25July 2012

wednesday

LITURGYPresided by Fr Arthur Vella sj

HymnsPeruvian hymns

ReadingsSt.James Apostle (feast)1st Reading : 2 Corinthians 4 : 7-15Psalm : Psalm 126 : 1-6Gospel : Matthew 20 : 20-28

PROGRAMME OF EVENTS7.30 Breakfast8.30 Mass in English9.30 Visit to Valletta13.30 Lunch16.30 Visit to SDC Central House and Chapel15:30 Welcome greeting at the Superior General’s office in Blata l-Bajda19:00 Special Programme followed by refreshments at St Michael School

PERSONAL NOTES

Traditional Balconies | Valletta

PROGRAMME OF EVENTS7.30 Breakfast8.30 Pilgrimage - Óamrun and Santa Venera13.00 Lunch18.30 Solemn Mass on the 50th Anniversary since the death of our Founder20.00 Informal time with the GEC members

LITURGYReadingsSt. Joachim & St. Anne1st Reading : Sirach 44 : 1, 10-15Psalm : Psalm 132 : 11-8Gospel : Matthew 13 : 16-17

Luzzu | Marsaxlokk

26July 2012

thursday

27July 2012

friday

LITURGYPresided by Fr Carl-Mario Sultana

HymnsAlbanian hymns

Readings1st Reading : Jeremiah 31 : 10-13Psalm : Jeremaih 31 : 10-13Gospel : Matthew 13 : 18-23

PROGRAMME OF EVENTS7.30 Breakfast8.30 Mass in English9.30 Visit to Blue Grotto and Óa©ar Qim Temples12.30 Lunch at the accom-pany members’ family17.00 Prayers at G˙ajn Tejtes Meditation Centre18:15 Visit SDC Centres UK & Perù - Si©©iewi CentreKenya - ÛurrieqAlbania - Kalkara

PERSONAL NOTES

Fort Ricasoli | Kalkara

28July 2012

saturday

LITURGYPresided by Mgr Lawrence Gatt

HymnsSwahili hymns

Readings1st Reading : Jeremiah 7 : 1-11Psalm : Psalm 84: 3-6, 8, 11Gospel : Matthew 13 : 24-30

PROGRAMME OF EVENTS7.30 Breakfast8.30 Mass in English10.00 Site Seeing (Mdina)13.00 Lunch16.30 Prayers at Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal Chapel in Blata l-Bajda17:15 Welcome at the Re-gional Superior’s office19:00 Visit to M’Xlokk Centre and the village feast followed by a walk by the seaside and supper.

29July 2012

sunday

LITURGYMass at St. Aloysius College Birkirkara

Readings17th Sunday in Ordinary Time1st Reading : 2 Kings 4 : 42-44Psalm : Psalm 145: 10-182nd Reading : Ephesians 4 : 1-6Gospel : John 6 : 1-15

PROGRAMME OF EVENTS7.15 Breakfast9.00 Mass10.00 Visit the SDC centre of Rabat12.30 Lunch16.00 Departure for Çirkewwa Recreational Centre17.30 Swim21.00 BBQ at Çirkewwa

PERSONAL NOTES

The Grandmaster Palace | Valletta

PROGRAMME OF EVENTS7.30 Mass8.30 Breakfast9.30 First SessionMessage by the Superior General10.45 Break time11.15 Second SessionIntroduction & Ice breaker13.00 Lunch16.00 Prayers16.15 Third SessionJesus is my model - Roberto Zammit17.00 Sharing in groups18.00 Visit SDC Centres 20.00 Sports & supper

PRAYER SESSIONAnimated by George Oloo and Kelvin Mwangi (Kenya)

LITURGYMass at Mellie˙a Parish Church

Readings1st Read : Jeremiah 13 : 1-11Psalm : Deuteronomy 32 : 18-21Gospel : Matthew 13 : 31-35

Salt Pans

30July 2012

monday

VISIT SDC CENTRESUK - BalzanPerù - GΩiraKenya - Mellie˙aAlbania - Naxxar

31July 2012

tuesday

PRAYER SESSIONAnimated by Mirwet Semra, Charles Lwanga and Nnamdi Nnadi (UK)

LITURGYMass at Mellie˙a Marian Shrine

ReadingsSt. Ignatius of Loyola1st Read : Jeremiah 14:17-22Psalm : Psalm 79:8-13Gospel : Matthew 13 : 36-43

