Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Superior General: Sr. Monica Rowland, SSH

Sisters of the Sacred of Jesus Generalate,
P O Box 5521,
GPO 300001,
Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria

Mobile: 07058757530

Email: sshbenin@yahoo.com

Our Apostolate

Founder:
Our Congregation was founded by Most Rev. Patrick Ebosele Ekpu, Archbishop Emeritus of the Metropolitan See of Benin City. He is a man of great treasure and very few words with a high sense of discipline and focus; he believes in uplifting the poor especially the womenfolk.

Our Life, Our Mission:
Our Congregation was founded to be a sign of love, unity and forgivenes s in a broken and divided world. Our Charism is to experience and make all people aware of the redemptive love of Christ that binds us together as members of the one family of God and enhance the realization of Jesus' prayer "That they may be one". The motto of our Congregation therefore is "UT UNUM SINT". (Jn. 17:21).

Our inspiration for our ardent and outgoing love is the Sacred Heart of Jesus and his Church. We are marked by our sacrificial love and Christian humility, patterning our hearts on the meek and humble heart of Christ. As daughters of Africa, living the spirit of the gospel, we make effort to find ways to integrate into our lives all that is good, true and beautiful in our African culture.

Special contribution to the Church in Nigeria:
We give concrete expression to the new bond of unity which our insertion into Christ's Mystical Body of Baptism brings about. We bring our unity to bear in our diversified ethnic groups and cultures and thus prove that the Gospel of Christ makes ONE out of many.

We are committed to:
Evangelization and promoting devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Maintaining a simple and humble lifestyle
Holistic education for ourselves and for those we serve
Openness and accountability in all our undertakings

Places /Countries Where We Are:
We are in four countries namely: Nigeria, Italy, USA and Canada.

In Nigeria, we are in Abuja, Benin, Uromi, Auchi, Lokoja, Minna, Lafia, Abuja, and Lagos.

Our Ministries:
Education: We work to give holistic formal education to our people from nursery through secondary to tertiary schools. We also work to educate our people through non-formal learning especially to adults in the rural areas with a preferential option for women and the girlchild. Through our village ministry, we instruct women in simple hygiene, home-management, HIV/AIDS awareness, and catechesis. This program involves, our Sisters going to different villages from

time to time and living with any family that will accommodate them and from there they give house-to house family instruction and in the evenings when the people are back from their farms, they gather them together for either religious instruction or health education.

Uplifting the Dignity of women:
Our Congregation feels obliged to concentrate more on working to train the girl child while not neglecting the boy child. In Nigeria today, and indeed in most traditional societies, the female child has, for a very long time been at a disadvantage as far as formal education is concerned. We have t aken up a s our challenge,the educat ion of our womenfolk as the only way to liberate their minds and empower them to mainstream in their societies. We believe that no culture or civilization can stand except the womenfolk of that society have assumed their proper place in it.

Prevention of Trafficking in Women and Children:
In our effort to respond to the signs of time we commit ourselves to uplifting the dignity of all human persons especially women, through prevention of trafficking in women and children, rehabilitation of victims of trafficking, and domestic violence and empowerment of widows.

Community Development & Skill Acquisition:
We give young people especially those who cannot afford formal education skills to equip them for the job market. We also train people to acquire marketable skills that will help them in life by way of vocational training. We run programs for both male and female youths. We are also involved in community mobilization especially in the handling of epidemics and information sharing.

Pastoral Ministry:
Our Sisters serve in full time pastoral ministry in parishes as Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion, Catechesis and Parish assistance. We collaborate with Priests in serving the spiritual needs of our people, in counseling and spiritual direction.

In all of these, our primary objective is to proclaim God's kingdom of love and freedom to all God's children wherever we find ourselves.

Formation Houses:
1. Sacred Heart Postulants' House
Uromi-Ubiaja Road
P. O. Box 111
Uromi, Edo State.

2. Sacred Heart Novitiate,
P.O. Box 111
Atani - Uromi,
Edo State.

Sisters in Perpetual Vows

Number of Sisters in Temporary Vows – 18

Necrology