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By Fr. Donal O'Keeffe

On Good Friday last year, the Columban formation community in Seoul, Korea, participated in the Good Friday liturgy organised by the Korean branch of the Global Catholic…

 

By Fr. Robert McCulloch

A holy memory from my childhood remains with me. I was five years old, and I remember going with my father through the mud and slush of early 1950’s suburban, Melbourne,…

 

By Fr. Tim Mulroy

“I’m the last of the Wanaurnys in the USA” …. a chuckle …. “and maybe the last in the entire world!” Th is was how Fr. John Wanaurny mused from time to time during the…

 

By Fr. Donal McIlraith

On Saturday, August 19, 2023, Deacon Vincent Tawake CM was ordained priest by the Archbishop of Suva, Dr. Peter Loi Chong. Some 30 priests attended the ordination. I had…

 

By Fr. Kurt Zion Pala

It has been a while since the parish youth ministry prepared for a big event. After arriving back in Myanmar (formerly Burma) from my home vacation, the youth ministry…

 

By Fr. Leo Schumacher

In 2020, Fr. M was looking forward to celebrating his 25th ordination anniversary. Ordained in 1995, he was one of the first priests from Myanmar (formerly Burma) to…

 

Fr. Tim Mulroy

Even though it was my first time to visit to Fiji, my short stay in Holy Family Parish in Labasa felt like a homecoming! Situated among the sugarcane plantations, I…

 

By Fr. Gary Walker

Palm Sunday commemorates Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem. It is a happy occasion, a planned entry into Jerusalem which gathered disciples and followers to hail Jesus.

 

By Fr. Chris Saenz

Once, Columban Fr. Bill Morton was reminiscing with me about his seminary days in the early 1980s. At that time, the most popular theologian in the Western world was Karl…

 

By Fr. Barry Cairns

Some words in Japanese are hard to translate. The reason is that there are many, many years of cultural feeling and experience behind the words. One such word in Japanese…

 

By Fr. Bobby Gilmore

Racism is a specific form of discrimination and exclusion faced by minority groups. It is based on the false belief that some races are inherently superior to others of…

 

By Sr. Rebecca Conlon

Pope Francis’ pastoral visit to Iraq in the midst of the pandemic as a Pilgrim Penitent and as a Pilgrim of Peace put me thinking. Age and diminishing health did not stop…

 

By Reins O. Mosqueda

When I was young, my family was not religious or active in the parish. My father had a different belief and hated the Catholic faith, especially the priests. My Mom just…

 

By Lani Tamatawale

The world faced devastation during the time of the coronavirus pandemic. Millions of people have died, and many others have suffered and continue to suffer. Their lives…

 

By Fr. Leo Schumacher

“Education for our children, we have to teach our children.” This was the message that we heard at our discussion about supporting the Church in Myanmar, formerly Burma.…

 

By Fr. Kurt Zion Pala

“Wa Jau ngai hpe hkan ya rit.” “Father come and follow me. This is a short way to the top!” It was a rainy day. The road was muddy and steep.

 

By Fr. John Burger

Recently I found myself really enjoying catching up on developments in the Columban world. I realized I had not been contributing anything about what I have been doing…

 

By Fr. Kevin O'Neill

There are no accidents. Twin brothers Kevin and Peter O’Neill were born on 23 November, the feast of St Columban, in 1962. In 1962, their parents, John and Ruth, had…

 

By Irma Cantago

I am Irma Lara Cantago, a Columban lay missionary for many years. A high school teacher by profession, I was teaching for fifteen years and at the same time was involved…

 

By Fr. Chris Saenz

The struggle of any missionary is to give effective aid to those who are in need. Yet, it is difficult to determine in what form do we aid others. In the 1990’s when I was…

 

By Fr. Trevor Trotter

Over a hundred years ago, a small group of Irish priests working in China decided they needed to listen to what God wanted them to do. These men had the desire to live…

 

By Fr. Barry Cairns

In high school, English grammar was never my thing! Years later, in writing my theology thesis, my director advised me to re-write the text eliminating all the split…

 

By Mavic Mercene

Like any bride should be, she looked radiant and blushing on her special day. Her groom was waiting anxiously for his first love to arrive. Everyone was excited, some…

 

By Fr. Donal McIlraith

From 1990 to about 2015, I generally served in the priest-less islands of Kadavu at Christmas, Easter and August 15. Kadavu is a set of islands about eight hours out of…

 

By Fr. Michael Hoban

Brothers and sisters, Iquique is a land of dreams ( for so its name means that in the Aymara language). It is a land that has given shelter to men and women of different…

 

A Columban Missionary who lives in a country where a foreigner who professes their faith in Christ can be expelled. Life is made up of stories, and each of us has a…

 

By Fr. Dan Troy

Every two weeks, I usually meet Li Qiong at the apartment where she grew up. The second-floor residence is located just 200 meters from the intersection of lines 1 and 7…

 

By Fr. Cyril Lovett

In the old days there was a myth that new-born babies could not see for some time after birth. Now we know better: within hours of being born a tiny child is focusing its…

 

By Fr. Michael Hoban

In December 2022, I was getting ready to celebrate Christmas for the third time since I came north to work in Alto Hospicio, a municipality located near the city of…

 

By Fr. Dan Troy

Last Christmas, Fr. Paul began the Vigil Mass on Christmas Eve by gently encouraging the congregation to be grateful for the opportunity to gather to celebrate the…

 

By Fr. Gabriel Rojas

In the diocese of Carabayllo (Peru) the Christmas carol contest is becoming customary for Christmas holidays. Every parish is invited to participate with its parish choir…

 

By Sr. Rebecca Conlon

Advent is a time to pause, listen and look back on the past year. There is much to ponder. Mother Earth is suffering. There have been droughts and famine in some places…

 

By Fr. Vinnie Busch

The Subanens are an indigenous people whose ancestral habitat is in the mountains of the southern Philippines. Inspired and guided by the Subanen Ministry of the Columban…

 
By Fr. Chris Saenz

And they were bringing children to Him so that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant and said to them, ‘Permit the…

 

By Fr. Barry Cairns

Sister Hilary’s message, given to me many years ago, still influences me. That influence comes alive when I read, or relate, the scene in the Gospels where Jesus meets the…

 

By Columban Missionaries in Japan

On Sept 8, 1993, in Beppu City on the Island of Kyushu, Our Lady prophesied through Fr. Stefano Gobbi that soon Japan will be a Christian country. She called it a miracle…

 

By Fr. Kurt Zion Pala

I met John Paul when I first arrived in Myitkyina, a diocese in the northern part of Myanmar (formerly Burma). Together with his committee, he helped me to organize the…

 

By Fr. Donal McIlraith

In the late 1980s I was finishing my studies in Rome. I was not able to engage full time in pastoral work, as I would like, so I worked two hours a week with the…

 

By Michael Javier

“Sir, are you aware of what is happening to our country?” That was the question put to me by my students in Bhamo, my mission place in Myanmar (formerly Burma). On the…

 

By Fr. Dan Troy

November 23 is a special day in the Columban calendar. It is the Feast of St. Columbanus, and it is also the birthday of Columban co-founder, Bishop Edward Galvin. Fr. Dan…

 

By Marvin A. Salarda

Very often, when we are confronted by unexpected or unpleasant situations, we hear from most people or even from ourselves the comforting words “God has a purpose for that…

 

By Fr. Frank Hoare

History was made on November 23, 2022, when leadership of the Columbans in Fiji passed from Caucasian Columbans to Columbans from the Pacific and Asia. Fr. John McEvoy…

 
By Fr. Chris Saenz

As a minister and pastoral agent of the Church, I am often placed in an awkward position when someone approaches me with a request in which, at least in that given moment…

 

By Sr. Rebecca Conlon

A “thin place” according to the late Irish philosopher and poet John O’Donohue is about a place or time where heaven and earth meet and we have access to “light” or the…

 

By Jao Resari

Since the Covid pandemic began, we’ve experienced Sunday Mass cancellations whenever new cases spiked. This has impacted activities in my ministry because most of them…

 

By Sihyeon Bae

When I began my longterm commitment as a Columban Lay Missionary, I took on the role as a diocesan catechist. Bishop John Lee of the Diocese of Hsinchu asked me to study…

 

By Fr. Frank Hoare

On May 14, 1987, people in Fiji were shocked when the army overthrew the elected government in a coup d’etat. The army claimed that it was saving the indigenous Fijian…

 

By Fr. Edward O'Connell

Ana Cristina Pallin Figueroa, a young person from the community of San Benito has been actively participating since her childhood in the Columban program “Warmi Huasi”…

 

By Sr. Rebecca Conlon

The explosions of grace that took place in St. John the Apostle Church in Latifabad, Hyderabad.Pakistan, throughout Holy Week and the Easter season of 2022 should not go…

 

By Fr. Cireneo Matulac

I have been a Columban missionary priest for many years now. I first worked on cross-cultural mission in Chile, China and Taiwan. Now I am working in my home region in the…

 

By Fr. John Boles

On the night of September 7, 1651, things were looking bad for Charles Stuart, the future King Charles II. Four days earlier, his Royalist army had been destroyed by…

 

By Fr. Patrick Colgan

I, and the Columban missionaries, are in our last month of ministry in Ba, before we hand over the parish to the Archdiocese of Suva. As the “last standing” Columban here…

 
By Fr. Chris Saenz

In today’s world, tensions between race, ethnicity, and culture have increased. There are polarizing movements that seem to fuel more hate than understanding. As…

 

By Fr. John McEvoy

At the end of 1952 and the beginning of 1953, (70 years ago) the Columban missionaries took over the spiritual administration of Ba Parish in Ba, Fiji. Our relationship…

 

By Latai Muller

As I reflect on the past three years of my life as a Columban Lay missionary assigned in the Philippines, I am overwhelmed with a flood of emotions. The journey has been…

 

By Mereani Nailevu

During my time of fear, I realized that people around me helped me from the culture of fear to the culture of care…

 

By Fr. Maurice Hogan

We are fortunate that in our lifetime we enjoy a quality of life which would have been unthinkable just a few generations ago. Thanks to advances in science and technology…

 

By Fr, Brian Vale

After presiding at the Japanese Catholic Community’s Sunday Eucharist February 5, 2023, I attended a celebration of World Religion Day hosted by believers of the Spiritual…

 

By Fr. Frank Hoare

In 1986, St. Pope John Paul II pronounced Fiji ”the way the world should be” — a country with different ethnic and religious communities living together in peace. However…

 

By Fr. Ed O'Connell

When things are not going well, like the situation of Peru in these present years, people can lose hope. During the pandemic, a lot of people lost their jobs, although…

 

By Sr. Ann Gray

Earlier this year the Columban Sisters looked back to February 1922 when a group of young women came together in Cahiracon in County Clare. These women became the first…

 

By Fr. Donal McIlraith

From Jan 8 to 14, 2023, I had the privilege of leading the diocesan priest’s retreat in Tarawa, the chief island of Kiribati. It was a joyous occasion for me as nearly all…

 

By Sarah MacDonald

“I found the Columban missionaries through the internet,” John Paul Seung-Jun Ro recalls. He was at a crossroads in his life. Working in an Italian restaurant in Korea, he…

 

Br Fr. John Boles

The seafront at Ramsey on the Isle of Man boasts some impressive structures, but pride of place must go to the Catholic church. Dating from 1910, it is legally protected…

 
By Fr. Chris Saenz

My first contact with people who professed a non-Christian faith was on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. I had done a summer experience and encountered those…

 

By Fr. Cireneo Matulac

When I am at home, I say Mass in our barrio chapel (kapilya) on Sundays.

 

By Columban Missionaries

In our modern world many people who were born Catholic and Christian proclaim that they are now atheist.

 

By Fr. Bernie Lane

At the beginning of August 2022, Larry Duerme from the Philippines, and Jeongrak Lee (Vera no) from Korea arrived with us in Lima, Peru. Then, during the second week of…

 

By Fr. Bary Cairns

Proverbs are the ancient wisdom of a country’s culture expressed in pithy sentences — and often with humour. Proverbs give us expatriates an indication of how our adopted…

 

By Gertrudes C. Sampson

The four of us Columban lay missionaries live in the presbytery attached to the St. Joseph’s church in Nechells which is surrounded by cemetery on all sides. The place is…

 

By Matang M. Rotitaake

My name is Matang, and my biological parents are Moaniba Rotitaake and Tokanikaiatetaanga Tumeka. I was adopted by Maeke Batiata and Eritia Ibeata. I am 24 years of age…

 

By Fr. John McEvoy

It is an honor for me to write a few lines about St. Agnes Parish, Samabula. I do so on behalf of the Columbans and myself.

