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In addition to the parish in Bangalore, the MSC run two parishes in very remote and rural areas. Near the parish of St. Anthony of Egypt, the MSC opened Chevalier Academy, an elementary school in Dindigul, Tamilnadu, which is open to children from all faiths and is very inexpensive. With the help of the Mission Office, the MSC purchased 6.5 acres of land for the school. Chevalier Academy, which after two years already has approximately 80 students, has outgrown its temporary structure, and the MSC are now raising money for a larger school building. The school currently has two classrooms and two teachers. One of the MSC working in the parish is the school administrator. St. Anthony of Padua Parish, another very remote parish, is located in a village called Ganga All of these projects require a lot of financial resources, but also a lot of human resources as more and more MSC are needed to staff and maintain these programs. Despite the fact that only about 2% of the population in India is Christian, the MSC community is growing rapidly. The formation program in India consists of one year of intensive English followed by a year-long prenovitiate program and then the Novitiate. After the Novitiate year, MSC students go to Bangalore where they study Philosophy for two years and Theology for three years. The formation program is thriving, and in 2008, 3 young men were ordained priests, 2 others took final vows as MSC and 8 more took their first vows. If you'd like to see more about the work the MSC are doing in India, please click on the link to visit the MSC Indian Union's blog page, which is in English. (Although there are more than 20 official languages in India, English is widely spoken. May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be loved everywhere! |
There are currently 22 MSC priests working in India. Three others are working outside of the country in Italy, the USA and Australia. MSC in India work in education, parish ministry, and counseling and help improve the lives of people whether it be by helping them rebuild their houses and boats after the tsunami or by drilling wells to improve access to clean water. (Tap water in India is not considered potable and in villages, people often have to walk several miles to fetch water.) This year, Fr. Adrian Meaney, MSC, a Missionary of the Sacred Heart from Australia, opened a second branch of the 
The headquarters of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart in India are in Bangalore, which is in the south of the country. One MSC priest, Fr. Pancratius Joseph, earned his doctorate in Clinical Psychology in the United States in 2007 and now works in a full-time private practice in Bangalore. His clients, who are mostly Hindu (80% of the population is Hindu), pay on a sliding scale based on income, so that no one is turned away because they cannot afford counseling. MSC in Bangalore also staff Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Parish. They are currently using the chapel to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, which seats approximately 100 people, as the church building. The parish already has 350 families and is growing every day, so the MSC are now working to raise the money needed to build a larger church. 
puram and MSC help villagers find employment and facilitate carpentry and basket weaving classes. They also help educate children from elementary school all the way through college by paying the costs of tuition and room and board for students attending the Salesian School, which is about 50 km away from Gangapuram. The actual amount of financial assistance is based on need and is determined on an individual basis, but the MSC often pay the full fees for a child because most parents in the village simply cannot afford the costs of education. MSC also help those students who are sent to the Jesuit college pay for their higher studies. With the help of the Mission Office, the MSC recently installed a well in the area to improve access to clean water. After the tsunami, MSC in India helped build houses, make nets and build and/or repair boats for the people who had lost their homes and the fishermen who had lost the tools they needed to make a living.