What's New

Note the new introduction letter published this week. It briefly explains website plans for the upcoming General Conference in Recifé (cf. May 1).

The office of the general secretary has published the final list of participants to the general conference (cf. Participants List). The General Conference will run from May 16 - 26, 2000 and has as its theme: Economy and the Reign of God.

Due to the upcoming General Conference, Meet an SCJ will not be published during the month of May, but will resume on June 10, 2000, with SCJs from the North Italian Province. However, we do encourage you to visit the page this month as there is a new prayer posted from the Chilean Province, along with a photo of the prayer card from which this prayer is taken. The prayer card was issued in honor of the 50^th anniversary of SCJ presence in Chile.

Paul McGuire (US), director of the Dehon Study Center in Franklin, Wisconsin, has translated Fr. André Perroux's work Leo Dehon: A Passion for Christ - A Passion for the World into English. The text was recently published by the Priests of the Sacred Heart Development Office and is now available in both the US and Canada at the following addresses:
 

Priests of the Sacred Heart P.O. Box 900 Hales Corners, WI 53130-0900 USA

Priests of the Sacred Heart 58 High Park Blvd. Toronto, Ont. M6R 1M8 Canada

Editor's Note: The General Curia (Rome) has a limited number of the original French Text Leon Dehon: Passionne du Christ - Passionne du Monde available as well.

Congratulations

To those celebration anniversaries this month

Professions 60 Years

13/05/40 Isaac Carter BH

Ordinations 25 Years

24/05/75 August Hülsman GE (Provincial Superior)

To the following members of the Polish Province (PO) who made their final vows on April 30, 2000 at the seminary chapel in Stadniki.

• Rafal Czernia
• Piotr Dudek
• Piotr Fulara
• Przemyslaw Kosak

 

 

To the following novices of the District of India (IND) who made their first profession on May 1, 2000, at Aluva, India:

• Lalan Vadassery Mathews
• Winston Savio Mascarenhas McQueen

 

 

English Ongoing Formation at Rome

A month long ongoing formation program for English Speaking SCJs began on April 27th with Wim van Paassen (NE) as the first of two presenters. The program was organized by Osnildo Klann (BM), director of congregational on-going formation. This particular program was organized after the full English Ongoing Formation Program was canceled due to lack of participants to meet the needs of several scjs preparing to become formation directors. In addition to Wim van Paassen (Cf. workshop outline), the other major presenter will be Stefan Tertünte (GE).


Wim van Paassen (NE) giving his Dehon Lecture to the English Speaking SCJs from South Africa,
Philippines and the United States.

 Dehon Photo of the Week

"Fr. Rasset was my first companion, my assistant, one of my best councilors. He was present at my First Profession in June 28, 1878 and he became a postulant the same day. In 1879, he pronounced his oath to persevere in the congregation and he remained faithful. He had made the vow of victimhood. He shared all my sufferings, and he had others on his own. In his last years he matured more and more for his heavenly reward. The crosses abounded: political persecution, sufferings of his sickness, family sorrows, the ungrateful ministry in Marchais. He leaves us notes and letters exchanged with his sister which reveal to us a saintly priest and a true victim of the S. Heart."

We welcome back Stefan Tertünte's reflections on the Dehon Photo Collection. This week he gives us a brief account of the life of Fr. Rasset one of the first scjs and first vicar general in the congregation (Cf. Adrien Alphonse-Marie Rasset).

Dehon in Canada and America

Departure from San Francisco

It's the evening of October 6. I am aboard the Chiyo Maru, a superb ship, 553 feet long. It belongs to a joint American-Japanese company. The officers are American, the service staff is a mixture of Japanese and Chinese. There are 280 of us in First Class. In the evening we pass through the Golden Gate strait, the entrance to the harbor whose hillsides are bathed in the light of the setting sun. We are launching out into the Pacific Ocean and it will take 17 days to reach Asia. Most of the passengers in First Class are Americans, while the Asians are in Third.

This brings to a close our presentation of Dehon in Canada and America. We thank Fr. McGuire for allowing us to use his text as the basis of this presentation. Following the General Conference we will begin presenting The Correspondence of the First Novices Before the "Consummatum Est" 1879 - 1883 (Caminos Dehonianos #17) prepared by p. Egidio Driedonkx (CI) and published by the Commission on Spirituality, Justice & Peace of the Province of Chile.

©MasterClips