Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and left that night for Egypt, where they stayed until the death of Herod.
2017
I have mixed feelings reflecting on my experience of learning the Chinese Mandarin language. This includes happiness, sadness and confusion.
I am Taemoon Kwon, a Korean Columban who was ordained a priest in 2010.
When I was asked to write about the meaning of Christmas for a newsletter for Columban lay missionaries, I wished to share with other missionaries about something special…
As I prepare for Christmas this year, my thoughts are with the people of Myanmar with whom I have celebrated Christmas since 2007. I lived in a community in Mandalay.
Where will the Christmas Festival for the communities be held this year?" asked Carolina, the Coordinator of the active Christian community of Chosicani, one of 20…
Columban Sister Mary Dillon works in Myanmar amongst those living with the HIV virus. We publish below her letter of thanks to her supporters.
When I joined the Columban Lay Missionary orientation program in 2002, I knew that my decision entailed a lot of letting go.
For millions of Filipinos, Christmas is a celebration of the family. They come together from around the world; they delight in the togetherness and sharing of respect.
I am standing in the center of the spacious main hall, the atrium, of the new Preda children's home for girls.
Taken from the poem Mission Memories by Columban Fr. John McFadden (1894 – 1978), these lines capture his bittersweet mood as he prepares to celebrate Christmas back home…
Last year, I was visiting Monasterboice, an Irish monastic settlement that dates back to the fifth century, with a group of Australian pilgrims who were on pilgrimage in…
Reflecting on his visit to small-town America, one writer listed some of the very appealing traits of that society – the warmth of the people, their politeness, their way…
Retired Christian Brother, Brother Reginald Whitely, shares memories of his Columban brother, Fr.
Today I officiated the wedding of my sister Karen, who is a talented nurse, to her forever Dodo, who is who is a mechanical engineer.
In 1932, the Yangste and Han rivers overflowed and flooded vast areas in China. The members of the Missionary Society of St.
This evening, I had a good chat with Sukh Deo as we drank yaqona together. Sukh Deo is Hindu, but his wife and children are Catholic.
I had just came out of the church after celebrating Mass. An altar server came up to me and told me that one youth decided to leave home and wanted to speak with me.
When Dan O'Connor first arrived at the Columban House in Lahore, Pakistan, in 1983, he was greeted with "There's a Kiwi in the house!" And indeed he was a "Kiwi" hailing…
"I have to be in Myanmar. I have to go. I have to take a risk.
In February of this year Fr. Charlie Duster was admitted to the hospital where he was informed a short time later that he was terminally ill.
During the years between 1972 and 1975, I was pastor of a parish in Seoul, Korea.
Leprosy - that dreadful word
causing terror in the heart
bad enough to live with rotting flesh
but even worse to be among the living dead
Fr. Chris Saenz is a native of Bellevue, Nebraska, and belongs to the Missionary Society of St.
Columban Fr. Frank Hoare shared this page from his missionary diary:
April 16, 1992
Word came into the church that a homeless man was sleeping rough under Sotohori Bridge, in Japan. The local Church group looking after the homeless went to visit him.
In late January 2017, Columban Fr. Pat Colgan (General Councillor with responsibility for Myanmar) and Columban Fr.
After every atrocity in the global city there are days of discussion and debate as to why such acts are happening.
Before sharing some memories of my experience as a lay missionary, I would like to thank the Columban Fathers for giving me the opportunity to live one of the greatest…
I used to work with the prison ministry as a seminarian, visiting the national penitentiary called Bilibid, a place for the "rejected and discarded," both young and old…
One afternoon while walking from work to the house, I met some people I did not know, and one of them was very helpful. A local deputy asked me where I was going.
The generosity of God's love and that of the Columban Fathers who have gone before us starting with Galvin, Blowick and companions up to those who are still with us at…
When I lived in Pakistan I was part of the 1.6 percent who are Christians in this predominantly Muslim country which has an estimated 203 million people.
Every new beginning entails a risk and the possibility of change. Not all of us welcome risk or change; we may be fearful or lazy, reluctant to leave our comfort zone.
