| More Than Two Thousand Attend Sacred Heart Congress in Surigao, Philippines |
 SURIGAO CITY, Philippines -
More than two thousand people gather for the first Diocesan Sacred
Heart Congress in Surigao City. The prelate of Surigao, Msgr.
Antonieto Cabajog, opened the three-day congress (5-7 June
208) by presiding a celebration of the Eucharist with the congress
participants and about 60 priests at the city Cathedral. The first Missionaries
of the Sacred Heart (MSC) to arrive in the Philippines settled in
Surigao in 1908. For the last hundred years, the MSCs have continuously
served the faithful of Surigao with much dedication and
commitment. Aside from administering parishes, the MSCs have founded
schools and initiated livelihood projects for the poor. The Diocese of
Surigao has organized and convened the Sacred Heart Congress to express
gratitude and pay tribute to the MSC Philippine Province. The Congress participants came from the five Vicariates of the Surigao Diocese. A good number of MSC priests, FDNSC nuns, and the diocesan clergy were also present. The theme chosen for the congress is "MSC – persevering in their witness of the love of Christ." Fr. Stephen Cuyos, MSC and Sr. Merly Salazar, FDNSC were the main speakers of the event. Conferences were held at the atrium of the high school campus of the St. Paul University in Surigao City. On the last day, the participants went on a dawn pilgrimage to the new Shrine of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart. A celebration of the Eucharist presided by Fr. Reynaldo Maldo, MSC at the Shrine formally ended the Congress. Download photo |
For us, a life in union with the Heart of Christ is not just a devotion - it is the very core of our spirituality. the heart of Christ is the source of living water, that is, of the Spirit. 
Jules Chevalier (1824-1907) was a man of his time. He was convinced that the Jesus he found in the Gospels was a person of deep compassion and understanding. 
Through her union with Jesus, Mary knows the unsearchable riches of his Heart and wants to lead us to him, who is the source of a limitless love that gives birth to a new world. 
Fr. Jules wanted to found a missionary Society that would have as its purpose to bring God’s compassionate and merciful love to human beings as the remedy for the evils that afflicted society.