Seven Indian Sacred Hearts priests visit St. Damien’s grave in Kalawao, Molokai, last month with their congregation’s U.S. provincial Father Jonathan Hurrell, far right. (Photo courtesy off the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts)
Traveling over 7,400 miles, nearly the same distance that St. Damien de Veuster crossed on his journey from Belgium to Hawaii, seven young and enthusiastic Sacred Hearts priests from India stopped in Hawaii in mid-October to share their faith and dreams.
It was likely the largest delegation of priests from India to visit Hawaii. Conducting mission appeals at parishes on Oahu and Molokai, they responded to the Hawaiian greeting of “aloha” with “namaste,” a Sanskrit blessing meaning “the sacred in me greets the sacred in you.”
“Sacred” is a good word to describe the flourishing work of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, especially in the newly configured U.S. province which includes the region of India.
The India-Hawaii connection is no accident. Nearly 40 years ago, inspired by the example of St. Damien, Sacred Hearts Father William Petrie traveled from the Midwest U.S. to India to serve the leprosy patients of Mother Teresa in Calcutta. Shortly after, he was joined by Sacred Hearts Father Michael Shanahan and the India mission prospered.
Father Shanahan continues the Indian ministry today. Father Petrie is now the pastor of St. Damien Church in Kaunakakai, Molokai.
The Sacred Hearts Congregation in India now has 19 priests and 38 men in pre-novitiate. They work in the Indian state of Orissa in medical clinics, dispensaries and mobile clinics; tuition-free educational centers; vocational training centers and a weaving rehabilitation center; TB/HIV/AIDS awareness camps; small Christian communities and more.
In a tangible legacy to St. Damien, their Damien Social Development Institute this past year renovated 56 houses in the Trinath Leprosy Colony in Choudwar.
On Oct. 19, commemorating the first anniversary of St. Marianne Cope’s canonization, the Sacred Hearts Congregation’s U.S. provincial, Father Jonathan Hurrell, took the seven priests to Kalawao and Kalaupapa.
Walking in the footsteps of St. Damien was a deeply moving experience for all of them.
“Deeply seated in the charism of the Sacred Hearts is the sense of mission,” said Father Hurrell. “It is this sense of mission which drives us out from our countries. It is what drove St. Damien here, and what brings these priests from India here.”
As the Sacred Hearts Fathers and Brothers share the “sacred” by finding Jesus in the poor and marginalized, perhaps one day some of them will join the mission of their brother international missionaries by serving here in Hawaii.