 

By Fr. Bill Morton

One of most intriguing yet mysterious images that Jesus uses in His proclamation of the Good News is, “The Kingdom of God!” It is within you! It is among you! It is…

 

By Fr. John Boles

On a recent Columban promotional visit to the Isle of Man I chanced upon a line of holy statues outside the Catholic church in Ramsey. I recognized all the images apart…

 

By Letawa Naaiti

My name is Letawa, and my parents are Naaiti and Raakai. I’m 25 years old, and I was born on the island of Aranuka, which is in the Republic of Kiribati, an island chain (…

 

By Fr. Kurt Zion Pala

Manau dance is a dance of diversity and unity. The Kachin peoples, composed of seven different groups, usually perform the Manau dance for different purposes: to celebrate…

 

By Fr. Frank Hoare

I was standing by the bed of a Hindu ascetic dying of cancer in a monastery in North India. He shared with me the call he heard from God to leave behind his university…

 
By Fr. Chris Saenz

Growing up in a Midwestern middle-class family, I was unaware of the economic realities outside of my world. Obviously, my parents worked hard to put a meal on the table…

 

By Fr. Joe Ruys

My name is Fr. Joe Ruys, and I live and work in the parish of San Andres de Checca in a small district high up in the Southern Andes of Peru. The greatest issue here is…

 

By Marea Lyn Almiranez

In 2017, when Sr. Joyce Arevalo, OSA, our pastoral coordinator in Hsinchu Cathedral asked me to be the directress of the Filipino Legion of the Mary, the only answer I…

 

By Columban Sisters

People’s activity is usually their response to the historical situations in which they find themselves. In 1918, Lady Frances Moloney had in mind “some kind of Sisterhood…

 

By Ferbie M. Gonzales

Two years ago, I was invited by the staff of the Al Jia Development Center to help prepare two students to receive the Sacrament of Baptism. Although they also have…

 

By Fr. Patrick McMullan

The Catholic Church has, over the last 100 years, undergone a complex shift in its population distribution, and consequently its institutional identity and place in the…

 

By Fr. Patrick Colgan

Sisilia Sigatabu, born on August 16, 1942, began life at a settlement at Nadarivatu (the deep interior of Fiji) because her father Valerio was a carpenter there. She was…

 

By Joan Yap

During the pandemic, gatherings are not allowed so as to limit the spread of the COVID-19 virus. It was difficult for everyone, especially being locked down. There was a…

 

By Latai Muller

See God everywhere, and we will have a deeper and deeper faith in Him. See Him in the sunrise and sunset, in mountain brooks and the mighty oceans, in storm clouds and…

 

By Beth Sabado

I have traveled here in the U.S. on several occasions, but I didn’t get the chance to visit Omaha during those travels due to limited time. I am glad to have been granted…

 

By Jhoanna Resari

When I joined the Columban Lay Missionaries I was 24 years old. My first mission assignment was to Taiwan, and my ministry was in the field of HIV/AIDS. I journeyed for…

 

By Fr. John Boles

Columban supporters rarely become famous, but they just MIGHT know people who do. I recently had the good fortune to deliver an appeal on behalf of the Columbans at “…

 
By Fr. Chris Saenz

Throughout the western world, the growth of women’s and children’s rights has changed much of societal and cultural expectations for both groups. However, some areas still…

 

By Sr. Anne Carbon

The pandemic has shown how unequal our world is, particularly for those suffering with a mental illness. Though mental illness is considered a long-term illness,…

 

By Fr. Frank Hoare

When Pakistani people first meet me wearing a shalwar kamiz (long shirt with loose fitting trousers) they think that I am a Pathan, from the north of Pakistan. A Pathan…

 

By Nathalie Marytsch

Last January, the newly elected Chilean president, a 35-year-old former leader of the students movement, announced who would be accompanying him to govern the country in…

 

By Fr. Barry Cairns

I first came to Japan 66 years ago. My appointments after language school were to remote country villages. The people at that time were still in shock after defeat in war…

 

By Fr. Jude Genovia

On the night of Palm Sunday, when all my pastoral activities in the Migrant Center were done, I arrived home, got a simple dinner and yet instead of getting myself ready…

 

By Fr. Kurt Zion Pala

It is amazing how things, situations, history and peoples can be so connected and tied with one another. We moved to the north of Myanmar (formerly Burma) from Yangon to…

 

By Fr. Patrick Colgan

Today was Palm Sunday, and a very busy one for me, serving as the lone priest here in Christ the King, Ba, Fiji. We have three Masses each Sunday, one in the main town…

 

By Fr. John Boles

These are the words inscribed on a plaque in Edinburgh’s Royal Mile. They come from the pen of George Mackay Brown (1921-96), regarded by many as Scotland’s greatest…

 

By Fr. Jason Antiquera

After a two-year hiatus due to COVID, face-to-face Art Recollection was back in 2022! The first communities that got to pray and reflect on their faith life through visual…

 

By Frank Hoare

On Saturday July 23, 2022, Columban seminarians and their formator held two Come and See programs together in Fiji. The day long face-to-face program was conducted at the…

 

By Fr. Frank Hoare

“Sister, this is the call of God that I have been waiting for. I had a sense of having a call and not knowing what it was.” This was Mrs. Theresa Nath’s reaction, at the…

 

By Fr. Frank McKay

During my sixth year in the Columban seminary in Sydney, Australia, my classmates and I were asked where we would like to work after ordination. Up to that time, the…

 

By Fr. Patrick Colgan

It has always struck me that the Fijian translation of Good Friday is simply and literally, “Day of Death.” No massaging, no theological euphemisms, just saying is “as it…

 
By Fr. Chris Saenz

My vocational road to missionary priesthood had many invitations, but one of the most important invitations to mission occurred near the end of my first year in the…

 

By Fr. Frank Hoare

Columban Fr. David Arms has a gift for languages. He used his Ph.D. in linguistics to research the Parkari Kholi language in Pakistan and the Subanen language in the…

 

By Fr. Timothy Mulroy

“I won’t be buying green bananas again!” was Fr. Bernard’s greeting as I approached his hospital bed. He had phoned me earlier that day, requesting that I come to visit…

 

By Fr. Daniel Harding

Jefferson lived in the transit lounge of the international airport in Santiago for the whole of January wondering if he would be deported. Jefferson was 35 years old when…

 

By Fr. Paul McMahon

The theme of the upcoming 16th Synod of Bishops in October 2023 is, “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, and Mission.” Reflecting on the theme of participation…

 

By Fr. Kurt Zion Pala

On August 15, 2022, on the Feast of the Assumption, the Catholic Student Action Myitkyina opened its Student Learning Resources Center (SLRC), which is located on the…

 

By Fr. John Boles

“A land lost in the mists of time” might reasonably describe Sanday, an eerily beautiful speck of land set in the Atlantic at the northern edge of Scotland’s Orkney…

 

By Sarah MacDonald

St. Verano is not one of those popular saints whose name trips off your tongue.

 

By Fr. John Hegerty

In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue in search of treasured spices from the Philippines, but in a lost state managed to bump into the Americas and pick up buckets of…

 

By Fr. Patrick Colgan

Readers of these pages may be getting used to the name of Xavier College, Ba, after being handed over to the Parish of Christ the King on Jan 1, 2021, and from the…

 

by Teresa Chuah Hyi Ling

As a Columban lay missionary, I have been living and working in Britain for two years.

 

By Fr. John Boles

In 2019 I had the honor of being one of the Columban representatives at the canonization of Cardinal Newman in St. Peter’s Square in Rome.

 
By Fr. Chris Saenz

In my 20 years of mission in Chile, my family and close friends rarely asked about my daily life in the mission.

 

By Fr. Eamon Sheridan

When I arrived in Myitkyina, Kachin State, Myanmar (formerly Burma) in 2017, I was very conscious that I was following in the footsteps of the early Columban missionaries…

 

By Gertrudes Samson

In the Bible God spoke to Moses through the Burning Bush in Exodus Chapter 3 giving him a special message. I never thought that God would also relay His message to me…

 

By Fr. John Boles

Columban lay missionary Mauricio Silva stands in the shadow of a giant mural featuring Cillian Murphy, star of the television show “Peaky Blinders” which has captivated…

 

By Fr. Bill Morton, Cristina Coronado, Wesley Cocozello and Cynthia Gonzalez

For more than 25 years, the Missionary Society of St. Columban has worked in one of the most impoverished areas of the U.S./Mexico border: Rancho Anapra, located on the…

 

By Fr. Dan Troy

Holy Trinity Church in Xiantao, China, was filled to capacity for the vigil Mass on Christmas Eve last year, the presence of face masks a solemn reminder that the previous…

 

By Fr. Trevor Trotter

The liturgical life of the Church tells the story of what God is doing in the world. This may seem like a strange thing to say. Most of us grew up thinking that Mass was…

 

By Fr. Euikyun Carlo Jung

I received a letter at the beginning of Advent last year inviting me, along with the youth of the parish, to “a Christmas feast to commemorate Christmas.” Fijian people…

 

By Fr. Frank Hoare

Maybe it was because I wasn’t wearing the required red robes or lacked a white beard, but the reaction of the male children to being offered a soft toy animal was not what…

 

By Fr. Timothy Mulroy

Each year, at the beginning of December, as those around him begin preparing their Christmas shopping list, Ben begins preparing his fishing gear. Then, as family members…

 
By Fr. Chris Saenz

As a child, I enjoyed Christmas for the presents. Weeks before Christmas, I would be searching the house looking for where my parents hid the presents. Once found, I would…

 

By Fr. Michael Hoban

The Columban parish of Sagrado Corazón de Jesús is located on the “pampa” (desert plains) above the port city of Iquique in a municipality called Alto Hospicio. When the…

 

By Sr. Abbie O'Sullivan

She was a young Jewish girl who was engaged to the young village carpenter. Her parents, Anna and Joachim, were very happy with her choice.

 

By Junghae Roberta Kim

Foggy and grey. These are the words that come to my mind when I think of London as in the films or books which I came across in my childhood. They showed me the London of…

 

By Fr. Donal McIlraith

“Do this in memory of me.” Following Christ’s command, on Easter Sunday, April 2, 1972, Bishop John McCormack of Meath ordained John McEvoy and his nine classmates into…

 

By Angelica Escarsa

Researching the difference between the words “change” and “transformation” recently, I came across the following statement: “Change is a response to external influences,…

 

By Fr. Kurt Zion Pala

The Kachins love to fish. During the rainy season, when the river and stream waters are high and when empty dry ponds are filled with water, the fish seem to grow in…

 

By Fr. John Boles

Augustus Welby Pugin (1812- 1852) was arguably the greatest architect-designer of 19th century England. The son of a refugee from the French Revolution, he pioneered the…

 

By Fr. Daniel Harding

According to recent reports from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 5.9 million people have fled Venezuela in the last few years. This flight from…

 

By Fr. Donal McIlraith

It was just before midday on Holy Thursday when the Archbishop called to say he would be around shortly to say farewell to Fr. J.J. Some time later, he arrived. The…

 

By Kim Sunhee Sunny

It was in November 2020 that I first met Mike (not his real name). I was going to my office after home visitation in the urban areas of the Malate parish (Philippines) to…

 
By Fr. Chris Saenz

​“Seek no further concerning God; for those who wish to know the great depth (of God) must first learn about creation.” - St. Columban.

Like other early Irish…

 

By Sophia Chee Tzu Ting

As the coronavirus pandemic sweeps across the globe for over two years now, it does not seem to deter the fear of thousands of people wanting to flee their own country for…

 

By Sr. Caroline Vaitkunas RSM

This year International World Ocean’s Day ( June 8) focused attention on the theme Revitalization: Collective Action for the Ocean.

 

By Marilou Borje

Something people would be surprised to know about me is that I was a Columban lay missionary for three years in Peru. It was there that I was able to discern my vocation…

 

By Fr. Dan Harding

More than one-sixth of the population of Venezuela, 5.6 million out of 30 million, has left the country since 2015. Previously one of the richest countries in Latin…

 

By Son Seon-Yong Catharina

Recently, I chanced upon an interview on YouTube that instantly grabbed my attention. A young Irish woman was speaking about her ordeal back in 2013 when she was arrested…

 

By Columban Fr. John Boles

I’d passed the church three times before recognizing it. The voice of the “satnav” lady kept insisting that, “you have arrived at your destination,” but all I could see…

 

By Sr. Mary Ita O’Brien

Before making my final profession, I made a retreat. During this retreat I had to decide whether to finalize my commitment as a Columban Sister or to take another way of…

 

By Fr. John Boles

“In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit…and his name was Baggins.”

“My name is Teresa Chuah Hui- Ling. I am from Penang in Malaysia.”

What could…

 

By Sr. Rebecca Conlon

Not long after celebrating my Golden Jubilee with my fellow Columban Sisters in Magheramore, Ireland, I found myself on the plane back to Pakistan. The Jubilee was a…

 

By Fr. Sean McNulty

I am hoping that the Synodal Pathway will provide the Church with an opportunity to put in place processes that would see the Church becoming a better version of itself. I…

 

By Fr. Cireneo "Dodong" Matulac

I met a Filipino couple in Chicago, and they have two children. Both of the parents both work as nurses. In my few years there, they would invite me to go out with the…

 

By Fr. Robert McCulloch

In early 2019, a group of young Muslim men discovered a large, monumental carved marble cross on the mountain side above their village in the Kavardo Valley in Skardu in…

 
By Fr. Chris Saenz

​In 2000, upon graduating from Catholic Theological Union in Chicago with my Master’s of Divinity (theological degree for priesthood), I vowed that it was the end of my…

 

By Sr. Abbie O'Sullivan

In our modern world many people who were born Catholic and Christian proclaim that they are now atheist. On the other hand, many who never embraced the Christian faith…

 

By Fr. Patrick Colgan

Heavy rain began in Ba, Fiji, on the night of February 4 and continued right through Saturday and on/off on Sunday until about midday. The town was inundated. Somehow, we…

 

By Bernie Durangparang

St. Paul describes love as the highest of all the gifts (1Cor 13:1-13). Its qualities include patience and kindness. It is always ready to excuse, trust, hope and endure…

 

By Fr. Jim Mulroney

A carving out of wood with little artistic merit, yet adorned in robes of kingly magnificence, the Santo Niño is a source of religious myth and fable dating back to the…

 

By Fr. Kevin O'Neill

The Catholic Church in China today continues to be a vibrant witness to God’s love. Whether in large cities or rural villages, Catholics of all ages are active in their…

 

By Fr. Frank Hoare

Thirteen young Columban priests arrived in a hot, humid and hurricane-ravaged Suva, the capital of Fiji, more than 70 years ago on February 22, 1952. They were given a…

 

by Fr. Frank Hoare

Western foreign missionaries beginning with the Marist Fathers, have nourished the Catholic faith in Fiji since 1844. This era is almost finished. There are no Columban…

 

By Fr. Barry Cairns

There are some incidents in life, sometimes trivial, that make a deep impression. Here is one that stays forever vivid in my memory. The following scene happened 36 years…

 

I am 27 years old and studied at the CTU from 2018 through the end of 2021. I was born and raised in a Latina Catholic household in San Antonio, Texas. In my free time, I…

 

By Fr. Tom O'Reilly

We are familiar with adversarial debate in our government systems. The government is expected to present policies and pursue its agenda with vigorous determination. The…

 

By Fr. Kurt Zion Pala

When I first arrived in Myanmar (formerly Burma), I had to learn the Burmese language for almost year. I attended daily classes with local teachers. One of them is Saya…

 
By Fr. Chris Saenz

As a child, my image of the faces of mission were predominantly priests who courageously ventured into unknown territories and established parishes, schools, hospitals and…

 

By Fr. Trevor Trotter

Recently, I was on a Zoom call with some of the Columban leaders in countries such as Korea, Peru and Myanmar. There was much talk

 

By Fr. Timothy Mulroy

The morning after Pentecost, as I opened the curtains of my bedroom window, the bright red flowers in the garden next door grabbed my attention. In some mysterious way,…

 

By Teresa Sihyeon Bae

It has been slightly over one year since I was assigned to Taiwan as a lay missionary by the Missionary Society of St. Columban. I remember the first time I began life as…

 

By Fr. Jim Mulroney

Two boys from the farm in the southern echelons of the Philippines knelt before Bishop Honesto Ongioco in the bright and airy chapel of the Columban Student House in…

 

By Ana Flores

I have been working with the youth at Our Mother of Divine Mercy Village (the Philippines) for some years now. The last few years have been beyond compare. I remember…

 

By Fr. Michael Hoban

During my years here in Chile, I have been always been interested in catechetics. The Chilean Church was among the first local churches in Latin America to promote family…

 