PROGRAMME OF EVENTS7.00 Breakfast8.30 Mass at the Mellie˙a Marian Shrine9.30 First SessionWhat is the SDC charisma? Ass. Sup. Gen. Joseph Abdilla10.45 Break time11.15 Question time13.00 Lunch16.00 Prayers16.30 Third SessionWhat is the SDC Spirituality? - Robert Gauci17.45 Departure for St.Paul’s Bay Centre18.15 Session with youths and Sport and Supper at the Centre

PERSONAL NOTES

Xarolla Windmill | Ûurrieq

PROGRAMME OF EVENTS7.30 Mass8.30 Breakfast9.30 First SessionOur Founder, St George Preca - Joseph Bonnici10.45 Break time11.15 Rehearsals for the evening special programme presented by the visiting group13.00 Lunch16.00 Departure for St Michael School19.00 Special Programme20.30 Refreshments and time to socialize at the school’s grounds

LITURGYMass at Mellie˙a Parish Church

ReadingsSt. Alphonsus Ligouri, Doctor of the Church, Bishop1st Read : Jeremiah 15 : 10, 16-21Psalm : Psalm 59 : 2-4, 10-11, 17-18Gospel : Matthew 13 : 44-46

Citadel | Victoria, Gozo

1August 2012

wednesday

PRAYER SESSIONAnimated by Santiago, Carlos and Victor (Perù)

VISIT SDC CENTRESUK - PaolaPerù - Qormi IIKenya - KirkopAlbania - Óamrun I

ReadingsOur Lady of the Angels of Portiuncula1st Read : Sirach 24 : 1-4, 16, 22-24Psalm : Psalm 34 : 5-192nd Read : Galatians 4 : 3-7Gospel : Luke 1 : 26-33

PROGRAMME OF EVENTS7.00 Breakfast8.30 Mass at the Mellie˙a Marian Shrine9.30 First SessionFrom Identity to Mission - Superior General Natalino Camilleri10.45 Break time11.15 Question time13.00 Lunch16.00 Prayers16.15 Third SessionCitiziens of the Kingdom - Philip Bezzina & Kevin Scicluna17.00 Sharing in groups18.00 Visit SDC Centres20.00 Supper at the respec-tive Centres

PERSONAL NOTES

Fungus Rock | Dwejra, Gozo

2August 2012

thursday

PROGRAMME OF EVENTS7.00 Breakfast8.00 Departure for Gozo10.00 Visit to the Citadel and Dwejra13.00 Lunch15.30 Questions addressed to the GEC members17.30 Mass at Ta’ Pinu Marian Shrine19.00 Session, Sports and Supper at SDC Gozo Centres

LITURGYMass at Ta’ Pinu Marian Shrine

ReadingsVotive Mass of the Sacred Heart1st Read : Jeremiah 26 : 1-9Psalm : Psalm 69 : 5, 8-10, 14Gospel : Matthew 13 : 54-58

Pretty Bay | BirΩebbu©a

3August 2012

friday

PRAYER SESSIONAnimated by Daniel, Cimi and Marius (Albania)

ReadingsSt John Mary Vianney1st Read : Jeremiah 26, 11-24Psalm : Psalm 69: 15-16, 30-34Gospel : Matthew 14:1-12

PROGRAMME OF EVENTS7.00 Breakfast8.30 Mass at the Mellie˙a Marian Shrine9.30 First SessionLooking towards the future - Aspira-tions and challenges10.45 Break time11.15 Second part of session13.00 Lunch16.00 PrayersReturn to Dar Óanin Samaritan

PERSONAL NOTES

Old Traditional House | Gozo

4August 2012

saturday

PROGRAMME OF EVENTS7.00 Breakfast9.15 Mass at St John’s Co-Cathedral11.00 Bible Sharing at Floriana SDC Centre13.00 Lunch with REC Members18.00 Concluding Prayers19.00 Meeting with parents of SDC members who are serving in SDC missions21.00 Visit to Lija feast of Christ the Saviour.

LITURGYMass at St John’s Co-Cathedral, Valletta

ReadingsEighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Times1st Read : Exodus 16 : 2-4, 12-15Psalm : Psalm 78 : 3-4, 23-25, 542nd Read : Ephesians 4 : 17, 20-24Gospel : John 6 : 24-35

The Silent City | Imdina

5August 2012

sunday

PRAYER SESSIONAnimated by Daniel, Cimi and Marius (Albania)

ReadingsSt John Mary Vianney1st Read : Jeremiah 26, 11-24Psalm : Psalm 69: 15-16, 30-34Gospel : Matthew 14:1-12

PROGRAMME OF EVENTS7.00 Breakfast8.30 Mass at the Mellie˙a Marian Shrine9.30 First SessionLooking towards the future - Aspira-tions and challenges10.45 Break time11.15 Second part of session13.00 Lunch16.00 PrayersReturn to Dar Óanin Samaritan

PERSONAL NOTES

Old Traditional House | Gozo

6August 2012

saturday

The Society in Malta has 46 Cen-tres for men, almost one in every parish. The women’s section has 43 Centres. In the nearby island of Gozo, there are 9 Centres for men and 7 for women.

