PRIESTS OF THE SACRED HEART
21st GENERAL CHAPTER
The 21st General Chapter began on May 12, beginning with the Mass
The Priests of the Sacred Heart are pleased to announce the celebration of the 21st General Chapter. This Chapter began on May 12 and will continue through June 13 at the General Headquarters of the Priests of the Sacred Heart in Rome.
In preparation for this Chapter, several documents were prepared. We would like to share the following document which provides insight into our spirit and mission within the Church.
IN THE HEART OF THE WORLD
In every part of the world where we find ourselves and work, "we know that today's world is in the throes of an intense struggle for freedom: freedom from all that harms the dignity of people and threatens the realization of their most profound aspirations - truth, justice, love, freedom" (SCJ Rule of Life, # 36).
As Pope John Paul II reminds us, we know that our vocation demands, today more than ever, that we bring society into contact with the sentiments of the Heart of Christ - peace, serenity, comfort, and pardon (June 14, 1989).
In living our vocation, it is our desire to give witness to the primacy of love in the world and to dedicate ourselves without reservation to bring about a new humanity in the Heart of Christ (Rule of Life, # 39).
The Priests of the Sacred Heart are often called "Dehonians," a name which refers to our Founder, the Venerable Father Leo Dehon, a genuine apostle of love and reparation to the Heart of Christ. We wish to share his charism with all those whom we meet in the Church and in the world.
Our Congregation was born in 1878 and spread quickly as an immediate response to the social needs and spiritual desires of the time. Our presence today in the world also responds to pressing needs: missions, parishes, specialized movements within the Church working with the young, the press and mass media, the social apostolate, international volunteer agencies working on behalf of the poor, of workers, and of those excluded from society. We dedicate ourselves and our energies to God to proclaim the Gospel of Love and to serve our brothers and sisters.
Our religious experience is a continuous mission and offering, an invitation to those who are moved by the Holy Spirit to respond to the call to give themselves totally to bring about the Civilization of Love among peoples and nations.
IN THE HEART OF GOD
"I leave you the most marvelous of treasures: the Heart of Jesus. He belongs to all, but He has a special tenderness to those who are consecrated to Him and who give themselves completely to His love" (Spiritual Testament of Father Dehon).
"As disciples of Father Dehon, we want to make union with Christ in His love for the Father and for people the principle and center of our live" (Rule of Life, # 17). In a spirit of offering, recalling the "Behold, I come" of Christ to the Father, we are available to make known the infinite mercy of the Father which surpasses all understanding.
IN THE HEART OF THE CHURCH
Our SCJ vocation is centered on the mystery of the Heart of Christ from which the Church has taken its origins. We insert ourselves into the heart of the Church as "prophets of love and servants of reconciliation." "By its very nature, our Institute is an apostolic institute: and so we readily place ourselves at the service of the Church in its various pastoral works" (Rule of Life, # 30).
"Following our Founder, according to the signs of the times and in union with the life of the Church, we want to contribute to establishing the Reign of justice and Christian charity in the world. United to Christ, we dedicate our efforts so that the human family, sanctified in the Holy Spirit, might become an offering pleasing to God" (Romans 15:16; Rule of Life, ## 31-32).
WHERE WE LIVE AND WORK
We SCJs, approximately 2,300 religious, priests and brothers, work in 38 countries: Albania, Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bylorussia, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, the Congo, Croatia, Ecuador, Finland, England, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Luxemburg, Madagascar, Mexico, Moldavia, Mozambique, the Netherlands, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Scotland, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine, the United States, Uruguay, and Venezuela. An international Congregation, we are divided into Provinces, Regions, and Districts.
WHAT WE DO
"Although our Institute was not founded for a specific work, it gets from the founder some apostolic orientations which characterize its mission in the Church" (Rule of Life, # 30).
Our service to the Church is based on a life of prayer and oblation: daily community adoration becomes its most authentic expression. This service is expressed through our pastoral ministry to the poor and lowly; through missionary activity as a privileged form of apostolic service; and in our dedication to priestly and religious formation.
The common life, sharing of goods, communion of persons, the ongoing search for unity in Christ, the service of reconciliation, availability to follow Christ without reserve wherever we are called, make our way of being and acting a prophetic witness to Christ Jesus.