By Sr. Mary Greaney

Irish missionaries have a long history of leaving their footprints in many countries worldwide. When I returned to Ireland some years ago, I responded to the promptings of…

 

By Jao Resari

In early October 2021, Pope Francis formally opened the synod process at the Vatican with the theme: “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, and Mission,” that…

 

By Sr. Abbie O'Sullivan

If I could stand before the crucifixion of Jesus on Calvary what would I feel or think? What would I do or say? What would you do or say? The connotation of the word “…

 
By Fr. Chris Saenz

At the age of 21, I first felt the call to the priesthood. I was bewildered by this seemingly other worldly pull. There was no vision, no voice but just a feeling. It…

 

By Sr. Anne Carbon

In 2021, the Philippine Church celebrated half a millennium, 500 years, of Christianity. According to 2015 statistics, the population of the Philippines is more than 100…

 

Sr. Cecilia Cuizon

The Community of Hope Special Education Center is a religious and charitable organization run by the Columban Sisters. It delivers services to children and young adults…

 

By Fr. Peter Woodruff

My mind was significantly shaped by mathematics, logic and informal debate. Thinking things through, stating a position and articulating the case for a position has been…

 

By Sheryl Lou Capili

Coming back to Taiwan as a second term lay missionary, I was very excited to go back to serve in the migrant ministry. I have a new assignment which is to help out in…

 

By Lee Su-Bin Matilda

A few months previous, his health started getting worse, and he needed to have an operation because there was a tumor on his neck. The doctor, his family and the staff…

 

By Fr. Peter O'Neill

In 2007, during one of my weekly visits to the Hsinchu City Immigration Detention Center in Taiwan, I met Ani and Siti (not their real names), two young women from…

 

By Fr. Patrick Colgan

French Catholic missionaries first arrived in Fiji in 1844 at Lakeba, Lau. Missions were established in 1851 at Ba and Rewa on the island of Viti Levu, and at Solevu on…

 

By Sr. Rebecca Conlon

Pope Francis’ pastoral visit to Iraq in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic as a Pilgrim Penitent and as a Pilgrim of Peace put me thinking. Age and diminishing health…

 

By Fr. Daniel O'Connor

I met Loweza in the village named Mundiala Virka many years ago when I was on mission in Sheikhupura Parish in Punjab Province, Pakistan. She arrived at their simple…

 

By Fr. Frank Hoare

The young people of the Pacific are the ones who have contributed least to planetary destruction, but they will suffer its consequences sooner and more than those who are…

 

By Fr. Barry Cairns

A parishioner, whose husband had died two years before, had now lost her only son. He had died of a heart attack while hiking in the mountains. His car was found in a…

 

By Fr. Malachy Hanratty

Jesus had a good following in Galilee but going into Judea towards Jerusalem He was meeting much resentment, opposition and obstruction from the religious authorities. He…

 
By Fr. Chris Saenz

One summer, as a seminarian, I was a chaplain in a Level-1 trauma center at Mount Sinai Hospital, Chicago, Illinois. Generally, I attended to the emergency room section.…

 

By Fr. Shay Cullen

The latest letter of Pope Francis, the Encyclical, Fratelli Tutti, Brothers and Sisters All, should touch every heart, stimulate all minds, awaken consciences, warm our…

 

By Fr. Robert McCulloch

A holy memory from my childhood remains with me. I was five years old.

 

By Fr. Donal O'Keefe

On Good Friday 2021, the Columban formation community in Seoul participated in the Holy Friday Liturgy organized by the Korean Branch of the Global Catholic Climate…

 

By Fr. Timothy Mulroy

The wrapping on the small parcel resembled a brown paper bag rather than an envelope while Fr. Elmer’s name and address were written in bold, clear letters. Perhaps it was…

 

By Monalisa Esteban

A few months ago, I had this strange experience of having my hands washed by an old lady in the village. She grabbed my hands and started washing them. I did try to stop…

 

By Elbert Balbastro

The celebration of 500 years of Christianity in the Philippines was a momentous event that needed to be celebrated and remembered.

 

By Fr. John Boles

Born on St. Columban’s Day, baptized by a Columban priest, ordained by a cousin and namesake – it seems I was marked out from the start

 

By Fr. John Boles

The ripening corn sparkled in the sunlight as we set off. Birds chattered in the bushes around the fields. Two copses of trees perfectly framed the tower of a mediaeval…

 

By Fr. Frank Hoare

Fiji’s Archbishop Peter Loy Chong, like many others, realized the importance of social media when COVID-19 caused all churches to be closed down. English is seen as the…

 
By Fr. Chris Saenz

Often, we missionaries are assigned to areas that are poverty stricken and lack the basic needs that many are accustomed to such as employment, water, food, housing and…

 

By Jhoanna Resari

My ministry work includes providing education, training and assistance to enable church leaders and migrant communities in the Hsinchu diocese to respond to the realities…

 

By Fr. Patrick Colgan

Steven Ram Narayan (universally known as “Sonny Boy” or “Uncle”) was born in April 1947 to Ram Garib and Marion Bennion of Elevuka, Ba, Fiji. That was both an interfaith…

 

By Kim Sun Hee

Finding and determining any new ministry involvement always comes with an interplay of many emotions such as nervousness, excitement and even worry. Whatever decision to…

 

By Lenette Toledo

Pope Francis announced that 2021 would be dedicated to St. Joseph, husband of Mary and earthly father of Jesus Christ. This story was shared to me by Anna Sut Pan, who…

 

By Fr. Bobby Gilmore

In 1969 I was due for my first vacation in Ireland after spending five years in the Philippines. As the time drew near I was excited. We got an allowance for holidays that…

 

By Fr. John Boles

“Die from Covid or die from hunger. Not much of a choice.”

 

By Fr. Donal McIlraith

Francis Xavier La Aung Nbwi and Peter Kyaw Zaw (pronounced Cho-zo) are the first Myanmar seminarians to come through the Columban seminary system. They both grew up in the…

 

By Fr. Patrick Colgan

When the Columbans arrived in Fiji on February 22, 1952, a number of them went immediately to Xavier College in Ba, to take over its administration, as a way of outreach…

 

By Elbert L. Balbastro

Life is always a journey of knowing ourselves which hopefully leads to knowing God.

 

By Fr. George Hogarty

In the book of Ecclesiastes, the sacred writer of this Old Testament wisdom book alludes to the continuous changes that determine our lives saying there is “a time to keep…

 

By Sr. Abbie O'Sullivan

We are now entering a New Year. It doesn’t seem long ago since we entered a new millennium. How time has flown by.

 
By Fr. Chris Saenz

​The famous anthropologist Margaret Mead once reminded an audience that the progress made internationally after World War II brought an abrupt end to the colonial era: “…

 

By Sainiana Tamatawale

Nine days before Christmas, the Christian community where I live takes part in what they call the “Posada.” It’s an annual tradition of faith practice among the Mexican…

 

By Latai Muller

Christmas is a time of peace and happiness within the family, but Christmas 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic had some disruptive twists resulting in a unique but…

 

By Fr. Patrick Colgan

Atil Kumar Singh (aka Bobby) is an Indo-Fijian carpenter who lives beside a Fijian village called Natunuku, in the parish of Christ the King, Ba.

 

By Patrick Colgan

On December 19, 2020, 29 years and three days after his burial in Lautoka, Fiji, a small group went from Ba parish to investigate the condition of Fr. Keelan’s grave, and…

 

By Fr. Vincent Busch

The Subanens are an indigenous people whose ancestral habitat is the highlands of Western Mindanao in the Philippines. Guided by the Columban Sisters who had been living…

 

By Fr. Shay Cullen

We are sharing with you some of the highlights of the work of Preda Foundation and wish you all a blessed Christmas. As many as 100 children have been saved and recovered…

 

By Fr. Jim Mulroney

Ping-pong played an instrumental part in thawing the freeze between the People’s Republic of China and the United States of America in the 1970s. While far from being the…

 

By Fr. Liam O'Callaghan

Christmas greetings to you, and I hope this finds you and your loved ones well and in good health. It is hard to believe that another year is almost over. I would like to…

 

By Mavic Mercene

As I write this, it is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. A few days from now would already be Christmas day. This is the most holy and meaningful occasion of the…

 

By Nathalie Marytsch

We are about to enter the Advent season. This is a unique time of waiting, a time of preparation, much as it would have been for Mary carrying a baby in her womb.

 
By Fr. John Burger

In the midst of all the busyness that encumbers the days leading up to Christmas there is a desperate need for a moment of silent wonder as we are invited into the mystery…

 

By Fr. Trevor Trotter

I like Christmas lights. In many suburbs of Australia there are marvelous displays of Christmas lights. In the northern hemisphere I enjoyed the lights with the snow and…

 

By Fr. Jim Mulroney

“Ask about the labor, not the label,” Australian troubadour, Dermot Dorgan, says in his award-winning song on responsible consumerism. The same question can also well…

 

By Sr. Abbie O'Sullivan

At the waning of the year November comes dark and somber. The days shorten, and the nights grow long. All the abundance and richness of Autumn are stored in our barns. The…

 

By Fr. Michael Riordan

In our Hill of Grace Shrine on Isidore we have a park with a series of sculptures showing some of the events of the life of Christ. One of the events depicted is the…

 

By Fr. Patrick Colgan

This time last year, I wrote an article entitled “How to be People of the Eucharist, when there is no Eucharist?” It was during the time of Fiji’s first coronavirus…

 

By Fr. Noel Mackey

For the past fourteen years Korea has been honoring individual immigrants who have made significant contributions to the country declaring them “Immigrants of the Year.”…

 

By Fr. Noel O'Neill

I took the call and an excited voice came over the phone. “Sinbunim, (Father) I have passed the college entrance exam.” It was 22-year-old Kim Youn Cheong on the phone. I…

 

By SunHee Kim (Sunny)

As a precautionary measure to limit the spread of Covid19 in the Philippines, the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) was set March 17, 2020. Most establishments had…

 

By Fr. Timothy Mulroy

The spacious and peaceful grounds of St. Columbans in Nebraska are greatly favored by many species of wildlife. However, the whitetail deer that roam freely there get the…

 

By Hang Eun-Yeal Columba as told to Noel Mackey

Columba Chang was a Missionary Society of St. Columban lay missionary. In June 1990 she was a member of the first Korean regions lay mission team appointed to the…

 

By Fr. Gonzalo Diaz

In the early part of 2019 I was living in Mokpo, South Korea, and investigating opportunities in university chaplaincy at Mokpo Catholic University. One day in April, I…

 
By Fr. John Burger

Thanksgiving, my favorite American holiday, will arrive on November 25 this year.

Recently I came across a list of ten things to be grateful for. At first glance…

 

By Fr. John Boles

Overseas missionary work brings many surprises, but a 12-day obligatory quarantine period in a secure facility near London Airport was a “first” for me.

 

By Rose Basada

When the pandemic started to escalate, and the U.S./ Mexico border needed to impose restrictions, the ministries where I was involved in Juarez, Mexico, were in lockdown,…

 

By Fr. Michael Hoban

For Holy Week 2020, I found myself in Bellevue, Nebraska, where I found refuge in the U.S. headquarters of the Columban Fathers after my sabbatical program at the Oblate…

 

By Sophia Chee Tzu Ting

I am a new Columban lay missionary commencing my first term assignment in the region of Britain. Together with my companion, Ling, we arrived here in Birmingham on…

 

By Patrick Colgan

Xavier College was established in 1953 as a boys school by the Catholic Archdiocese of Suva, Fiji, to provide Christian education, particularly to Indian youth in the…

 

By Fr. Jason Antiquera

I am generally not so enthusiastic about explaining my artworks.

 

By Fr. John Boles

“For me, life began at 40,” laughs Fr. Tony Coney, remembering how he arrived in Lima on his fortieth birthday. In addition, the date was August 30, providentially the…

 

By Fr. Edward O'Connell

It was going to be the best of years! At least that was what I thought in January 2020. The Warmi Huasi project teams had their plans of action in place with the local…

 

By Fr. Timothy Mulroy

I had slept on and off throughout the night. Then, just as dawn appeared at my window, I heard a loud and persistent chirping that pierced my ears and the haze that…

 

By Lillibeth Sabado

Who would have thought that one day we would just awaken and everything had to stop, everything had to change, to be reconfigured? As I write this, we are now entering the…

 

By Arlenne Villahermosa

During difficult times, we may find ourselves asking, “To what or to whom do we hang on or cling to? What keeps us moving?”

 
By Fr. John Burger

Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897 was quite close to what people think of now as the high-water mark of the British Empire.
Instead of triumph and bombast and…

 

By Fr. Noel Doyle

When I arrived in Japan the Columban missionaries had almost 50 parishes scattered over four different areas. Of those most of them were in cities with the exception of…

 

By Elbert Balbastro

The Philippines is an archipelagic country where diversity in culture, language, tradition, and customs is visibly felt and seen. Since the country is divided into almost…

 

By Fr. John Comiskey

The Catholic faith came first to the Philippines as part of Spain’s colonial expansion with Magellan’s circumnavigating the globe. As in that and later journeys the friars…

 

By Sainana Tamatawale

The year 2020 was one of the most difficult and stressful years in the history of the last hundred years of the world and the church! In Christmas 2019, I already had my…

 

By Sr. Margaret Moran

“Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.” 1 Peter 4:10

 

By Jung-Hae Roberta Kim

Since last August, I have been volunteering at a community garden here in Birmingham, Britain, run by one of the ecology organizations.