One of the priorities for the Society is catechetical work in the parishes. Every evening all the Society’s Centres are open for the catechetical and life-long faith formation of children and youths, with occasional meetings for adults as well. Members come together to participate in this activity after their normal day of work. After these catechetical classes, the Members participate in a daily one-hour session for

their own ongoing formation in Theology and related studies, pedagogical training, Church his-tory, philosophy, psychology and communal prayer. Such activities take place every day of the week, including Saturdays and Sundays. Every Wednesday, as part of the ongoing formation of the SDC members, a general meeting is held at Society’s Mother House in Blata l-Bajda. Other activi-ties are regularly organised for children and adolescents that include recreational, cultural and sports. The Society also organ-ises specialised spiritual courses for parents and the general public both at a local as well as on a national level.

Malta & Gozo

The Albanian RealityAlbania is the only country in history to declare itself atheist. This means that belief in God was a crime against the state, punishable, to say the least, by death or hard labour for life in prison.

It was only in the early nineties, with the downfall of the commu-nist dictatorship, the last one to collapse in Europe, that he doors were open to foreigners. For al-most half a century, the country was completely isolated from the rest of the world.

Giving back Religious FreedomOur Society was the second mis-sionary group to establish itself in Korçë, on 6th April 1993. The idea had originally came to Mgr Philip Calleja, chairman of SOS Albania, who invited the Soci-ety to open and run an English-speaking middle high school, following the signing of an agree-ment with the mayor. As a result, three of our members were sent to start this ambitious mission. On 27th September 1993, Preca College (www.precacollege.org) opened its doors to its first in-take of fifty students.

Albania

The SDC CentreOpening a Centre of our Society was a priority from the very beginning. However, this was not possible before we learnt the language and built an appropri-ate house. In the meantime much preparatory work was carried out: we acquainted ourselves with the people, we gave cate-chism lessons to those who were preparing themselves to receive Confirmation and we even pre-pared some adults for Baptism.

Early in 1995 our residence was ready, and so on 19th March of the same year we formally opened our centre, setting up two classes and having lessons on weekdays with an outing on Sundays.

Presently we have one class in our initial Centre and five other classes in the school which we use as a second centre to cater for children and adolescents who live on the other side of the city.Most of the boys who attend are not baptised Catholics, as they come from an atheistic environ-ment, yet the fulfilment we feel while working with them is great. One can clearly see them grow as human persons by learning how to better communicate with each other and with foreigners. Our centres are a hive of evangelisa-tion and catechesis, as well as of human promotion and socialisa-tion.

Ties between Malta and Britain go back a long way. Malta was a British colony for a long time. Many Brit-ish tourists visit Malta every year. Many Maltese moved to London and other parts of the UK especially in the 1950s and 1960s. The arrival in London of three Maltese people in August 1988 was rather out of the ordinary. These were not peo-ple coming to London for work as is usually the case with all immigrants. They were members of the ‘Society of Christian Doctrine’, SDC. Franky Chetcuti, Louis Borg and Paul Aqui-lina were sent to London with a view to attempt setting up an SDC centre. This was the very first ever SDC venture in Europe. Following some time of ‘finding their feet’ in this new life in London, which also included some testing

times, Franky, Paul and Louis were invited to help out in running cat-echism groups and youth clubs in two nearby Catholic parishes. This was a very important step as SDC was precisely set up for this ministry. Things were looking up and in 1990 the three SDC members were even offered accommodation in Brixton, at the Rosary parish house where Fr Bernard Heaphy, parish priest, lived. This meant that they were now living in the same area and parish where the catechetical activity was tak-ing place. More contacts with new parishioners, families, and the parish Catholic primary school developed quickly and so did the teaching and formation of an organised system of catechesis. The First Holy Commun-ion was now parish based rather than school based and the Confirmation course started to be organised over

