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Sacred Heart Remembers Hiroshima & Nagasaki and Says NO to Nuclear Weapons August 17th, 2026

(Contributed by Fr. Jack Lau, OMI)

From August 6th, (the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima), Sacred Heart began ten days of prayer for peace in solidarity with the Oblate community in Japan. The observance will continue through August 15, the Feast of the Assumption. This past Sunday at Sacred Heart we were joined by Pax Christi North California and had a grand Eucharistic Celebration (our choir even sang in Japanese) followed by the making of lanterns and the blessing in the Peace Garden.

The church was full and the tone for the gathering was set. In the congregation for the first time was the grandson of a survivor of the blast. His grandparents were farmers and lived outside the city proper. What spoke to him was the Camphor/Kusunoki tree in the center of our Peace Garden. The Camphor/Kusunoki tree is a sign of hope, for it was the first tree that put out new leaves after the blast and fire. The U.S. government said nothing would grow for 75 years!

To see this man connect with this tree from his family’s city was a mystical experience. After mass, many people also came for the crafts and the refreshments, which included miso soup with rice.

Later in the afternoon many of us gathered to attach our lanterns on the wire that was connected to the Peace Poles. (May Peace Dwell on the Earth). The pictures tell the story.

PRAYER CARDS: https://bit.ly/3TA6IBq

Join Us – “Ten Days of Prayer” for Peace – August 6–15 August 10th, 2026

(Contributed by Fr. Jack Lau, OMI)

This week, Sacred Heart Church, Oakland, CA will be remembering the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan and the over 103 countries involved in some way in a war on Earth.

We will stand with Pope Leo XIV’s conviction that “Peace is built through disarmament, not nuclear weapons.” We will join the people and Oblates in Japan and hold close these “Ten Days of Prayer,” which invites us to reflect on our own responsibility for peace and to take action for peace especially today as we live in a fragile world.

On August 9, Pax Christi North California will be joining us for liturgy at a “Mass of Memory and Mourning and a Call to Conscience.” We will gather for a video introduction and then make lanterns, which we will hang in our church’s Hiroshima Peace Garden.

“May God guide us on paths of non-violence. May believers and people of good will never stop working as builders of peace. May every person make peace on his or her life’s cause.” (Vatican, 2026, June 19)

NOVENA PRAYER CARD: https://bit.ly/3TA6IBq

Shared Lunch, Shared Faith: Ministers Gather for the 2026 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity January 16th, 2026

Sacred Heart’s Oblate Community, Oakland, CA began the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity by hosting a luncheon for the Oakland Pastors’ Table, a community of Christian pastors and other ministers connected by Jesus.

The group’s goal is moving “From isolation to community, from competition to collaboration, from individually pastoring churches to collectively pastoring the city.”

Fr. Jack Lau OMI, Fr. Philip Singarayar, OMI and Fr. Carlos Alarcon, OMI, took part in this lunch conversation.

2025 Season of Creation: Sacred Heart Church, Oakland, CA Celebrates October 9th, 2025

(Contributed by Fr. Jack Lau OMI, Sacred Heart Church, Oakland, CA)

The last weekends of the Season of Creation were one of pilgrimage, planting and blessing. On Saturday, September 27th members of the Green Team at Sacred Heart Church, Oakland, joined the Laudato Si California Pilgrimage from the Newman Hall/Holy Spirit Parish at U.C. Berkeley to St. Mary Magdalen Parish to celebrate a Mass presided by Fr. Wilson Adelakasami SVD, cousin of Fr. Martin Savarimutu, OMI (India), who gave a sermon/class on Laudato Si and the prophet Amos.

On October 4th, the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi, we had a relic of St. Francis at the weekend Masses at Sacred Heart and that evening watched the movie “Brother Sun Sister Moon“. On Sunday, October 5th we hosted the annual blessing of animals and the planting of native milkweed seeds.

From beginning to end, we remained mindful of our vocation to care for our common home as we listened to the cry of the poor and of Mother Earth.