 

An Interview with Fr. Cathal Gallagher by Fr. John Boles

Fr. Cathal Gallagher recalls the incident vividly. “It was in 1998. I was working in a poor parish in Lima. I got a call from a local clinic, run by the Mercy Sisters,…

 

By Kevin Sheerin

There is an old Chinese proverb that says “a man without a smiling face must never open a shop.” This is pretty sound advice. If you can’t smile and be friendly, then it’s…

 

By Fr. John McEvoy

Jonathan Kunau and Hilda Vukikomoala had planned their wedding a year in advance. Since both of them were members of big families, they wanted a big celebration of their…

 

By Fr. Frank Hoare

The marriage ceremony was almost finished. It was time for the civil wedding. The groom’s younger brother had informed me that the witness from the bride’s side would be…

 
By Fr. John Burger

As I write this, I just got off the phone with Father Bill Morton. You remember Father Bill. He is the Columban priest whose parish in Juarez, Mexico, abuts the U.S.…

 

By Luda Egbalic

I have been sincerely trying to live out those words of Pope Francis. I would say my mission in Korea has been really inspiring, life-giving, self-transforming and truly…

 

By Fr. Michael Riordan

Columban Fr. Michael Riordan, parish priest of Geumak Parish in Jeju island writes about the mural found at the door of St. Isidore Hospice and pastoral its function apart…

 

By Fr. Bobby Gilmore

Since the middle of April, I have been watching out for the arrival of a particular kind of migrant, this time a winged one, a swallow. After a few days of peering out…

 

By Fr. Frank Hoare

The crisis was looming. Fr. Hans (Swiss) and Fr. Rudy (Filippino) reacted differently when people came to ask about a marriage or the baptism of a child. Fr. Hans, the…

 

By Fr. Barry Cairns

I would like to introduce Mrs. Hanako Nishi. This holy lady had a profound influence on my approach to the crucifixion of Jesus. This influence was born 60 years ago in…

 

By Elbert L. Balbastro

Most of the fond memories that I have growing up were my involvement in Church activities. Reminiscing, I recalled that throughout the whole month of May, my playmates and…

 

By Son Seon Young "Catharina"

As lay missionaries, when we are sent to another country for mission, the first thing we do is to learn their language. Since I joined the Columban lay missionaries in…

 

By Fr. John Hegerty

When Covid-19 appeared on the scene, Columban missionaries all over the world had to react to the emergency. We all had to ask ourselves, “How can I carry on serving the…

 

By Son Seon Young "Catharina"

Since I became a lay missionary back in 2000, I learned and began to use English and Tagalog when I was working in the Philippines. I later learned Spanish for my ministry…

 

By Kevin Sheerin

I was raised in a Catholic family, and even though I had a deep desire to work as a volunteer in the church, due to my work commitment I did not have the time to do so.…

 

By Lanieta Tamatawale

In 2003 I met a wonderful lady named Andring Naliponquit whom I fondly refer to as “Nanay” (mother). She was 74 years old when I first met her 18 years ago, an exceedingly…

 

By Havel Angwani

With difficulty while speaking in Urdu, I was able to manage to ask this young lady if I could take her picture along with her artwork of Mother Mary.

 

By Sr. Abbie O'Sullivan

As human beings we are irradiated and nourished by love. We long for the exposure to the “beams of love” yet we fear what they might demand of us when we come within their…

 
By Fr. John Burger

This month’s issue of Columban Mission is put together loosely around the theme of family life.

 

By Angie Escarsa

For months, my family has been faithful in praying the rosary as requested by Pope Francis after the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 a pandemic.

 

By Fr. Barry Cairns

In the parish of Hodogaya in Yokohama City, Japan, I was reaching a class of ten who were preparing for Baptism.

 

By Monaliza Esteban

It was one fine Friday morning on the 21st of August when a young Hindu couple arrived to the parish’s tuberculosis clinic with their tiny baby. When their turn came to…

 

By Fr. John Boles

The Covid pandemic instigated hardship and tragedy to countless numbers throughout the world. However, it also has had the effect of bringing out the BEST in many people.…

 

By Vida Hequilan

2020 marked the 30th anniversary of the Columban Lay Missionary (CLM) program.

 

By Marjorie Engcoy

The Sema Livelihood Program began as a recycling project for the interested women in the parish during the 2019 Season of Creation observation at St.

 

By Fr. John Boles

This was the scene when the first three intrepid Columbans arrived from Ireland in 1952 to start our mission in Lima. The words are those of one of this gallant band, an…

 

By Antonio Saulo Seeto

The pandemic impacted everyone; I saw it as a crisis, because it limited my experience in Peru.

 

By Iowane Najo

My name is Iowane Naio, a Columban seminarian from Fiji, doing my First Mission Assignment program in Lima, Peru, with the Columbans. I live in a multicultural and…

 

By Fr. Michael Hoban

In March 2020, I was enjoying the sabbatical program “Ministry to Ministers” at the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, Texas, when the program was suspended due to…

 

By Fr. Raymond Collier

I thought I’d share a few of my reflections with you concerning the COVID-19 pandemic. For me it has highlighted the vulnerability of humanity.

 
By Fr. John Burger

Have you ever thought about whether you have a philosophy of life? For most people it would probably sound pretentious to say you have one.

 

By Fr. Barry Cairns

I never thought that my photo would be on the front cover of a book – admittedly with fourteen others! All of us, in our 80s, are foreign missionaries still working in…

 

By Dáire King

Part of life while growing up was the occasional phone call I would receive from my uncle, Columban Fr. Tomás King, who is a missionary priest in Pakistan.

 

By Fr. Timothy Mulroy

During the celebration of the Easter Vigil last year, this verse from the Exsultet resonated deeply within me. As the Paschal Candle, signifying the risen Christ, was…

 

By Fr. John Boles

“Ever seen a mushroom grow? asked our gardener one morning in the grounds of the Columban Center House in Peru, as he pointed out to some of us a particularly fine example…

 

By Fr. John Boles

Music is in Fr. Gabriel’s blood. He was born and raised to the notes of song and guitar. From his home in the high Andes to the teeming cities of Pakistan and now to the…

 

By Fr. Paul Glynn

Like many other Columban missionaries before me, I have devoted many years to trying to promote harmonious relations between Christians and Muslims in the Southern…

 

By Fr. Joseph Joyce

Razia is a Pakistani woman of small stature and big heart. She has known the Columbans since about 1985, and from that time, has been involved in bringing education to the…

 
By Fr. John Burger

Recently Pope Francis said, “Kindness frees us from the cruelty that at times infects human relationships, from the anxiety that prevents us from thinking of others, from…

 

By Fr. John Keenan

The village of Parola, Tondo, Philippines, is a shantytown where the Pasig River and Manila Bay waters meet. It has been five years since a huge fire completely gutted it…

 

By Gertrudes C. Samson

We always hear the expression “Time flies!” and indeed that is true. In 2020, I suddenly realized that I was already celebrating my 10th anniversary as Columban Lay…

 

By Fr. Thomas Seungwon Nam

My name is Fr. Thomas Seugnwon Nam, and I am a South Korean Columban missionary priest.

 

By Fr. Kurt Zion Pala

A young girl and her mother went to the riverbank looking for wild vegetables and leaves.

 

By Fr. Frank Hoare

The Columban Interreligious Dialogue Desk in Fiji was initiated in May 2019. I was asked to advise and guide the coordinator, Ms. Priscilla Magdalin.

 

By Fr. Jason Antiquera

In his well-received book, The Gospel of Joy, Pope Francis writes: “Each particular Church should encourage the use of the arts in evangelization, building on the…

 

By Fr. Barry Cairns

God speaks to us through the Scriptures but also through events in our lives.

 

By Fr. Larry Barnett

Granny MaHong is the aunt of Vesu the parish catechist here in the mountains of central Taiwan where I work among the indigenous Tayal people.

 

By Animiasi Ravuwai

Since childhood, Holy Thursday for me meant the washing of the feet.

 

By Peter Sut Ring

The Kachin State is located in the northernmost region of Myanmar and is covered with natural resources and thousands of mountains. Every morning begins with waking up to…

 
By Fr. John Burger

As we look back at the last year, there probably are few people who would name 2020 as among their favorite years.

 

By Fr. Michael Riordan

I suspect that in future years rather than BC and AD we will have BC and PC (Before-COVID and Post- COVID) as this “experience” has had immense effects on all aspects of…

 

By Becky Feagan

On April 25, 1921 St., Mary’s Catholic Church, Bellevue, Nebraska, was established as a parish by Archbishop Jeremiah J. Harty Bishop of Omaha.

 

By Fr. Bobby Gilmore

My doorbell roused me from sleep at about half past five in the morning. It seldom rang at that hour of the morning, as Jamaicans, while early risers, do not move around…

 

By Danish Yakoob

My name is Danish Yakoob and I’m from Latifabad, Hyderabad, Pakistan. I have been working as a Columban co-worker in the Hyderabad Diocese since November 1, 2016.

 

By Hazel Angwani

It has been nearly a year since I arrived in Pakistan as a lay missionary. If I were to describe the experience so far, I would have to say it has been very challenging…

 

By Kim Sun-Hee Sunny

Who would have imagined that I would be cooking food and treating people? I was a total stranger to cooking before joining the lay missionary sending orientation program…

 

By Fr. Tomas King

The Parkari Kohlis are one of many tribal peoples in Sindh, Pakistan, who live in an on-going state of liminality; that is geographically, religiously, economically,…

 

By Fr. Vincent Busch

The Subanens are an indigenous people whose ancestral habitat is the highlands of northwestern Mindanao in the Philippines.

 

By Fr. Patrick Colgan

While the rest of the world shops and parties frenetically in December, the people in Fiji busy themselves too – in providing retreats, carol singing and charitable…

 

By Elbert Balbastro

Christmas always brings joy in my life. As a child, I always looked forward to the coming of that day. However, as time progressed, I realized that Christmas does not only…

 

By Fr. John Boles

People often boast about having celebrated Mass in churches that are, “centuries old,” such as the great cathedrals of Europe. But, what about celebrating in a place of…

 

By Fr. Jung Euikyun Carlo

Last year, at the beginning of Advent, I received a letter. The letter was inviting myself and the youth of the parish to “A Christmas feast to commemorate Christmas.”…

 

By Fr. George Hogarty

The missionary journey of Jorge Juaregui, called Coco for short, and his wife Rosa Ramirez, began when the Columban Fathers assumed responsibility for the rapidly

 

By Fr. Peter O'Neill

Fr. Peter O’Neill, the Columban Leader in Australia and the Columban Peace, Ecology and Justice Coordinator, visited Timorese workers at the Our Lady Help of Christians…

 
By Fr. John Burger

In 2013, after twelve years in administrative assignments with the Columban Fathers, I was given the chance to take a sabbatical.

 

By Evangeline "Jinky" Ucol

I’ve been working in the parish of Christ the King in Ba, which is located in the western part of Fiji, for more than a year now. Near where I live is St.

 

By Atonio Saula Tibema Seeto

Living with a host family was a blessing for me. I lived with the family of Maria Rene Covarrubias Arze in Cochabamba, Bolivia.

 

By Iowane Naio

My name is Iowane Naio, and I am from Fiji. I joined the Columban Formation Program in 2014, and I studied for two and a half years in the Pacific Regional Seminary in…

 

By Sainiana Tamatawale

Getting to know the people in this community of Rancho Anapra Corpus Christi Parish, Juarez City, México, was my number one priority when I arrived here after learning…

 

By Rosalia Basada

Casa del Migrante (Migrant House) is one of the shelters in ciudad Juárez, Mexico, under the management of the diocese. Migrants usually only stay for a short time, and…

 

By Fr. George Hogarty

During a recent visit to Peru, Maritza Upiachiwa and her husband Jorge Sanchez invited me to celebrate Sunday Mass for the community of the chapel of the Sacred Heart of…

 

By Fr. Larry Barnett

The phone woke me from a deep sleep. I turned on the light. The clock read 2:35 a.m., and the caller was Saiyun, a church leader in DaGuan village.

 

By Fr. John Boles

Even before the Pope convoked the Synod on the Amazon in 2019, and issued his dramatic exhortation, Columban missionaries in South America have

 

By Fr. Donal O'Keef

In February 2020 some eighteen priests and Sisters participated in the Mission Education Program for Korean missionaries going overseas at our Center House in Seoul.

 

By Fr. Tim Mulroy

During my vacation back home in Ireland, much of my time is spent visiting family members, neighbors and friends in the countryside.

 

By Fr. George Hogarty

In the Gospel of Matthew 13:52 Jesus describes the Kingdom of Heaven as being like a householder who brings forth treasures new and old from his storeroom.

 

By Fr. John Burger

A while ago I was feeling discouraged and someone reminded me that “a hundred-yard dash is not over at the 99th yard.” In other words, “don’t give up too early.” It was…

 

by Michael Javier

It is part of our daily morning exercise routine for myself and my fellow lay missionary, Lenette Toledo, to pass by the busiest market in Bhamo. Bhamo is a city in the…

 

By Fr. Finbar Maxwell

The late art critic Sr. Wendy Beckett wrote, “the astonishing thing about prayer is our inability to accept that if we have need of it, as we do, then because of God’s…

 

By Mosese Yacalevu

Sharing my vocation story stirs up mixed feelings within me. On the one hand I think of a vocation as something personal and sacred, but I remember that such stories…

 

By Fr. John Boles

“Hope springs eternal” goes the phrase, even in the saddest of situations, and surely none can be sadder than the case of young Andrea Alvarez.

 

By Jerry Lohera

There are many days when I am at home in the tribal villages in Sindh, Pakistan. Although, it might have been upsetting for someone to find out that majority of the…

 

By Elbert Balbastro

Our mission partners and benefactors are very essential in the day-to-day life of the missionaries. They play a significant role in helping the Society proclaim the good…

 

By Fr. Timothy Mulroy

Every Saturday afternoon, Fr. Paul drove off faithfully in the car by himself. For several years, all I knew was that he was heading to a Gamblers Anonymous meeting…

 

By Fr. Patrick O'Donoghue

It is almost impossible to describe the appreciation and love that Catholic Kachins in Myanmar have for Columban missionaries, and at times, it can be almost embarrassing…

 

By Lenette Toledo

Myanmar is far behind in terms of education, compared to other countries, having been shut off from the outside world for 50 years by the military junta.

 

By Sr. Kathleen Coyle

In the Gospels, there are several accounts of feeding a large crowd from scant supplies. These accounts may be versions of one memorable event for which several accounts…

 

By Fr. Daniel O'Malley

I had just arrived in the Philippines shortly after ordination. It was 1973 and something unprecedented was happening back home in Ireland.

 

By Fr. John Burger

October with its blue skies and bright leaves is a time for appreciating the beauty of the earth. Appropriately, October 4 is the feast day of St. Francis.

 

By a student from the Mandalay Archdiocesan High Education Center

On Monday morning, September 26, 2016, Sr. Anny, a St. Joseph Religious nun, asked me if I wanted to study in Mandalay.

 

By Fr. Donal O'Keefe

May 2020 was the 40th anniversary of the Gwangju Democratic Movement, an event that has shaped modern Korea history.

 

By Fr. Patrick Raleigh

September 2019 was very special as I had the opportunity and privilege to visit Brazil for the first time. In visiting a vast country like Brazil for a short time there is…

 

By Columban Lay Missionary Kim Sun-hee "Maria"

When Maria was first appointed to Taiwan in 2014, she immediately became involved in prison ministry. She worked with both youth and adults that were confined. Since 2018…

 

By Kim Jin-uuk, Columban Seminarian

At the entrance to the chapel in the Columban formation house hangs a large picture that shows all the areas where Columban missionaries were martyred, including the…

 

By Angie Escarsa

In our life we are bound to experience the different stages of life, “from the cradle to the grave.” Whether we accept it or not, there is always an end to everything.

