his time there, Fr. Jan can be reached at: Dehon House, 11 Alice Grange Road – Scottsville, Pietermaritzburg 3201, South Africa. Phone: 011-27-33-3462412. Fr. Charlie is at the same location he was previously: Study House, P.O. Box 630, 3245 Hilton KZN, South Africa. Phone: 011-27-033-383-0001. Sacred Heart Center The Sacred Heart Center in Eagle Butte, SD, celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. Begun by SCJs when they ministered on the Cheyenne River Reservation, it now employs 32 people and operates a women’s shelter, thrift shop and adolescent program. Counseling services are also available. The center continues to operate with the support of St. Joseph’s Indian School in South Dakota. The center will celebrate the anniversary with several events this year, including a banquet on October 2. Formal invitations will go to SCJs as the event nears. The center is also organizing an anniversary cookbook with favorite recipes. SCJs are invited to make submissions. You can send them to Kim Heath at kheath@shconline.org. You can also contact her with questions about the anniversary. To learn more about the center, go to its website at: http://www.shconline.org/ Besides its anniversary activities, the center will also host its annual Freedom From Violence Conference October 1-3 in Pierre, S.D. The anniversary banquet will take place during the conference. Please remember… Fr. Pacual Ignacio Belda Pérez of the Spanish Province, who died February 4. He was born in 1910, professed in 1927 and ordained in 1933. Fr. Mario Barziza of the North Italian Province who died February 2. He was born in 1923, professed in 1941 and ordained in 1949. Traveling novitiate Fr. John Czyzynski, novice master, and novices Brian Tompkins, Clay Diaz and Long Nguyen, returned last Tuesday from their three-week tour of the SCJs’ ministries in the South. Stops included northern Mississippi, Houston and the Rio Grande Valley, as well as time with the retirement community in Pinellas Park, Fl. “Our visit with missions in the South was a blessing,” said Long. “Each place we visited offered us a glimpse of what they do to serve God’s people; they gave me hope that I will be among the many hands in support of Leo Dehon’s dream. I was saddened to see the ministers who stretch themselves to make up for the lack of personnel, and sad too that some ministries might be lost because of personnel concerns. But I also saw much joy in the ministers with which we met.” Clay agreed that the tour was a blessing; it was a fun and honest time in which the novices got to know each other better, as well as the priests and brothers doing the work of the congregation. “I cannot say anything negative about what I have learned,” said Clay. Brian, a novice for the Canadian Region, concluded, noting that “it was a time blessed with learning, embracing new friendships and seeing first-hand the great work being done by the Priests of the Sacred Heart. The apostolate of Fr. Dehon lives. We were very welcomed. Our trip would not be the success it was if it were not for the warm and sincere hospitality of everyone who welcomed us in all the locations we visited.” Hoping to travel Fr. Zdzislaw Huber, a member of the Finnish Region, is enjoying his first visit to the United States. He arrived in January and will be based at Sacred Heart Monastery until May. During his sabbatical he is auditing a few classes at Sacred Heart School of Theology and taking time to simply get to know the United States and the U.S. Province. He says that he has been generously welcomed in Hales Corners, but that he would love to see more of the province. Fr. Zdzislaw is happy to give a presentation on the SCJs’ ministry in Finland in return for a visit to SCJ locations. If you’d like Fr. Zdzislaw get to know a bit about your area, e-mail him at: zkhuber@aim.com. We will have more about Fr. Zdzislaw and the SCJs’ ministry in Finland in an upcoming Fridge Notes and SCJ News.