England

two years rather than just a short crash course of about eight weeks as is the norm in the United Kingdom. As the years went by some members had to return back to Malta and were replaced by new members who car-ried on and further developed cat-echetical work at the Rosary Parish itself as well as in other parishes. Today we run all catechism classes for the sacraments of Baptism, con-fession, Holy Communion and Con-firmation in the parish of Our Lady of the Rosary. Every year around one hundred and thirty children and young people enrol for these courses. At this same parish we also run a youth group which meets twice a month. Another group was set up for Confirmed young people who are will-ing to continue to meet up for more formation after their Confirmation. This is the SDC Juniors group. Apart

from our normal catechises with children and young people we often organise outings and other special activities for groups especially during school holidays. A big step forward was made when it was decided the time was right for SDC to have its own place. A house was bought in Upper Norwood, south London to where we move in October 2006. Since our move to Upper Norwood we also started to make contacts with parishes nearby who have asked us to help out in catechetical work. Today we lead the Confirmation groups at the Virgo Fidelis parish, Upper Norwood as well as at Our Lady’s parish in Addiscombe. At St Andrew’s parish, Thornton Heath we run a group for children and young people who ask to be baptised or re-

Our historyThe first Members arrived in Kenya in October 1989. This arrival was very much awaited and eventu-ally appreciated by the late Michael Maurice Cardinal Otunga, the then Archbishop of Nairobi. They took charge of the Sunday School and of the Christian formation of many children and youth who benefited from the presence of the Society. Although facing many hardships, the Members eagerly tried to keep the Society’s apostolate going.

After years of presence, the Society is full of hope that its activities will keep on helping those who come in touch with it. The Society is strongly challenged by the African culture and thus needs to continue its immersion in the Kenyan life-style, keeping in mind and heart its spirituality and

charism which should be safeguard-ed, every time, everywhere.

The MembersSome of the members teach in Government Primary and Second-ary schools. Situated in the heart of Ruiru, these schools allow us to come in contact with hundreds of students, teachers and parents. We are also responsible for the running of the Preca Vocational Training Centre (PVTC). Opened in 1998, the training centre has prepared many trainees in acquiring a trade such as carpentry, electrical installation and motor-vehicle mechanics. However, upon taking into account the changes in the Kenyan and the African culture at large, from the beginning of 2010, a well-equipped computer lab opened its doors within the PVTC for those who would like to become computer

Kenya

literate. People from all spheres of life - Secondary School leavers, teachers, housewives, factory work-ers - some of whom have never had the opportunity to own, or even use a computer, join these classes to learn and master computer skills, aware of the its importance in the place of work.

The Daily ApostolateOn weekdays, our SDC Centre opens at 5:00pm. We have five organized classes: three Preparatory classes, and the Elects and Aspirants classes. After long school hours, these youths are always very eager to spend some time playing together. After half an hour of games, all children and youth enter their respective classes for the lesson. These lessons include the Catechism of the Catholic Church, prayer meetings, Bible sharing, sen-tences from the Voice of the Beloved

and the Epistles of the Apostles, lives and maxims of the saints, and formation in the spirituality of our Society.

On Saturdays, the SDC Centre opens at 4:30pm with the normal programme of catechism classes, but with some added time for play. Sunday mornings are reserved espe-cially for those preparing for receiv-ing Baptism, Holy Communion and Confirmation. We have six organized classes: one for every Sacrament, one for young children, and two other for older children and youths who keep on coming for catechism although they have already received the Initiation Sacraments. All Mem-bers and Candidates, including a number of Aspirants, are involved in the teaching of these classes.

On Sunday afternoon, the SDC

The SDC Centre in Lurin, Peru was officially opened in 2003. Three SDC Members were sent some ten months before to study the lan-guage and attend courses in culture and history of Peru. During these preparatory months, the Members resided with the Maltese Missionar-ies of St Paul (MSSP) in Lima.

During these months, the Soci-ety also embarked on a project to re-build the house and centre from where the SDC was to operate its’ missionary work. The old house and chapel were built by Rev Fr Carlos Azzopardi who, for many years, worked hard so that the SDC establish a mission in Peru. Fr Car-los was an SDC himself, who went to Australia and later travelled to Peru, where he became a diocesan priest.

Within the first year of their pres-ence in the parish of Julio C Tello, the Members established themselves and started to help out in the par-ish especially were catechises was concerned. Apart from this, we also hold on-going faith formation groups for children, youths and adults and have regular classes during the week for both boys and girls.

In the second year of our presence, the parents of children who were attending our scheduled meetings asked us to organize some form of activity for them too. Thus a new group named after our Founder, George Prece, was formed. Today, in addition to the activities held in the SDC Centre, the Members support the two year Confirmation course run by the parish and hold catechetical meetings in the parish centres that

Perù