 

By Gertrudes Samson

Some people are uncomfortable when they hear the word “blood.” But for Christians, our faith was founded in the blood of Jesus Christ. During the Eucharist, while…

 

By Sai Tamatawale

The grim realities here at the U.S./Mexico border of El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, are the twin plights migrants and poverty. We, the Columban missionaries…

 

By Fr. Trevor Trotter

All is in God and God is in all.

 

By Fr. John Burger

One of Pope Francis’ most famous quotations is that those of us who are priests, we “shepherds,” should have the “smell of the sheep.” What a great, pungent image!

 

By Hazel Angwani

I can still remember that feeling when I first applied to join the Columban lay missionaries. I was not certain of anything, but I definitely pushed myself for it. I was…

 

By Sr. Tammy Saberon

Sr. Tammy Saberon is a Filipina Columban missionary who ministered for many years in Hong Kong, and later in Myanmar.

 

By Fr. Patrick Colgan

One of the highlights of our week here in the Spiritual Year House is our visit to either the Prison Remand Facility in Suva or the Juvenile Rehabilitation Center also in…

 

By Fr. Frank Hoare

Seventy years ago, if a person wanted to become a Catholic they attended “convert classes.” A priest usually gave weekly talks on the important Catholic dogmas and the…

 

By Mary Ann T. Guial as told to Columban Sr. Bella

I am Mary Ann T. Guial, the youngest and only girl in our family. I have five brothers and the eldest died when he was in grade three. I was not yet born when he died. My…

 

By Mariana Waqa

Fr. Teakare Betero was ordained a Columban priest on Saturday November 30, 2019, the Feast of St. Andrew.

 

By Columban Fr. John Boles

I’ve recently returned to Peru after my sabbatical year, and have been able to see first-hand progress made during 2019.

 

By Fr. John Burger

Sometimes a line of poetry or the words of a hymn can stay in our mind for many years. Something in the turn of phrase resonates in our heart.

 

By Fr. Patrick Raleigh

In 2019, I had the privilege of visiting our mission in Fiji where Columbans have ministered since 1952. Prior to visiting Fiji, I had read Fr. Frank Hoare’s account of…

 

By Columban Missionaries

"They came to Capernaum and, once inside the house, Jesus began to ask them, "What were you arguing about on the way?"

 

By Navitalai Paulo

We had planned to go on a picnic on this particular day, to the village where my sister, Paulini Maria, lives with her husband. She was informed of our coming, and her…

 

By Jennifer Lunor

One of the many joys of being a Columban lay missionary is the joy of entering into a new culture and sharing my faith and experience with the people, while at the same…

 

by Fr. Timothy Mulroy

“Why did you choose to join the Columban missionaries and not some other missionary organization?” is a question that I’m often asked.

 

By Fr. Michael Doohan

I grew up on a farm in Co. Clare, Ireland, with four brothers and five sisters. We all did our share on the farm, helping out during the holidays. My brother John, who was…

 

By Seo Min-ah

The city of Wuhan where I live is always changing. We can see new public slogans almost every day. Jobs and government policies change very frequently, and buildings are…

 

By Evangeline "Jinky" Ucol

Na yacamu? Na yacaqu, O Jinky mai, Philippines. What is your name?

 

By Fr. Kwon Dae-mun

Since I was appointed to mission in China I have been constantly asked what kind of ministry I have been involved in given that mission activity is banned in China.

 

By Columban Fr. John Boles

In the Gospel we hear how Jesus performed a miracle by saying to the paralyzed man, “Rise up and walk!” Today He continues to work the same miracle, maybe not directly,…

 

By Fr. John Burger

A good friend of mine, a religious Sister, served on the missions in Ethiopia during a terrible famine there.

 

By Fr. Michael Riordan

After I qualified as a veterinarian, I volunteered to work on an agricultural project in South Korea for two years which was started by Columban Fr. P.J. McGlinchey. While…

 

By Lily Faunillan

I responded to my baptismal call to become a lay missionary with the Columbans in 2017.

 

By Lily Faunillan

In August last year, I arrived at St. John the Apostle Parish in Natovi, Fiji, to begin my ministry, where, among other things I would help facilitate church programs,…

 

By Fr. Joseph Joyce

“How old are you?” is a question that I’m very often asked in Pakistan, and when I tell my age, 75, the response is something like, “You look very fresh,” or “You’re still…

 

By Uakela Tawala

My name is Uakeia Tawaia, and I come from the Kiribati Islands. In 2016, I was studying Accounting at the Kiribati Institute of Technology (KIT) and was focused on…

 

By Fr. Kurt Zion Pala

The Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, or Udang Poi, is a huge celebration in the Diocese of Myitkyina, Myanmar (formerly Burma), which attracts thousands…

 

By Arlene Villahermosa

Every day in our lives we meet people of various ages and from different backgrounds. Many of them we don’t know but some of them we get to know and interact with. And…

 

By Fr. Patrick Raleigh

After completing my six year term as Regional Director for the Columbans in Ireland I had the opportunity to pay a return visit to Pakistan where I had worked for a number…

 

By Fr. Donal McIlraith

It started, really, with an invitation from catechist Tobia to come and talk about the Marian Movement of Priests. I checked with the pastor, Fr.

 

By Fr. Timothy Mulroy

Strolling along the path, I turned a corner and suddenly my eye caught a statue. At first, I was unsure if the figure was male or female, human or angelic, but its pose…

 

By Fr. Michael Hoban

For the past seven years, I have traveled on Fridays to the Carmelite monastery located in a mountain canyon known as the Cajon del Maipo.

 

By Sihyeon Teresa Bae

On August 1, 2017, I travelled from the height of the Korean summer to an equally hot Philippines to study English.

 

By Fr. John Burger

Although all Columbans may not agree with me, I think our life as Columbans has three important hallmarks.

Community

 

By Sr. Redempta Twomey

"Loneliness has become a silent epidemic; it is, as one doctor wrote, "the most unrecognized health crisis of this generation."

 

By Mavic Mercene

Last year, in December, I had the opportunity to attend the mission-sending Mass for Hazel Jean Angwani at Santa Rita de Cascia Mission Station in Bontoc, Montain Province…

 

By Gertrudes "Ger" C. Samson

Time flies! As I write this, it is October again, but I did not notice since the time passed by so quickly. By now, I am already almost one-and-a-half years in my country…

 

By Fr. Michael Hoban

August is the month of solidarity in the Archdiocese of Santiago. Each year, there is a pilgrimage of young people to the Shrine of St.

 

By Fr. Colin McLean

In March this year I was one of a group from the Region of Peru to attend a Columban meeting in Santiago, Chile.

 

By Fr. Frank Hoare

Fiji has the highest incidence of diabetes in the world. More than one third of the population suffers from it. It is a lifestyle disease. Fijian men were able to eat big…

 

By Ella Poasa

Returning home for a seminary break is interesting. I usually see it as a great time for relaxation and enjoyment. But I have discovered that it is more than that.

 

by Jennifer "Jake" Lunor

Being a stranger in a foreign land wasn’t always easy, in terms of learning and adopting their respective culture and of course the same goes with the dialect that they…

 

By Michael O'Sullivan

Over recent decades Irish society has been transformed by the number of people who have come from all over the world to make their lives here.

 

By Lee Subin Matilda

"What are you doing in Taiwan?," my friends would ask. "Oh, I work at the HIV/AIDS Center." "What? What did you say?" My friends were confused by my answer…

 

By Fr. George Hogarty

I visited Korea in February earlier this year after an absence of nineteen years. I'd been invited by old friends to return to this mysterious, yet very modern country,…

 

Fr. Patrick O'Shea

In September 2017 our class celebrated 50 years since we first came to Dalgan Park, Ireland, to follow what we all believed at the time was a call to missionary priesthood…

 

By Fr. John Burger

Every year in the Catholic Church we have a “World Day of Prayer for the sick” on February 11, which is also the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes.

 

By Nathalie Marytsch

When people ask me about my job, I still hesitate with my answer. I find that I don’t fit in with a conventional category of any job listing.

 

By Kim Sunhee

One day, words on the poster at a local charity shop caught my attention. “…Can you donate two hours of your time to raise funds for people who are blind or vision…

 

By Kevin Sheerin

Simon unfurls his tattered sleeping bag under the shelter of a park pavilion in one of the biggest parks in Hong Kong, a city where sky-high property prices and a yawning…

 

By Fr. Taaremon Matauea

It was a Sunday morning. I was turning the pages of my Mandarin Chinese prayer book looking for suitable prayers for the dead.

 

By Fr. Daniel O'Connor

Columban Fr. Daniel O’Connor is part of a small group of eight in the Hyderabad Diocese, Pakistan, where they manage a health and tuberculosis clinic in the Badin Parish…

 

By Sr. Kathleen Coyle

The Christmas/Epiphany cycle offers us generous glimpses into the mystery of the birth and manifestation of Jesus.

 

By Fr. Barry Cairns

I would like to share with you one of the most delightful Christmas presents that I have ever received. In the mission parish of Katase in Yokohama Diocese where I was…

 

By Sr. Roberta Ryan

“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched – they must be felt with the heart.” This insight comes from the pen of Helen Keller who,…

 

By Sr. Margaret Devine

The story begins in the early morning hours of December 9, 1531, when a 57-year-old Indian peasant named Juan Diego was walking along the path of Tepeyac Hill on the…

 

By Fr. Shay Cullen

Christmas is a festival of children. We see images of a child born in a stable surrounded by animals with Mary and Joseph by the crib. Although recalling the birth of…

 

By Fr. John Burger

Myanmar (formerly Burma) in Southeast Asia is a nation of scintillating beauty, copious resources and a wonderfully diverse population.

 

By Sr. Anne Ryan

At Christmastime we are drawn to reflect on our place of belonging, our "home." This sense of being drawn to home may be part of our nature, our cultural heritage and also…

 

By Fr. Vincent Busch

The Subanens are an indigenous people whose ancestral habitat is the highlands of northwest Mindanao in the Philippines. When the Columban Fathers arrived in Mindanao in…

 

By Fr. Donal McIlraith

Chased from his parish by a volcano! That is the story of Fr. Laurence Lulkon. Little did I think when I taught Laurence as a seminarian in Fiji that I was preparing him…

 

By Fr. Tony Cavanagh

December, January and February are the wedding months. All the Parkari parishes here are busy attending weddings and being involved in some of the preparations.

 

By Vida Amor Hequilan

Every morning on my way to the office I often see a woman with a dog in a small playground outside the Columban office gate in Hong Kong.

 

By Fr. Warren Kinne

I want to tell you about my friend David. Mind you, he prefers to be called Princess. He is known as the “Princess of Paradise.” Since I arrived on the Gold Coast (…

 

By Liliani Losi Ma’afu

"As for me, my life has already been poured out as an offering to God. The time of my death is near, I have fought the good race, and I have remained faithful.

 

By Catharina Son

On my first day of prison visitation, Ate (big sister) Sally accompanied me to Stanley prison where she gave me an introduction to the process from initial registration at…

 

By Fr. David G. Arms

Then a young priest, I was appointed in 1975 to the islands of Kadavu, Fiji, which is about 60 miles from the capital of Suva. Over the years, Kadavu had not been well…

 

By Nathalie Martysch

Situated close to the center of Birmingham, United Kingdom, Fatima House is operated by the Birmingham Archdiocese and the Columban Fathers and offers shelter for women…

 

By Fr. Patrick Raleigh

It was a great privilege to have had the opportunity to visit Myanmar (formerly Burma) this year. As a Columban missionary it is a country that has always fascinated me.…

 

By Fr. John Burger

I have been trying to track down the source of this quotation: “The first prerequisite for education is a willingness to sacrifice your prejudice on the altar of your…

 

By Sr. Redempta Twomey

In her autobiography, St. Therese tells of a dream she had about a year before her death.

 

By Jennifer Lunor

One of the many joys of being a Columban lay missionary is the joy of entering into a new culture and sharing my faith and experience with the people, while at the same…

 

By Fr. Chris Saenz

Let us begin with a story: Equally qualified, Carmen and Diane both sought employment with the same local company. Both prayed to God for help, and the company granted…

 

By Mavic Mercene

Columban lay missionary, Liliani Maafu, shared the story of what happened while traveling to work in a jeepney (bus).

 

By Navitalai Paulo

“What do we do now?” I asked my Indian companions as our boat drifted out to sea. I had been invited by the four young men to go fishing. We left at 5 p.m., leaving dinner…

 

By Sr. Ann Gray

In 1986, when I was in the process of learning Cantonese, a Hong Kong friend took me to Mong Kok on the Kowloon side of Hong Kong where, for the first time, I saw sex…

 

By Fr. Michael Hoban

The work of the Columbans over the last 65 years has been blessed by the presence of diocesan priests (associates) who contract with the Missionary Society of St.

 

By Fr. Bernard Smyth

Four Columbans, John Casey, Patrick Ronan, Owen O’Kane and Patrick Reilly, all attached to the Huchow mission in the Chinese Province of Chekiang, were arrested by the…

 

By Michael Javier

I came home for my highly anticipated home vacation in April 2018 after spending the last three years in Chile, feeling incredibly excited to be back among my family and…

 

By Fr. John Burger

There used to be a kind of joke going around that said, “As long as there are algebra exams, there will be prayer in the public schools.” Algebra is important, but I think…

 

By Jennifer Lunor

I was born in a predominantly Christian city in the Philippines.

 

By Sr. Redempta Twomey

"People think pleasing God is all God cares about, but any fool in the world can see he is always trying to please us back … always making little surprises and springing…

 

By Fr. Joseph Joyce

The easiest way for me to write about prayer is to speak of my own journey with God. I say this because prayer is a particular experience for each person. It is an…

 

By Fr. Patrick O'Shea

Recent Anzac Day commemorations in New Zealand made a special attempt to recognize that “not all wounds bleed.” There has always been great sympathy and understanding for…

 

By Fr. Seamus Cullen

I first met Mr. Ikehata when Rev. Tesshu, a Buddhist priest, took Columban Fr. Bede Cleary and me to meet him on a hot summer day. The four of us were sitting round a low…

 

By Fr. Palanapa Tavo

I arrived in Peru thinking that it wouldn’t be very challenging. I was sent straight away to Bolivia to learn Spanish. When I arrived there my host family was waiting for…

 

By Fr. Young-In Kim

First, I would like to deliver my sincere thankfulness to all the benefactors who support financially and prayerfully the Andean Mountain children in Yanaoca, Cusco. In…

 

By Fr. Kurt Zion Pala

Shwebo dropped us at our last stop, and he headed off to return to his village, the Shwebo district from which he gets his name. We returned to the Sisters’ house and had…

 

By Lilly Faunillan

I arrived in Fiji as a Columban lay missionary in August 2017. Once in Fiji, I studied the language for three months. Studying a new language for the first time in my…

 

By Luda Egbalkic

One year has passed since I came back to Korea for my second term as a Columban lay missionary. Indeed, time has flown so fast.

