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Stories from Columban Missions

A pink lotus flower
Shaolin

Oscar Wilde, the Irish poet and playwright, once wrote, “Life imitates art far more

Shanty town in Lima, Peru
Father Bernie Grady

As a priest of the Archdiocese of Dubuque, Iowa, I was given permission by my bishop to do missionary service for five years and was accepted by…

Rolling hills at sunset
Faith in Action

Last year, in 2025, a major controversy emerged surrounding a proposed wind energy project near Mount Banahaw (in the Philippines), affecting…

Balloons fill the air
“Happy Buddha’s Birthday!”

“Happy Buddha’s Birthday!” It is a greeting rarely heard in the Philippines, where nearly 80% of the country’s 110 million people are Catholic.…

Airport walkway
Airport Resurrection

There have been many significant landmarks in Columban Fr. Ray Collier’s sixty years of priesthood, but surely none can rival the moment in 2010…

Daybreak over a mountainous lake
The Time of God

I wrote a song once, in a small wooden room on a humid night in the Fiji Islands.