PASTORAL HEALTH CARE
We continue the loving attention of Magdalene for the sick, the living images of Christ himself, and we are ready if necessary to expose our lives in the exercise of holy charity. We visit the sick to assist and comfort them, with respect for their own beliefs, helping them to understand the redemptive value of suffering. In doing so we bear witness that the Lord is close to them when they are weak and ill. We help those who are recovering from illness to renew their trust in God and in life, and with gentleness and prudence prepare those who are close to death for their final encounter with the Father. (RL No. 57)
Canossa Health and Social Center - Tondo, Manila
The Canossian Sisters’ ministry in Tondo among the poorest of the poor began in 1971 during those times of restlessness, activism and political power struggle in the country. Assisting the PIME Fathers in their parochial work among the families in Magsaysay Village, Vitas and Velasquez, they gathered the people for the Eucharistic Celebration and catechetical instruction to children and adults, put up feeding program for malnourished children and health education for their mothers. In 1979, Canossa Health and Social Center was established. What followed through the years has been an extensive holistic service of love and upliftment of the poor dear to the very heart of St. Magdalene of Canossa.
The Center provides holistic services to the sick and the poor through out-patient department for general consultations both adults and children like TB-DOTS for TB patients which includes one day nutritious meal for the whole treatment phase, dental care, maternal and child care, laboratory, x-ray. Day Care Center caters to poor children of slum areas in Happy Land and Aroma to offer the kids Christian education. Skills training for those unemployed mothers/fathers are provided on a 2 to 6 months basis to empower them to acquire skills and have some sources of income for their families. Some Income-Generating-Projects (IGP) like sewing garments and production of MgC calamansi drink partially support the running of the Center.
St. Magdalene’s call of making Jesus known and loved by all is carried out in various, spiritual activities to patients, staff and volunteers through recollections twice a year for the reception of the Sacrament of reconciliation and Eucharist, regular catechism on Saturdays and daily reflections on the Word of God before the clinic starts. Health lectures on relevant issues are likewise conducted regularly as preventive measure. The task of assisting the poor in Tondo is enormous and the Sisters know that they would need the generous support of others in building this Christian community. The Center runs through the generosity of volunteer Health workers and Doctors in varied specialization from government and non government hospitals.
We count on generous hearts to support our sick and needy brother and sisters.
Canossa Health and Social Center – Bulihan, Silang, Cavite
Massive Poverty in the Philippines drove individuals and families from the far flung provinces to migrate in Tondo to look for a greener pasture. The Tondo area has always been the favored place of residence of migrants from provinces. As the population ballooned and the area became congested, some residents left Tondo for other places, but the majority of the migrants stayed behind. Canossa Health and Social Center (CHSC) is situated at Magsaysay Village, Tondo, Manila and home to squatter families living in tight clusters of dilapidated houses. The Sisters’ ministry among the poorest of the poor began in 1971 while assisting the PIME Fathers in their parish work. It aims for an integral development of the person through evangelization and pastoral activities, integral promotion of the person and assistance to the sick and suffering.
In 1984, when a big number of homes in Tondo were demolished and families were relocated in Bulihan, Silang, Cavite, the Canossian Sisters from Tondo organized a mobile clinic together with the German Doctors and volunteer health workers. The initial purpose of which was to follow up the patients afflicted with tuberculosis for monitoring and continuity of medications which they started in Tondo. For some years, the Sisters traveled from Tondo to Bulihan to assist the families in their various needs. On April 28, 1991 Bulihan community was officially established to make permanent the health and social assistance to the former slum dwellers from Tondo as well as from other places in the Bulihan resettlement area and to assist in the evangelizing mission of the nearby Parish of the Risen Christ through establishment of Clinic, Children’s Nutrition, Maternal Health Care, Skills Training and Income Generating Projects. The Programs and Services offered which have evolved through the years from TB-DOTS Program include Out-Patient Department (OPD)/Clinic and Laboratory Services, Dental Clinic, Pharmaceutical Services, Therapeutic Massage Clinic, Mental Health, Hospice and Palliative Care, Hapag-asa Feeding Program and Educational Assistance Programs.
Help us support our assistance to the poor in Bulihan.
PORT MORESBY, PAPUA NEW GUINEA MISSION
The first Canossian Sisters from the Philippines came to Papua New Guinea on September 15, 1992 upon the invitation of the late Archbishop Peter Korungku in the Archdiocese of Port Moresby. The Sisters were mandated for two particular works of evangelization in the Archdiocese: coordinating the Religious Education Program and providing health care services to the poor at St. Therese Clinic – Hohola and in the settlement areas around Port Moresby. Presently, the Canossian Sisters in PNG mission are actively engaged in the health ministry with health care services in Port Moresby that extend to the far-flung villages at Rigo District, Central Province with the assistance of the Village Health Volunteers and Lay Canossians.
An exploration to open another community in PNG mission was the ad experimentum community in Tari, Southern Highlands (now Hela Province). The Sisters worked in St. Joseph Tari Secondary School from 2006-2010. In 2010, the premises of Canossa School of Life-Bomana which ran its program from 1999 to 2009 that produced 18 batches of graduates who were trained in sewing, fashion design, food services and delivery, have been turned over to the care of the five Bishops of the dioceses of Southern Region: Port Moresby, Bereina, Kerema, Daru-Kiunga and Alotau. It is now a teachers’ training college for remote villages of the country, the Sacred Heart Teachers’ College – Bomana. It has produced many graduates teaching in those remote villages.
The Sisters are part of the teaching staff and pastoral care of the students in this College.