 

By Jennifer (Jake) Lunor

Being a stranger in a foreign land wasn’t always easy, in terms of learning and adopting not only the language and local dialect but also the culture. I was thinking about…

 

By Fr. Joseph Joyce

Each of us could write a book on disappointments, because there are so many in our lives.

 

By Fr. John Burger

What makes a life a success in the grand scheme of things, that is, a success in God’s plan?

 

By Hyein "Anna" Noh

After a 14-hour flight from Korea, with a fierce wind and torrential rain waiting to greet me in Dublin, I realized that I had finally landed in Ireland. It was the first…

 

By Sr. Angela McKeever

I have just completed 40 years in Chile and for 25 of these I have been going to the oldest jail in Santiago called the “Peni,” which is pronounced like “penny.” It was…

 

By John Din

More than 20 years ago, I left the Philippines for the first time as a Columban lay missionary assigned to Brazil.

 

By Aurora C. Luceenpo

I arrived in Pakistan in 1994 after joining the Columban lay missionary orientation program which included a focused study on Islam and the Pakistani culture.

 

By Irma Cantago

I am Irma Lara Cantago, a Columban lay missionary for many years. A high school teacher by profession, I was teaching for 15 years and at the same time involved in the…

 

By Sr. Kathleen Coyle

"Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road?" (Lk 24:32)

 

By Vasemaca Ratu

Learning a new language is really difficult. One has to become a child again and enter an entirely new culture.

 

By Fr. Kevin O'Neill

As he ends his tenure as Columban Superior General, Fr. Kevin O'Neill, shares that the 2018 centennial was an opportunity to look to the past with gratitude and "to…

 

By Columban Seminarians

I have just completed three months of pastoral work. Every Saturday I went to the Hope Center in Myitkyina. It is where HIV/AIDS patients are cared for, and I met patients…

 

By Sr. Kathleen Coyle

Bartimaeus, a beggar, was sitting on the roadside, outside Jericho, blind, begging, isolated, speechless, mute. When he heard that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by He…

 

By Fr. Trevor Trotter

Recently I have been fascinated by the news of two black holes circling each other and heading towards a massive explosion.

 

By Fr. John Burger

People around the globe report increasing levels of stress. Our lives are so busy that day-to-day we feel hurried and harried.

 

By Fr. Frank Hoare

On February 20, 2016, the strongest tropical storm to hit the South Pacific region converged on the nation of Fiji. With winds reaching 185 mph, tropical cyclone Winston…

 

By Fr. Chris Saenz

As we Columbans enter into our second century of mission to the world, I would not have imagined myself returning to the United States to do home mission.

 

By Fr. Daniel Harding

In recent years, Chile has received hundreds of thousands of desperate migrants from other parts of Latin America. Fr. Daniel (Dan) Harding tells the story of some of…

 

By Fr. Kurt Zion Pala

I wonder what the first Easter was like. How did the disciples feel about losing their teacher and friend and then realizing the truth of His resurrection? What was the…

 

By Gertrudes C. Samson

In December 2017, a generous Malate parishioner gave the Columbans complimentary tickets to watch Ballet Philippines perform "The Nutcracker" at the Cultural Center of the…

 

By Fr. Eamon Sheridan

Every family in Kachin State in northeastern Myanmar, formerly Burma, seems to be affected by drug and alcohol addiction.

 

By Fr. Shay Cullen

Protecting children from harm is the primary duty of all adults, yet millions of children are hurt and abused in the world these days.

 

By Fr. John Burger

If you are a regular reader of Columban Mission, you are used to seeing Fr. Tom Mulroy's face on this page.

 

By Fr. Cyril Lovett

What do we know of the woman we call Mother of God and Mother of the Church?

 

By Fr. Donal McIlraith

The new Columban century brought us a new Columban priest in Fiji. Deacon Martin Koroiciri was ordained a priest at the Suva Cathedral by Archbishop Chong on the vigil of…

 

By Fr. Barry Cairns

I would like to introduce Mr. Dismas Shigeru Kato. He was born 91 years ago in a small fishing village called Kushimoto in Wakayama Province of Japan.

 

By Fr. Joseph Joyce

In my ministry as a priest I have encountered many experiences of grief and loss, and, like any other human being, I have had to deal with these difficult emotions both in…

 

By Dawn Rosa Chiu

Although my mother uttered her first words in the Philippine Ilocano language, we are a Chinese family and along with my brothers and sisters, I was born in Hong Kong.

 

By Fr. Neil Magill

The Higher Education Center [HEC] is for poor but bright young women and men who cannot afford further education after high school.

 

By Oisĺn Kenny

The scene is one full of children waiting eagerly for their Easter meal. Noise levels reach a climax. In one corner the little ones are playing a game I do not understand…

 

By Sarah MacDonald interviews Columban lay missionary, Kevin Sheerin

In 2010, Kevin Sheerin was working in Dublin for the high profile computer software giant Microsoft, earning a good salary and living a comfortable life. That was the year…

 

By Oisĺn Kenny

Sport is always a great way to bring people together. This is especially important when you live in a barrio, an area with a high poverty rate, where there are migrants…

 

By Michael Javier

Language is a basic skill we need to communicate, to express our feelings and to understand others. But, we are divided by different languages used in nations or cities.…

 

By Sihyeon Bae

"Lord, You created me through your love…" This is the first verse of a Korean morning prayer which I pray every morning. This beautiful verse has touched me deeply, and it…

 

By Columban Missionaries

Back in 1990 a missionary priest in Taiwan was the parish priest of a small parish that had a small kindergarten attached. The kindergarten was underused and struggling.…

 

By Sherry Lou Capill

My grandfather's name was Ireneo, but he was best known and called "Tata" by everyone in the family or Tatay Neo by everyone else who knew him.

 

By Fr. Bobby Gilmore

During the 1980s, great expectations abounded in the member states of what was then the European Community. We were told that just over the horizon a new European…

 

By Subin Lee

Last April 18, I boarded a plane going to France. Starting in France, I was on my way to Santiago de Compostela in Spain.

 

By Cathal King, nephew of Columban Fr. Tomás King

Last year I decided to go to Pakistan to visit my uncle and get a sense of the work he was doing. Since as far back as I can remember I've been hearing of this uncle who…

 

By Fr. Andrei Paz

"The Columbans are still interested." With those words, Fr. Tom Shaughnessy concluded his letter to Andrei Paz. It was an invitation which put the young philosophy…

 

By Fr. John Boles

The faithful at Santa Rosa chapel in Lima might at times feel they are suffering from double vision.

 

By Oisin Kenny

Sitting down with Patricia Rodriguez amidst a noisy comedor (community center) bustling with activity, boisterous children, cats and dogs, she agrees to tell me about her…

 

By Fr. Daniel Harding

For the five weeks leading up to Christmas 2017, two Adelaide, Australia, diocesan seminarians, Anthony Beltrame and Olek Stirrat, participated in a pastoral experience…

 

By Fr. Michael Hoban

In his Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel), Pope Francis put his finger on one of the principal obstacles to spreading the Good News of the…

 

By Virgenia O. Vidad and Columban Fr. Oliver McCrossan

I met a very courageous and determined girl sometime in 2005 in Ozamiz City, Philippines. Maryjoy Tabuco is the eldest among the four siblings.

 

As we prepare for a new century of mission to the world, we recall what inspired the early Columban pioneers and what they achieved, reflect on how their successors…

 

By Fr. John Burger

Fr. Peter LiChun Dong is a new face among Columban missionaries. Recently ordained, he is the first Columban priest from mainland China.

 

By Sr. Redempta Twomey

For the gift of this New Year, we say "Thank You." God has already blessed us.

 

By Gracia Kibad

In my past ministry which was in Ireland, I had on numerous occasions listened to migrant workers share their stories.

 

By Sr. Elizabeth Taaffe

When I lived in Hallim on Jeju Island I knew two delightful old people, namely Mrs. and Mr. Kim. I came to know them through the Isidore Development Association's Social…

 

By Fr. Jack Evans

When the angels went away from them to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go, then, to Bethlehem to see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has…

 

By Maria Elena Venzon-Wood

Way back in 1983, I was sent as a lay missionary to the United Kingdom under the auspices of the Columban Fathers in the Philippines.

 

by Maria Cieleen D. Lambampa

Life itself is a blessing. You will never know what it will bring, but you'll always be sure that whatever life may offer, it will be for the best.

 

By Marea Lyn Almiranex

I am presently working in the Catholic Diocese Hsinchu Migrants and Immigrants Service Center (HMISC).

 

By Columban Sr. Redempta Twomey

The joy of Christmas is for everyone – for those who are faithful, loving and giving; for those who are indifferent or hostile; for those who have turned away and walk no…

 

By Fr. Tomás King

Greetings to ALL! I hope all is well. Just a few thoughts to share as we celebrate Advent and prepare for Christmas!

 

By Fr. Liam O'Callahan

Greetings to you from the "land of the pure" which is the meaning of the word Pakistan. I hope this finds you and your loved ones well and in good health.

 

By Jhoanna Resari

Christmas is a celebration of hope and joy as we remember the birth of Jesus, the ultimate gift God has given us out of His infinite love for us.

 

By Fr. Shay Cullen

You don't have to be a Christian to believe in the values of Christmas. They are universal.

 

By Fr. Erl Dylan Tabaco

The season of Advent gives us an opportunity to prepare ourselves for the coming of our savior in our lives.

 

By Fr. Tim Mulroy

It was Christmas Eve night and Fr. Charlie O'Rourke was alone in the rectory in his parish in South Korea when he thought he heard a knock on the back door.

 

By Fr. Brian Vale

As I was preparing to move from Sydney to Melbourne to take up the new role of Regional Director of the Australia/New Zealand Columban region I reflected on the many…

 

By Jenanydel Nola

On May 23, 2017, I returned home after three years of being away. I arrived in our village around nine in the evening, and I was expecting people to be in their houses.

 

By Columban Missionaries

At the beginning the primary task was to get a mastery of the Korean language. After that we went to work in parishes; that was our big apostolate at the time. Since the…

 

By Febie Gonzales

Good morning! These are two words that made a big difference in my missionary journey in Taiwan.

 

By Fr. Daniel Harding

After a happy six year break back in Australia as editor of The Far East magazine and working in Columban promotion in Adelaide, I have returned to Santiago, Chile, where…

 

When did you arrive in Korea?

I came here on October 2, 1969.

What were the Columbans doing there at the time you arrived? It was almost 100% parish work. A…

 

By Sr. Mary Dillion

In mid-September 2017, a family of three, Aik Ket aged 30 years old, his wife San Bu, also 30 years old, and their only child Chit Oo Mya, just three years old arrived at…

 

By Columban Lay Missionary Eun-Sook Han (Genovia)

I am from Kwangju in Korea. I had been teaching for a number of years when I heard about the Columban Lay Missionary program and decided to attend some meetings. I was 30…

 

By Fr. Tim Mulroy

As the Columban Centennial Year draws to a close, and as we prepare to embark on a new century of mission, I am reminded of how the Catholic Church engaged a significant…

 

Sr. Redempta Twomey

The man had never walked. From birth, he was unable to put his two feet under him, but that didn't stop him from going out and joining the crowd that had gathered to hear…

 

By Luda Egbalic

Allow me to share with you my one-of-a-kind, exciting and meaningful adventure. I am just an ordinary, simple woman. I was a teacher by profession.

 

By Mauricio Silva

I met Raj, a Sri Lankan Hindu asylum seeker, about nine years ago at the the Solihull Welcome drop-in center for asylum seekers when I was attending the home office…

 

By Fr. Brian Vale

I always enjoy returning to my home parish of St. Joseph's, New Plymouth, in New Zealand over the Christmas period.

 

By Fr. Shay Cullen

The preaching of Jesus and His compassion for the poor and the outcasts was at the heart of the Kingdom of God.

 

By Lorna Canete

If the Philippines have the Chocolate Hills in Bohol, here in the north of Chile we have mountains of "chocolates," no green trees, just all brown soil.

 

By Fr. Jim Mulroney

A faith born in the shadows cast by a single candle in a tightly curtained room of a small farming village in a China emerging from the repression of the Cultural…

 

By Beth Sabado

I first met Amy from the Philippines after she was brought to the Hope Workers' Center in Taiwan.

 

By Monalisa Esteban

Not long ago I dared to follow a so called "dream," a dream that became reality when one day I found myself in a place different from my home.

 

By Fr. Kurt Zion Pala

When I was ordained a deacon and later a priest, I worked with young people in one parish in the Philippines.

 

By Gilda Comayas

God is always leading us in every step of our journey. But there are times that we do not recognize His presence because of situations that separate us from Him.

 

By Columban Missionaries in Fiji

The next day was more adventurous. Fr. Nilton drove us to Navala, a traditional Catholic village in the mountains over Ba.

 

By Fr. Peter Woodruff

This year we recall with gratitude the living faith of Columbans and others that has shaped our individual journeys and that of our Society for our first 100 years of…

 

By Fr. Tim Mulroy

As a teenager Ned Galvin enjoyed seeking out adventure with his friends.

 

By Fr. Noel O'Neill

Come the weekend, Americans have their baseball and football. Australians have their cricket and Australian rules football, and the Irish have rugby. Come the weekend,…

 

By Fr. Bobby Gilmore

It is interesting to watch those television programs that deal with people passing through customs as they return from holidays or family visits abroad.

 

By Fr. Barry Cairns

Columban history in the Japan mission is behind this stained glass window of the Risen Christ.

 

By Liezl Ladaran

We had our retreat in Nadi Ashram in May 2014. During our retreat I was passing by the road from the house where I stayed to the dining hall, along the way I saw a…

 

By Kim Jung-Woong Bosco

In my opinion love and kindness are the two words that most clearly express the life of Jesus.

 

By Sr. Kathleen Coyle

An African saying is my reminder: "If I go alone I go faster. If I go with others I go farther." This year, I hope to go a little farther so here is a reflection on a key…

 

By Fr. John Boles

Sometimes you come across a bond of love that makes you feel really humble. This is what happened to me when I met Josè and David.

 

By Peter, as told to Columban Fr. Neil Magill

I am Peter, and I am a third year student at Columban Fr. Neil Magill's Higher Education Center [HEC] in Mandalay, Myanmar (formerly Burma).

 

By Fr. Ed O'Connell

"The children, the young children, we have to do something about the children, they are at risk." Warmi Huasi is a small civil association (NGO) I set up with others…

 

By Sr. Redempta Twomey

The story is told of a good and prayerful woman who claimed to have had a vision of Christ. She went to see the bishop. "Did you talk to him?" he asked.

