What's New

The Message to the Congregation and the Dehonian Family for the Feast of the Sacred Heart has been posted to both the Letters and Documents and the General Conference pages. The message was prepared as the final document from the General Conference on The Economy and the Reign of God, held in Recifé, Brazil in May.

Meet an SCJ this week features Stefano Zamboni (IS), a theology student as the Studentato per le Missioni in Bologna.

The superior of the scj house in Amsterdam (Honthorstraat 20) informs us that unfortunately as of August 1^st the house will no longer be able to welcome visitors. The house which has welcomed a large number of scjs from around the world will soon be closed and sold.

La Maison Missionnaire et le Provincialat de Paris at 11 Passage Doisy 75017 has moved to a new location.

19 Rue St-Maur 75011 PARIS

Telephone:

General : 01 44 93 20 00
Provincialat: 01 44 93 20 02
Provincial Secretary: 01 44 93 23 32 (Mr. Stanislas)
House Superior: 01 44 93 23 80
Provincial Treasurer. 01 44 93 20 05
Mission Procurer: 01 44 93 20 03
Young Dehonians: 01 44 93 23 88 (Fr. Furzon, pro temp.)
Fax: 01 44 93 23 38

Email:

Province: gaprovscj@aol.com
Young Dehonians: jddehon@ifrance.com

The community of Sacred Heart House in Trento (Casa S. Cuore di Trento) has been transferred to S. Giuliana di Levico at Villazzano de Trento. It is a new house for vocation ministry. Please make note of the following changes.

Casa S. Cuore
Salita dei Molini, 36
38050 Villazzano de Trento (TN)

Telephone: (0461) 921414
Fax: (0461) 914060:

Congratulations

On June 17, 2000, Leonardo Javier Zampa (AU) made his profession of final vows.

Situation in the Congo

The following article appeared on the "VIDIMUS DOMINUM" website on Monday, June 12, 2000. It is available in several languages. The article sites a recent letter "S.O.S. From SCJ Missionaries in the Congo" dated June 9, 2000 from the General Curia on the difficult situation in the Congo and especially in Kisangani. In addition, the North Italian Province has provided our website with added information KISANGANI A FERRO E FUOCO, currently available only in Italian. We hope to have this page translated into our other languages shortly. Fr. General is encouraging scjs, and members of the entire dehonian family, to make themselves aware of the current situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and to do what they can to pressure the United Nations [and other governments] "...to resume the dialogue and reconciliation among all parties concerned."

Congo: SOS From the Dehonians Against the Dramatic Genocide

Detailed denunciation of the situation in Kisangani

Bologna (Italy), June 12th (VID) - Dramatic "SOS" from the Dehonian missionaries for the situation in Kisangani, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The appeal denounces the " horrible genocide" and asks for the "immediate intervention by the Italian Government, by the UN, by the United States and Belgium and all of those countries which can do something and which instead are contemplating that which is happening".

The text carries the signature of the Superior General, Father Virginio Bressanelli, and of Father Carlos Alberto da Costa and Father Ryszard Mys, councilors general of the Congregation.

In a detailed and specific denunciation, they state: "the city has been without electricity and water since last Monday because the hydroelectric plant has been hit. No one has the courage to go out and bury the dead. The wounded cannot be helped due to the lack of medicine. People are forced stay indoors in their homes and they cannot provide themselves with necessary water and food supplies".

As the Priests of the Sacred Heart missionaries have been "present in Kisangani for over a hundred years, we feel a particular obligation toward this innocent and martyred people who are being submitted to the exploitation of mean, national and international interests".

"The Lord Jesus Christ - they conclude - should not condemn us for having assisted passively to the sufferance, to the outrage and to the death of our African brothers".

The situation of the Verona Fathers present in the city is also difficult. Their house has been shelled several times. The Generalate in Rome was unable to get through to Kisangani on Saturday. Combonian sources have observed that the technique of the various contestants is to maneuver the situation in such a way that accusations of mistreatment of missionaries fall on their adversaries, for the purpose of fomenting hatred toward Westerners and to force them to go away inasmuch as they are troubling witnesses of massacres.

From VIDIMUS DOMINUM
June 12, 2000

NB Vidimus Dominum is published in several languages. This link will take you to the English News Page. From there other languages can be accessed. The SCJ Curia (Rome) is one of its sponsoring congregations.

Additional information has been published by Richard Mis (CU), responsible for the missions, since the news page was sent to our translators on Monday (June 12, 2000) and is added here:

Congo Report #2
Congon Report #3

Dehon Photo of the Week

The first three in our series on Dehon Photos were done without commentary by Stefan Tertünte, over the next three weeks we will revisit these photos with commentary. The first photo was of Fr. Dehon laying the corner stone at Cristo Re Parish in Rome. Stefan writes on "The new Temple of the Sacred Heart of Jesus" .

"The title of an article in the periodical "Il Regno del Sacro Cuore di Gesù" (The Sacred Heart of Jesus) in June 1920. In fact the name of the church - a big desire of Fr. Dehon for many years - changes frequently throughout the years. Until 1924, the official title was International Votive Temple of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Rome, then, until 1927 the church is sometimes called International Votive Temple of Peace and only with the erection as a parish the title Parish Temple of the Sacred Heart of Christ, King of Peace becomes definitive."

Letters from the First Novices

CORRESPONDENCE OF THE FIRST NOVICES BEFORE THE "CONSUMMATUM EST 1878-1883 by Egidio Driedonkx (CH) is the most recent publication (Dehonian Pathways #19) from our Chilean Province. We begin this week presenting letters from the novices. The first short letter from comes from Fr. Alfonse Maria Rasset. He entered the novitiate on June 28, 1878 and made his first profession on September 8, 1879.