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Congregation of the Sacred Hearts United States Province April 2019 Newsletter

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Lent 2019 is winding up; we are very close to the Sacred Triduum and the summit of our Liturgical Year. We celebrate

the Paschal Mystery every day, but during the Easter Season, we find a heightened joy in our love for God and his

generous gift of life given freely to us! As the prayer of the preface of the Mass says: We are “overcome with Paschal

Joy”.

And so it is with this foundational Peace, we move ever closer to a union with God, our Maker. Our response always:

profound gratitude!

After consultation with the SSCC brothers of the Region of India, both living

within and outside of the country, we announce the appointment of Fr. Ajith

Kumar Antonydass, as the new Regional Superior. He will be installed at the

Brothers’ Assembly during the last week of June. We hope to have in

attendance our Superior General, Fr. Alberto Toutin and myself. At the same

time, we express our sincere gratitude to Fr. Sudhir Nayak, who has led the

Region over these past six years to a point where they are looking toward the

future of becoming a Vice-Province and ultimately a Province of the

Congregation of the Sacred Hearts. Thank you Sudhir for all you have

helped to make possible.

As US Provincial, it was an enriching experience for me to have the opportunity to speak with the men of the Region. All

of them, without exception, are committed to the work with which they are currently entrusted and again, without

exception, all expressed their hope for the future of the Region. There is a sense that God began His work in the country

of India long before any of us got there, and now the Good God continues His work of Creation and Redemption through

the gift of the Congregation! My sincere prayer is that the Brothers of India will see in Ajith a unifying presence and that

they will recognize that this very unity will be their strength as they grow and prosper for the sake of the Kingdom.

As the Region continues to mature, the members of the Provincial Government are recommending that a full-time

Vocation Director and a full-time Development Director be appointed. Personnel and Funds support the Mission the Lord

has given us - we will spread the Good News of God’s love everywhere we are!

With this appointment will come other personnel changes. We are asking Fr. Santhosh Thottankara

to become the Pastor of Our Lady of Sorrows in Wahiawa, Hawaii, effective the last week in June.

In conjunction with that, we are calling for Fr. J. Michael Kumar to be assigned to

St. Patrick Church in Kaimuki, Hawaii. He will be working with Fr. Clarence

Guerreiro. and Fr. Bertram Lock. J. Michael has been a priest for almost 6 years

and has worked in formation; this will be his first assignment in the pastoral field

and we look forward to welcoming him to Hawaii.

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On May 3, 2019 the US Province and the Region of India will welcome a new priest as Rev. Brother

Lalit Toppo is ordained in his home village at Dootvarg Ish Mandir Church, Gholeng by Bishop

Emmanuel Kerketta, Bishop of Jashpur Diocese. We offer our prayers and congratulations to Lalit and

to his family.

It is hopeful and exciting to see the young SSCC in India and in Fiji move through the ranks. To that

end, I have asked Bishop Larry of Honolulu to look at the possibility of “trading” our two “one-man”

parishes on the North Shore of Oahu for a larger parish with the expressed purpose of having another

site to initiate the young SSCC members into a Parish setting. He is taking this request under

advisement with his council.

In a previous Newsletter, we featured Rev. Bro. Esitio Niuliki and his Final Profession and Ordination

to the Diaconate. He has brought new life to the good people of St. Mary’s in Fairhaven and to our

entire SSCC community there. In an effort to allow him a greater breadth of ministry, we are assigning

him to St. Ann’s Parish in Kaneohe, Hawaii as Deacon and help to Fr. Rich McNally and Fr. Ed

Popish. He will complete his Diaconate year in Kaneohe and – God willing – be Ordained a Priest at

St. Ann later this year. His assignment will be effective July 18, 2019.

We have been praying that the VISA for Bro. Darius Amansec would come through, but as of yet, we

have received no word. If the visa does not come by the end of the school term in early May, Darius will continue the

academic year at Pacific Regional Seminary in Fiji, and we will plan for his pastoral year in 2020.