 

By Fr. Kurt Zion Pala

The last time I crossed a body of water on a boat at night was on my first mission assignment in the Fiji Islands.

 

By Fr. Tim Mulroy

When Fr. Sean McDonagh, who taught at the University of Mindanao in the Philippines, joined one of his students on a research project among the T'boli tribe during the…

 

By Aminiasi Ruvawi

It started out like any other normal evening meal in the formation house in Fiji when we were informed we will be going to Peru for our FMA (First Mission Assignment).

 

By Fr. Neil Magill

If you are from a very poor family living in a remote village with no electricity, no running water and poor transportation, you might feel depressed and feel the world is…

 

By Fr. Donal McIlraith

Losana Ve'ehala of Tonga passed away unexpectedly at the Columban lay missionary house in Suva, Fiji, on Sunday, December 10, 2017. Tongan Fr.

 

By Fr. Donal McIlraith

It was a personal joy for me to attend the ordination of Pat Roland Visanti in Suva on St. Columban's Day 2017.

 

By Fr. Donal O'Keefe

Sanjeong Dong in Mokpo was both a parish and also the headquarters of the Columban mission in the southwest province of Chollanamdo in Korea in the 1940s.

 

By Joan Yaps

God calls us in unique and different ways. Before I became a Columban lay missionary, I was happy working in my diocese for nine years.

 

By Fr. John Boles

"When I left Peru to go to the Philippines, I wondered what I'd find there," observed Marisol Rojas, a former Columban Lay Missionary.

 

By Columban Lay Missionary Haiti Muller

As we celebrate the Columban Mission Society's centennial, Columban lay missionary Haiti Muller refl ects on her journey in the prison ministry where she gets inspiration…

 

By Fr Patrick Colgan

In mid-January 2018, I spent a few days with our Columban missionaries in the parish of Badin, Pakistan, before attending a meeting of our Columban missionaries living and…

 

By Fr. Donal McIlraith

Pat Visanti was born and raised a Methodist on the island of Rotuma. Rotuma is both an island and a nation.

 

Fr. Bobby Gilmore

In the old world of European empires the mission of the church traveled with the expansive energy as it did previously in the age of trade routes and great migrations by…

 

By Fr. Tim Mulroy

Life begins at forty! That's what Fr. Tony Coney was about to discover as his plane touched down in Lima.

 

By Sherryl Lou C. Capili

When I was growing up, I really didn't like reciting the Holy Rosary.

 

By a Columban Missionary

Why visit the prisoners? It seems that it would be a fearful activity to engage in. Columban Sister Joan Sawyer bravely looked that fear in the face and visited prisoners…

 

By Fr. Andrei Paz

In 2012, while I was working in a parish among the aboriginal people called Atayal in the mountains of Taiwan, we organized a pilgrimage to the northern Philippines (where…

 

By Fr. Kurt Zion Pala

What was the first thing you did when you entered the church today? I assume you dipped your finger in the holy water and made the sign of the cross.

 

By Sihyeon Bae

I live and work in a mountainous area of Taiwan with aboriginal people.

 

By Fr. Tim Mulroy

This year, as Columban missionaries look back on one hundred years of mission, we recall with gratitude our accomplishments in various distant lands.

 

By Marjorie Engcoy

In my new parish assignment, I am blessed to have met wonderful ladies who were named after our Blessed Mother. I would like to share my experience with them.

 

By Fr. John Marley

On Saturday August 12, 2017, I officiated at the wedding of my grand-nephew Killian to his bride Jenna.

 

By Jenanydel Nola

For more than a year, I spent most of my time visiting the elderly while on mission in South Korea.

 

Sr. Redempta Twomey

Some days when it feels that God is far from us we may begin to harbor a real doubt: Is there a God at all?

 

By Teakare (Tex) Betero

Aminiasi and I arrived in Lima on May 20, 2016, for our pastoral experience called FMA (First Mission Assignment). We arrived during winter, above all, at midnight.

 

By Fr. Kurt Zion Pala

What is the largest organ of our body? The skin. This is probably the reason that among the senses, touch is the first to develop in the human infant, and it remains…

 

By Fr. Donal O'Keefe

At the end of WWII, Korea was divided at the 38th parallel.

 

By Josfa Vasakula

Veidrala village lies on the Northen coast of Nakorotubu in Ra, Fiji.

 

Easter 2017 brought an unexpected challenge to the residents of St. Columban's Retirement Home, Bristol, Rhode Island.

 

By Oisin Kenny

January 6, 2017, was the Feast of the Epiphany also known as in Chile as La Pascua de los Negros (Passover of the Blacks).

 

By Martin Koroiciri

Chile is a country that has its beauty in so many diverse ways that for the two years I had journeyed with the Columbans there I realized there is more to learn about…

 

By Columban Missionaries, Australia/New Zealand Region

You travel a long way from the United States of America to reach Australia which is accurately described as "Down Under." New Zealand is also "Down Under," a little bit…

 

By Fr. Bobby Gilmore

Miss Evelyn used to stand on the side of the Long Hill road near the junction. She waited for a lift to Mass each Sunday morning.

 

By Fr. Timothy Mulroy

Since the St. Joseph church compound was close to the central bus station, many homeless men came there. Some requested food, while others slept under the verandahs.

 

By Fr. Bobby Gilmore

Matt was a bachelor farmer. He was consigned to bachelorhood probably because his mother lived way beyond the Biblical three score and ten.

 

Sr. Redempta Twomey

"Remember your last end," scripture admonishes us. Yet it seems that few people do, or maybe they remember when they attend a funeral or hear of a friend's death.

 

By Fr. Tim Mulroy

When the last group of Columban missionaries left Myanmar in 1979, they did so with heavy hearts.

 

By Columban Seminarian Martin Koroiciri

It was a hot, sunny day in February when we four seminarians and four lay people from the Columban Mission Collaborators (CMC) set out to prepare for a month of mission in…

 

By Fr. Robert McCulloch

After 34 years of missionary work in Pakistan, I came to Rome at the end of 2011 to serve as the procurator-general of the Missionary Society of St. Columban.

 

By Fr. Peter Hughes

As we look back on 100 years of Columban mission worldwide, here in Britain we give thanks to God for all the gifts and challenges which have been showered on us.

 

By Vida Hequilan

In my eleven years of ministering to the Atayal people of Miaoli County in Taiwan, I've listened to numerous stories about how God makes His presence felt in the lives of…

 

By Michael Javier

Chile is one of the developing countries in the world in terms of infrastructure, economy and business with good salary rates that catch the attention of workers in…

 

By Fr. Donal McIlraith

We Columbans will celebrate our centenary from November 2017 to November 2018.

 

By Fr. Donal McIlraith

My most vivid memory of 30 years in Fiji is that of drifting at sea in a storm. It was January 2003, and Cyclone Ami had done great damage in the north.

 

By Fr. Dan O'Connor

"Allahu akbar, God is greater,' begins the call to prayer from the loud speakers of the thousands of mosques throughout Pakistan.

 

By Fr. Tony Coney

The story of St. Bernadette's Children's Center began with the arrival of Columban Fr. Tony Coney to the parish of Los Santos Archangels in 1995. During those first months…

 

By Sr. Mary Ita O'Brien

The Kachin State is the northern-most state of Myanmar. It is a land of beautiful mountain ranges where the rivers Malika and Maika are born and together form the world-…

 

By Fr. Donal O'Keef

On May 9, 2017, newly ordained Columban Fr. Seok Jin-wook Antonio celebrated Mass for the first time at the Columban formation house in Seoul, South Korea.

 

By Fr. Kurt Zion Pala

Pope Francis has chosen the motto "Miserando atque eligendo," meaning lowly but chosen; literally in Latin "by having mercy, by choosing Him." I was reminded at a Lenten…

 

By Fr. Jude Genovia

In February 2015, I was appointed vice-rector to the Columban formation program in Korea.

 

By Scott Wright

On this 100-year anniversary of the Missionary Society of St. Columban, we lift up the Gospel values of mercy and justice at the heart of Columban mission.

 

By Arlenne Villahermosa

Movements and changes continue in the Philippines, at this time of celebration of 100 years of the Society of St. Columban.

 

By Amy Woolam Echeverria

Anniversaries frequently have symbols associated with them like silver for 25 and gold for 50.

 

By Fr. Patrick Raleigh

As Columban missionaries celebrating our centennial, we look back with gratitude to God and to you, our benefactors, who have so generously supported us and our work for…

 

By Sr. An Gray

Our story of the Missionary Sisters of St. Columban traditionally begins with the words, "It was because two people shared a vision and answered a similar call that the…

 

By Fr. Eamon O'Brien

The Missionary Society of St. Columban was founded in 1918 for evangelization in China. The first Columban Fathers went to China in 1920 and began work in Hanyang.

 

By Columban Missionaries

Richard Ranaghan was born in Killough, Co. Down, Ireland, in 1889.

 

Fr. Dan Troy

In 1954 Fr. Edward MacElroy became the last Columban of that era to leave China.

 

Fr. Kevin O'Neill

It is truly a joy for the Missionary Society of St. Columban to be celebrating our centenary. We give thanks to God and all those who have supported us.

 

By Columban Missionaries

"You are mad to try to organize a foreign missionary society while Ireland is in the throes of a World War," was the warning which met Fr.

 

By Fr. Tim Mulroy

This year, as Columban missionaries celebrate a century of mission, we pause to look back and marvel at the abundance of God's blessings.

 

Sr. Abbie O'Sullivan

I Columban
Born and bred
Among the soft roll of hills
in the pasture land of Leinster.
Playing, working, praying in praise

 

Since our founding in 1918, the Society has published a magazine, first under the title of The Far East, while it is now known as Columban Mission.

 

For 100 years the Missionary Society of St. Columban has faithfully taken God's message of hope and salvation to the poor and oppressed in faraway countries. During this…

 

Fr. Bobby Gilmore

Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and left that night for Egypt, where they stayed until the death of Herod.

 

Jihyun Kim

I have mixed feelings reflecting on my experience of learning the Chinese Mandarin language. This includes happiness, sadness and confusion.

 

Fr. Taemoon Kwon

I am Taemoon Kwon, a Korean Columban who was ordained a priest in 2010.

 

Minah Seo

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…

 

By Sr. Margaret Murphy

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.

 

By Fr. Donald Hornsey

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…

 

Sr. Mary Dillon

Columban Sister Mary Dillon works in Myanmar amongst those living with the HIV virus. We publish below her letter of thanks to her supporters.

 

By Beth Sabado

When I joined the Columban Lay Missionary orientation program in 2002, I knew that my decision entailed a lot of letting go.

 

By Fr. Don Kill

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.

 

By Fr. Shay Cullen

I am standing in the center of the spacious main hall, the atrium, of the new Preda children's home for girls.

 

By Fr. Tim Mulroy

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…

 

I was reading a Biblical reflection when word came that my niece's baby had just been born.

 

By Br. Reginald Whitely

Retired Christian Brother, Brother Reginald Whitely, shares memories of his Columban brother, Fr.

 

By Fr. Kurt Zion Pala

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.

 

By Fr. Joseph Houston

In 1932, the Yangste and Han rivers overflowed and flooded vast areas in China. The members of the Missionary Society of St.

 

By Fr. Frank Hoare

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.

 

By Fr. Kurt Zion Pala

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.

 

By Ellen Teague

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…

 

By Fr. Rafael Ramirez

"I have to be in Myanmar. I have to go. I have to take a risk.

 

By Fr. Tim Mulroy

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.

 

By Sr. Redempta Towmey

In his book, The Road Less Traveled, Scott Peck's first sentence is the somber observation, "Life is difficult." Direct and honest, it is a reality worth mulling over…

 

By Fr. Joe Brooder

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.

 

Fr. Patrick Colgan

In late January 2017, Columban Fr. Pat Colgan (General Councillor with responsibility for Myanmar) and Columban Fr.

 

By Fr. Bobby Gilmore

After every atrocity in the global city there are days of discussion and debate as to why such acts are happening.

 

By Judith Condor

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…

 

By Fr. Kurt Zion Pala

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…

 

By Salustino Villalobos Mondragon

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.

 

By Arleene B. Vallahermosa

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…

 

By Louis Ybanez

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.

 
By Fr. Tim Mulroy

Though she herself readily admitted that she couldn't sing, Gloria participated in the church choir every Sunday.

 

By Sr. Redempta Twomey

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.

 

By Fr. Joe Broderick

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.

 

By Fr. Gerry Neylon

I was born in County Clare, Ireland, the eldest of seven children, four girls and three boys. I have thirteen nieces and nephews.

 

By John Din

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…

 

By Fr. Kurt Zion Pala

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…

 

By Fr. Larry Barnett

Adai is a grandmother and faithful member of the Catholic community in TianGou village in the mountains of Taiwan.

 

By Sr. Damien Rooney

I went to China because we used to get The Far East magazine (the magazine of Columban missionaries published in Ireland).

 

By Hyein Noh Anna

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.

 

By Henry Armado Serván Vallejos

As part of my process of priestly formation, in 2015 I was assigned to Taiwan to perform my First Missionary Assignment (FMA).

 

By Angelica Escarsa

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.

 

By Fr. Tim Mulroy

In late 1917, Fr. Edward Galvin landed in New York and began a long trek across the country in search of a suitable location for the U.S.

 

Sr. Redempta Twomey

The blind beggar heard the crowd passing him on the road. Feet hurrying, people talking, all moving quickly along. What was going on?

 

By Fr. Shay Cullen

"Houses of Horror" is how one visitor described the centers where children are held illegally behind bars or in cages.

 

By Fr. Barry Cairns

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.

 

By Sr. Virginia Mozo

One of my many blessings and opportunities as a missionary is to share the Joy of the Gospel.

 

By Fr. Kurt Zion Pala

"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.

 

By Theresa Lee

I met the Columban Fathers for the first time in my hometown, Seoul, during the summer of 1953. Korea was at war then.

 

Fr. Michael J. Hoban

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…

 

By Fr. Felicano Fatu

My only contact with the Columbans before going to the seminary in Suva, Fiji, was when Columban Fr.

 

By Salustine Villalobos Mondragon

The Ai Jia Development Center was founded by the Hsinchu Catholic diocese in Taiwan to help and support mentally challenged adult students.

 

Fr. Timothy Mulroy

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.

 

By Evanglelyn Gawason

My name is Evangelyn Gawason. My friends call me Vangie. I'm a Subanen.

 

Fr. Noel Connolly

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…

 

By Paulo Rabakewa

​Veidrala is located on the Northeast of Vitilevu under the province of Nakorotubu in Ra.