I have many aspirations in life. Some of them I have already achieved. I am happy every time I achieve a goal.
Though she herself readily admitted that she couldn't sing, Gloria participated in the church choir every Sunday.
In 2005 I went to work in the Yakatamachi parish where a group of Brothers and priests, inspired by Charles de Foucald, lived simply and worked among the homeless.
I was born in County Clare, Ireland, the eldest of seven children, four girls and three boys. I have thirteen nieces and nephews.
I had the privilege to visit the Punduha ng (Stopover) Mga Dumagat Center in Norzagaray, Bulacan as part of the elaboration of an eco-spirituality module that the Save…
I grew up with nothing but fear and distance from my father. It seems there was a mountain between us. I envied my friends who had great relationships with their fathers…
Who is she? We asked our grandmother pointing to my mother. “My sister. You are the teacher.” My grandmother mumbled and whispered in her already weak voice.
Adai is a grandmother and faithful member of the Catholic community in TianGou village in the mountains of Taiwan.
I went to China because we used to get The Far East magazine (the magazine of Columban missionaries published in Ireland).
I clearly remember the first time I visited Julie Santiago. To reach her house, I had to pass by several narrow lanes in the area where I lived.
As part of my process of priestly formation, in 2015 I was assigned to Taiwan to perform my First Missionary Assignment (FMA).
Since 2014, St. Joseph's Parish in Ballymun, Ireland, started to look at ways to respond to the needs of young people in the parish.
Milly Hampson is eleven years old. She lives with her parents Darren and Beatriz in a tower block of flats overlooking the River Mersey in a rather unfashionable part of…
This spring a pair of great horned owls took over a large nest in a tree not too far from the Narragansett Bay shoreline. As one would expect before too long little…
"Houses of Horror" is how one visitor described the centers where children are held illegally behind bars or in cages.
Since first coming to Japan as a missionary 60 years ago I have had a cultural curiosity! It is still with me. It makes missionary life interesting.
One of my many blessings and opportunities as a missionary is to share the Joy of the Gospel.
"Abba, call me that," my host father responded when I asked him how I should call him. Abba is the Hindi (Indian) word for father.
For more than a year I spent most of my time visiting the elderly. I would say that meeting the different types of elderly is interesting and enjoyable, but needs a lot of…
I met the Columban Fathers for the first time in my hometown, Seoul, during the summer of 1953. Korea was at war then.
Pope Francis continually reminds us that the Church is missionary and is called to reach out to the poor, to sinners, to unbelievers and to those who live on the margins…
My only contact with the Columbans before going to the seminary in Suva, Fiji, was when Columban Fr.
The Ai Jia Development Center was founded by the Hsinchu Catholic diocese in Taiwan to help and support mentally challenged adult students.
Audy was a bright-eyed, smiling three-month-old baby who arrived at church for her baptism in the arms of her proud father, Jason.
My name is Evangelyn Gawason. My friends call me Vangie. I'm a Subanen.
Sociologists claim that one of the major problems in much of the world is that nowadays people only listen to, read of and converse with people who think the same as them…
Veidrala is located on the Northeast of Vitilevu under the province of Nakorotubu in Ra.
When was the last time I said "I love you" to my dad? Have I thanked him lately? How long has it been since I prayed for him?
The summer mission appeals starts in June and finish by the end of August.
Chile is very far from my native land, with different people, language, culture, climate and food. It is a Catholic country which is very abundant in resources.
One of the many gifts and blessings I experience in the United States as I travel during the summer for the church appeals is the universality of the Church and meeting…
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 10, 1948, was the result of the experience of the Second…
The Ocean's (Atlantic) Influence Island life is shaped by the ocean.
I once knew a priest who was the life of the party but prone to take over any party he attended.
The following is an account of a visit by Columban Fr.