The National Religious Retirement Office (NRRO): is an organization developed to help Religious Orders plan for the

retirement of their members. They are offering to us (and other groups) a workshop to assist us in our planning. The

expenses for the trip are paid by NRRO. From May 13-16, Fr. Martin O’Loghlen, Fr. Martin Gomes, Cindy Epperson and I

will be attending these sessions in Maryland. There has already been an on-site visit to Damien Residence in Fairhaven

and one is scheduled for St Patrick in Honolulu this weekend. I am hoping that we will gain a good number of tools that will

allow us to make good, financially sound decisions regarding the care of our members in retirement.

I was recently contacted by the SSCC Sisters regarding reserving space at St. Anthony Retreat House as they are already

booking well into 2020. With that understanding, I have asked them to set aside the center to accommodate our Provincial

Chapter during the week of November 9-13, 2020 – only 19 months away!

And in conjunction with the decisions of the last provincial chapter in 2017, we

express our gratitude to Frs. Bill Petrie and Bill Penderghest who have taken on the

task as was directed by the chapter to “establish an ad hoc social justice committee

whose task is to collect and disseminate to all the Brothers a comprehensive profile

of our service to the poor and marginalized in each of our apostolic works.” Most of

you have already received an extensive questionnaire which they put together to

begin to gather information on this very important issue, not only for the

Congregation, but for the entire world.

We also want to thank Frs. Columban Crotty and David Reid who have combined

their efforts in Fairhaven to breathe new life into the National Office of the

Enthronement and the family ministry it encompasses. In their letter to the council

they stated, “the need within family life today is dire and so there is work for us all,

recognizing too that vocations to the religious life do not arise far from the Christian

family.”. We wholeheartedly support and endorse their work with our blessings and

look forward with enthusiasm and hope for what is to come.

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From Fiji, Fr. Johnathan Hurrell reports that Br. Warren Perotto, MSC (USA) has begun teaching a class on Spanish for the SSCC Fiji, Formation Community. Johnathan notes that “Br. Warren knows our guys from CTU (Lane Akiona,

Herman Gomes, Clyde Guerreiro, the late Jim Anguay) and is happy to be assisting the Picpus Formation with Spanish.”

He will teach every Wednesday from 4.00-5.00 pm and joins the community afterwards for prayers and dinner. The

brothers have taken to this learning Spanish with enthusiasm.

My travel schedule over the next several weeks takes me to Fiji, April 16-28; our face-to-face council meeting in California May 6-12 followed by the NRRO meeting in Baltimore, May 13-16. From June 21-27 I will be with the brothers in the Region of India for their Assembly. As always, if I am ever out of the country or unavailable, please

don’t hesitate to contact Vicar Provincial, Fr. Richard McNally.

My prayerful wishes to each of you for a blessed Holy Week and a glorious and joyful Easter, as we come together to rejoice in the

resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

In the SSCC,

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60 YEARS PROFESSED 50 YEARS ORDAINED 40 YEARS ORDAINED 40 YEARS PROFESSED

CHRIS KEAHI ALFIE Mc HUGH JOSEPH BUKOSKI III MARISI PALEPALE

MICHAEL KELLY TOM CHOO

MATT SHANLEY BILL PETRIE

DONAL Mc CARTHY PAT KILLILEA

PAT O’HAGAN MARTIN GOMES

ALBERT GARCIA

RICHARD Mc NALLY March 2 CHRISTOPHER SANTANGELO March 2 SEMISI PULOTU March 4 ESITIO NIULIKI March 7 DAVID REID March 9 DILIP BALIAR SINGH March 11 CLYDE GUERREIRO March 11 PATRICK CROWLEY March 13 LANE AKIONA March 16 MANOJ NAYAK March 22 PEADAR CRONIN March 23 ROBERT JOSHI March 26 EDWARD POPISH March 26 CHRISTOPHER KEAHI March 29 PASQUALE LAGHEZZA March 29

ALPHONSUS Mc HUGH April 8 PATRICK COYLE April 18 AJITH KUMAR ANTONYDASS April 23 ALBERT GARCIA April 24 RADHE LAL JATWAR April 24

BIBUDHA NAYAK May 6 GOLAK PORICHA May 6 MICHAEL BARRY May 9 SUBAL NAYAK May 10 ALBERT DAGNOLI May 11 MARTIN GOMES May 18 PATRICK O'HAGAN May 18 JOHN ROCHE May 19 AROCKIA KULANDAI May 21 JAMES RUKAVINA May 22 MATTHIAS SHANLEY May 29 JOHNATHAN HURRELL May 31