The Sacred Heart Shrine at Maryvale House, Old Oscott, is the first public chapel of the devotion in England. Each year a Novena of Masses takes place leading to the Feast.

On Friday 12 June Mgr Daniel, the Co-ordinator for Ethnic Chaplaincies and Eastern Catholic Churches in the Archdiocese, was the celebrant at Maryvale House Chapel for the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and shares his Homily: "the communities served by Ethnic Chaplaincies and Eastern Catholic Churches often experience the discrimination spoken of in the Homily".

“Human Dignity has no passport”, Pope Leo, Gran Canaria

This past week, we have been shocked by renewed violence in Northern Ireland: not Protestants v Catholics but hatred of foreigners, especially those of a different colour. I know the North fairly well because my mother was a Protestant (later a Catholic) from Co Antrim. As children going on holiday there, my sister and I were aware of differences in traditions, but though we were Catholic, we were welcome and at home. Like nearly everyone, we as grown ups were very happy to see an end to the troubles and peace coming about in the North years ago now.

More recently, places like Coleraine and Ballymena, both in my mother's part of the North, have been places of renewed troubles, and this last weekend it has come to a head in Belfast. The cause is manifold, but underpinning it is “immigration”. It has been shocking to see peoples homes being burned out and families being left homeless and afraid for the future, often because of the colour of their skin; even those who have come to help out in health and care services are being attacked.

So, what has this got to do with the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus?

Read Homily in full

Ethnic Chaplaincies in our Archdiocese