I usually spend my summer break walking the sands and enjoying the beach but this time around I decided to walk the hills of Don Victoriano Chiongbian, a town of Misamis…
St. Anthony is a favorite saint of South Indian Catholics. Today I celebrated his feast with the mainly Indo-Fijian congregation at Raviravi, a rural settlement on Fiji’s…
It was a great joy for me to be invited, two years ago, to return to Santiago, Chile, to celebrate 40 years of the Columban Sisters' mission in that beautiful country.
As a teenager I browsed whatever reading materials were left around my home: Sunday newspapers that my father enjoyed; novels that my older brother and sisters considered…
Fifty years ago I was pastor of an "old Christian" community on Amakusa Island in the far south of Japan. By "old Christian" I mean that a Jesuit missionary, Fr.
Rosi, in the photograph, was a six-year old child detained in the police detention cell of Police Station B on Magsaysay Drive in Olongapo City, the Philippines, some…
As part of the on-going formation and education of Columban lay missionaries, I was privileged to take a six-month course on facilitating retreats for young people.
Life is for living. It is to experience freedom to love and help others, to be free to grow and have family. To be human is to be free from fear and punishment and ill…
In the 1980s before the onset of cheap air fares and the free movement of people introduced by the European Union Irish immigrants in London were always on the look-out…
To be human means to live from day to day,
Searching the way forward,
Inching towards a clearer sense of identity and purpose.
When I was sixteen years old, my father was diagnosed with cancer and died ten weeks later.
Now that I'm home, I realized I do not have a room to call my own. My room is the bag I carry on my back every time I move from one mission to another.
I started to write these two poems last year during a workshop training on poetry writing in my ministry with asylum seekers.
Bennie had a thin, hollow face, the picture of malnutrition at 22 years of age, and had never been to school for more than a few months, could not read or write and he was…
In my early days as a missionary in Fiji, I worked mainly among the Hindu Indo-Fijians around the town of Labasa.
In the history of human life suffering is what every person will encounter in their lifetime.
Ethnic Indian people are traditionally obsessed with matters of pollution and purity. Purity is a central value in the culture. The caste system in India is based on this…
I still have vivid memories of my first awakening in Lima, Peru, on June 24, 1971.
It was about three in the afternoon on a Tuesday.
My name is Sr.
One day when I was working in Montego Bay, I got a call from the bishop requesting that I go out and bless the foundation of a new hotel, the Ritz Carlton. He was invited…
In the not-too-distant past it was almost impossible to get governments and institutions to discuss immigration and immigrant issues.
I can still vividly remember the day when we first opened Ladies' Day in Christ Church, Farm Road.
It's been nearly six years since I arrived in Birmingham, England, as a Columban lay missionary.
The other day I walked out of the church after Mass. There is a group of beggars there at the gate of St. Peter’s Church.
It was a rainy Sunday morning in San Marcelino, Zambales, Philippines. I was to celebrate the San Isidro fiesta Mass in barrio Pili. Pili was a Village far from town.
The Columban missionaries began their work in Peru in 1951 and continue working throughout the country today.
Cricket is played everywhere in Pakistan. On streets, in parks and wherever there is an area big enough for the game. People of all classes and faiths play it.
When I instructed catechumens in Japan, I spent the first year dealing with ordinary catechetical matters. After Baptism we studied St. Luke's Gospel and Acts.
The Columban missionaries staffed the three parishes on Amakusa Island in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan, from 1950 through 1997.
We all marvel at the deep and simple wisdom children hold in their hearts and on their lips.
Fr.
We were told that we would be spending about five days in Agoo (the Philippines).
While at my age being the main celebrant at the Holy Week ceremonies can be very demanding on a worn out body, it is more than compensated by experiencing first hand the…
Like the air we breathe, water is essential for our life and well-being. The average person here in the U.S. uses 80-100 gallons in a variety of ways throughout each day…
After spending a year in Yangon to learn the Burmese language, Columban lay missionaries Catharina, Columba and Lenette moved to Banmaw (Myanmar) to start their ministry…
Jesus addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else.
I am back in Naleba – the rural settlement on the second Island of Fiji where I began, in 1975, my missionary journey. After seven years away I feel the need to refresh my…