 

By Fr. Tim Mulroy

I first encountered Tien in Tokyo. He had traveled there from Australia, while I had come from Ireland.

 

By Michael Javier

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.

 

By Sr. Virgie Mozo

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…

 

By Fr. Donald Kill

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…

 

By Andrew Kwangbae Lee and Columban Fr. Seung Won Joseph

The following is an account of a visit by Columban Fr.

 

By Fr. Colin McLean

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.

 

By Fr. Kurt Zion Pala

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…

 

By Fr. Tim Mulroy

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…

 

By Fr. Barry Cairns

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.

 

By Lorelei Ocaya

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.

 

By Sr. Mary Ita McElwain

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.

 

By Sr. Eileen Rabbitte

I still have vivid memories of my first awakening in Lima, Peru, on June 24, 1971.

 

By Columban Fr. William Lee

It was about three in the afternoon on a Tuesday.

 

By Sr. Young Mi Choi

My name is Sr.

 

By Columban Fr. Tomas King

When I was sixteen years old, my father was diagnosed with cancer and died ten weeks later.

 

By Columban Fr. Kurt Zion Pala

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.

 

By Ger Sampson

I started to write these two poems last year during a workshop training on poetry writing in my ministry with asylum seekers.

 

By Fr. Tim Mulroy

"What do you know about Ireland?" I asked the third grade class that was excited to have just learnt that I was from there. "St.

 

By Columban Fr. Frank Hoare

In my early days as a missionary in Fiji, I worked mainly among the Hindu Indo-Fijians around the town of Labasa.

 

By Angie Escarsa

In the history of human life suffering is what every person will encounter in their lifetime.

 

By Columban Fr. Frank Hoare

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…

 

By Columban Fr. Daniel O'Connor

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.

 

By Columban Fr. Noel Doyle

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.

 

By Columban Fr. Barry Jude Cairns

The Columban missionaries staffed the three parishes on Amakusa Island in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan, from 1950 through 1997.

 

By Amy Woolam Echeverria

We all marvel at the deep and simple wisdom children hold in their hearts and on their lips.

 

By Columban Fr. Thomas Seungwon Nam

Fr.

 

By Columban Fr. Kurt Zion Pala

We were told that we would be spending about five days in Agoo (the Philippines).

 

By Columban Fr. Noel O'Neill

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…

 
By Fr. Tim Mulroy

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…

 

Fr. Bobby Gilmore

In the not-too-distant past it was almost impossible to get governments and institutions to discuss immigration and immigrant issues.

 

By Jonah Jane Enterina

I can still vividly remember the day when we first opened Ladies' Day in Christ Church, Farm Road.

 

By Rosalia Basada

It's been nearly six years since I arrived in Birmingham, England, as a Columban lay missionary.

 

By Columban Fr. Warren Kinne

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.

 

By Kim Balkovec

The Columban missionaries began their work in Peru in 1951 and continue working throughout the country today.

 

By The Columban Missionaries

How was it that Columban priest, Fr. Dick Ranaghan, spurred Bing Crosby into making his first record of Silent Night?

 

By Fr. Maurice Foley

There are times when God is near to us and helps us through the day
No matter what the obstacles, the worries, the cares on top of us

 

By Fr. Donald Kill

There is something about life on an island. The past number of years I’ve been blessed to spend three weeks on an island called Negros Oriental.

 

By Fr. George Hogarty

On the night of December 16, 2011, a sendong or typhoon struck the northern coast of Mindanao, the main southern island of the Philippines.

 

By Maria T. P. Johnson

The tall elderly man leaning slightly on his cane, stands out among the people of the Andes.

 

By Erl Dylan J. Tabaco

Aside from my parish involvement, one of the most memorable experiences that I had in Peru was my ministry in Manuel Duato, a special institution which provides basic…

 

By Fr. Tim Mulroy

Like the majority of Columban missionaries, it is usual for me to spend the Christmas season far from my family.

 

By Luda Egbalic

I am not a writer, but I’m writing this reflection for myself and for others hopefully to be enlightened more about the Trinity’s love and God’s desire for each one of us…

 

By Fr. Donald Kill

Columban Fr. Donald Kill writes about the celebration of the Christmas season at the “Balay San Columbano” home in the Philippines. This home was founded by Fr.

 

By Columban Fr. John Burger

The snow outside is tapering off. There is a Christmas concert on public television. Surely it is time for me to reflect as Christmas approaches.

 

By Fr. Frank Hoare

St. Columban, a great Irish missionary monk, died in 615 A.D. in Bobbio, Italy. Columban missionaries (who have St.

 

By Sr. Patricia Byrne

Going on mission to Hong Kong in 1976 was both an exciting adventure and a shock to the system.

 

By Fr. Donal O'Keefe

On a September morning in 2014, I arrived in Iquique in northern Chile on a flight from Santiago.

 

By Liezl Noya Ladaran

I just came from town for a visit with an Indian family and sat down on the very comfortable chair in the mission house.

 

By Fr. Tim Mulroy

A few years ago my priest companion in the Columban international seminary in Chicago, Fr. Leo Distor, and I were invited to join a pilgrimage in the footsteps of St.

 

By Fr. P. J. McGlinchey

The Paris Foreign Mission Society handed over pastoral responsibility for Jeju Island to the Columban Fathers in 1933.

 

By Jung-Hae (Roberta) Kim

Ever since I returned to Korea, people have asked me, “How old are you?” “Why don’t you dye your gray hair?” whether I’m at the market or waiting at a bus station.

 

By Erl Dylan J. Tabaco

Since childhood I have been fascinated with geography. At times I would build different islands and mountains on the seashore and imagined myself at the top of them.

 

By Fr. Charles O'Rourke

Thinking back on my life in South Korea, there was the humdrum of daily living along with surprises and the excitement that went with being part of new things happening…

 

By Fr. Gary Walker

Over the course of nearly 100 years, Columban missionaries have been caught up in major wars and insurrections in the countries where we live and serve.

 

By Fr. Noel Doyle

I call this article “men of the road” because in all my years in Japan, only one woman came to me looking for a handout.

 

By Erl Dylan J. Tabaco

That encounter inspired me to be more with the people with my true self. You don’t have to pretend because people would notice it.

 

By Fr. Eamonn O'Brien

It would be a disservice to truth for me not to acknowledge that there have been and are serious challenges for religious and civil society in China from sections of the…

 

By Fr. Cathal Gallagher

I have often been asked, “What is the biggest change you have seen since you started working pastorally with people affected by HIV and AIDS?” I have pondered this…

 

By Louis Ybanez

My name is Louis Ybanez, and I am a Columban seminarian from the Philippines.

 

By Fr. Tim Mulroy

He's known as the white ghost! This tall, middle aged man with a fair complexion and salt-and-pepper colored hair, can be seen walking the streets of neglected…

 

By Fr. Kurt Pala

Observing the Sacraments, particularly the Holy Eucharist, is something I look forward to celebrating.

 

By Fr. Warren Kinne

I met Bishop Jin about 25 years ago on my first visit to China and dined with him in his former residence next to the Cathedral.

 

By Beth Sabado

My pilgrimage in – indeed conversion to – interreligious dialogue started even before I learned the phrase interreligious dialogue.

 

By Fr. Pat Raleigh

Each one of us will have our own memories of the events that touched and made an impression on us this year.

 

By Fr. Warren Kinne

It is said that history has a habit of repeating itself. This seems to be so in one particular case at least. In June 1920 when Columban Frs.

 

By Fr. Maurice Foley

Who stole away those golden leaves which recently had fallen from the trees
Decorating those tired and resting fields

 

By Fr. Donal O'Keefe

Each Monday at 7:00 p.m. in Seoul, Korea, believers come to celebrate the Eucharist in Kwang Hwa Mun Plaza in the center of Seoul.

 

By Fr. Neil Magill

It is difficult for us in Myanmar (Burma) to get visas so we have to leave and go to Bangkok, Thailand, frequently to renew our visas.

 

By Sunhee Maria Kim

Prison ministry was my personal choice.

 

By Catherina Son

Since I joined the Columban lay mission program in 2000, I have learned three different languages: English, Filipino (Tagalog) and Spanish.

 

By Fr. Michael Hoban

Growing up in New York City, summers for me were times for relaxing, recreation and fun.

 

By Fr. Jehoon Augustine Lee

Almost six months ago, I arrived in Yangon, Myanmar, to begin my mission assignment.

 

By Fr. Tim Mulroy

From our earliest days, almost a century ago, Columban missionaries have employed people to assist us in a variety of roles to support our mission.

 

By Fr. Barry Cairns

On my first visit to Nagasaki’s Atomic Bomb Museum, the obscenity of the atomic bomb left me angry and disturbed.

 

By Columban Lay Mission Team

Lumen Gentium emphasizes the “universal call to holiness” which applies to all the “people of God”– clergy, religious and lay people, stating that “all…

 

By Columban Missionaries

Founded by Columban Fr. Bernard Wade in 1939, St.

 

By Kim Balkovec

Earlier this year, two Columban Fathers—an Irish farmer by way of decades of mission in Pakistan and an Iowa farmer by way of decades of mission in Korea—and I visited…

 

By Fr. Charles Duster

“I couldn’t manage without them.” That is a phrase one often hears in a discussion between the parish priests in Fiji, whether indigenous or foreign born.

 

By Mushtag Asad

Columban missionary Fr. Tanvir O’Hanlon invited me to work with the Columbans for the promotion of mission in our local church.

 

By Fr. Tim Mulroy

During the national convention of the Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians (LAOH) in St.

 

By Monaliza Esteban

I wonder if the Blessed Virgin was limping during her old age? Nevertheless, I think she will still be there doing what God the Father asked of her.

 

By Columban Fr. Denis Carter

Editor’s Note: In November 2015, Julia Corcoran spent a week with Columban lay missionaries from Chile and the Philippines who are working in Britain.

 

By Dee Ramp

The Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians is a Sisterhood of Irish and Irish-American, Catholic Women.

 

By Fr. Peter Woodruff

Bishop Jin, the late bishop of Shanghai, who died aged 97 years in 2013, was Agnes Dong’s great-grandmother’s cousin.

 

By Marivic H. Mercene

Noh Hyein, better known as Anna (pronounced En-na), a teacher by profession, came to the Philippines in April 2011 with three other Korean women.

 

By Fr. Joe Broderick

When we think of the missionary work of the Columbans in Japan, we must not forget the Trojan work done by the Japanese catechists.

 

By Joan Yap

I've been here in Taiwan for many years already, and I find it very interesting that a lot of my "kababayan" (countrymen) wanted to work abroad.

 

By Columban Fr. Bobby Gilmore

My name is Olajoke Ajikolu, and I am from Nigeria. I have five brothers and a sister, and life seemed to be pretty hard for us.

 

By Sr. Miriam Cousins

If I were to describe my twelve years ministering to prostitutes, I would have to say I felt truly powerless on the one hand and deeply aware of God’s presence on the…

 

By Marilyn Madigan

During the 122 year history of the Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians (LAOH), there has been a special relationship with various Catholic institutions.

 

By Patrick O'Dwyer

Fiji for me will always be one of the most wonderful places in the world.

 

By Emmanuel Trocino as told to Stephen Awre

Welcome to Peru, Land of the Incas (Land of the Kings). Many would say that you’ve never really been to this resplendent country until you’ve set foot in the majestic and…

 

By Teakare Betero

My name is Teakare Betero, age 28, and I have been with the Columbans for five years now. At the moment I am studying at the Pacific Regional Seminary.

 

By Paula Matakiviwa

In 2007 my father talked to me about the possibility of going overseas as a lay missionary.

 

By Saeko Yamaguchi

I came to live in Fujisawa after getting married 58 years ago. I have been fortunate with my health.

 

By Fr. Frank Hoare

We rejoice in the great gift of life. But as we grow older this gift is overshadowed by experiences of illness, pain, and loss.

 

By Sr. Abbie O'Sullivan

It has been nine years since I started working as a personal counsellor in a Boy’s Secondary School in Dublin, Ireland, and also nine years since I started working in The…

 

By Columban Fr. Barry Cairns

Shusaku Endo, a Japanese novelist, died in 1996–almost 20 years ago. In Japan he is still featured regularly in television programs, magazine articles and exhibitions.

 

Fr. Youngln Kim

Editor’s Note: On Monday, November, 23, 2015, Columban Fr. YoungIn Kim celebrated the Feast Day of St. Columban in Cuzco, Peru.

 

By Fr. Tim Mulroy

My first experience of engaging in pastoral ministry in Japan was at a residential center, run by the Daughters of Charity of St.

 

By Fr. Barry Cairns

You might call me a slow learner.

 

By Fr. Nilton Iman

My name is Nilton Iman, and I am a priest of the Diocese of Chimbote, a land blessed with the blood of the first martyrs of my country, Peru.

 

By Fr. Thomas Nam

Fr. Thomas Nan was ordained in 2002 and spent eight years in Peru as a Columban missionary. “When I was young I never knew the Columbans.

 

By Fr. Peter Toohey

On September 6, 2015, I celebrated Mass for the last time in prison. For the past 22 years I have been working as a prison chaplain in Western Australian jails.

 

By Fr. Patrick Colgan

For many years, the Columbans have been sponsoring the Education Commission of Myitkyina and Banmaw Dioceses, in Kachin State, Myammar, in their provision of boarding…

 

By Gregg Simon

It's hard to remind yourself to have faith every day. Especially when it comes to having patience or to being confident in God's plan when it is unknown to you.

 

By Sr. Martina Kim

I got off the minibus at the last stop on the hillside in Huaycan, on the outskirts of Lima, Peru.

 

By Fr. Peter O'Neill

Tears flowed down the cheeks of Yudi’s face as he listened to the voice of his mother speaking through my cellular phone while he laid on his ICU (Intensive Care Unit) bed…

 

By Lilibeth Sabado

I left Taiwan three years ago and returned for a two-month refresher course in Chinese Mandarin in March 2015.

 

By Fr. Tim Mulroy

"What is it that keeps you going?" is a question that I frequently ask other Columban missionaries who live and minister in very difficult circumstances.

 

By Fr. Tomas King

The Thar Parkar Desert is situated in the southeast of Pakistan in Sindh province.

 

By Fr. Barry Cairns

When I was a very young priest just out of language school in Tokyo, my Japanese vocabulary was somewhat limited!

 

By Fr. Noel O'Neill

The Rainbow Community, a foundation offering services to peoples with intellectual disabilities in South Korea, founded by Irish-born Columban Fr.

 

By Fr. Peter Woodruff

Socializing rarely energizes me. In fact, it usually drains me.

 

By Fr. Peter Woodruff

The road from Lima to Samanco passes through a number of fast growing coastal towns but for the most part the traveler has no choice but to contemplate the bare rocky or…