Join Our Prayerful Community

Sign up to receive the Columban Daily Prayer, Weekly Prayer, Monthly Newsletter or other news and information from the Columban Fathers.

Mission News


We are happy to offer this new Stations of the Cross for the Care of Creation. We hope that it will be of help to you in your Lenten preparations…

Since the damaging floods last monsoon season, the villages that were affected here in Badin parish have recovered remarkably well. My last…

At the close of 2022 (At the dawn of 2023) we look back in gratitude not only on the year gone by, but also on the life of Pope Emeritus Benedict…

Fr. John Hegerty greets a newly commissioned parish missionary.
Fr. John Hegerty greets a newly commissioned parish missionary.

A Memorable Easter in Lima
"Trusting the Holy Spirit"

As we prepare to celebrate Easter and our Risen Savior, I would like to share with you a reflection from Columban Fr. John Hegerty. Fr. John was missioned in Lima, Peru, for almost 50 years. Faithful Columban benefactors like you are what made Fr. John’s work possible for the people of Peru.

I have one blessed experience that spanned some 20 of my 49 years in Peru. In the mid-1990s, large swathes of land went up for sale offering …

Stories from Columban Missions


Kiribati students listening to Paula Suka on ZOOM
Come and See

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…

Fr. Noel O'Neill with participants at the Lenten Art Recollection
The Color Palette of Way of the Cross

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…

The Ashram, a rural retreat center
Theresa

“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…

Actors portray Jesus in the arms of his mother.
Good Friday

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

Diary - In So Many Words
My Mission

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.…

Receiving the whale tooth, the highest Fijian honor
An Exemplary Missionary

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…

A watch, candle and letters on a desk
Within My Heart

“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,…

Santiago, Chile
Rekindling the Chilean Dream

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

Stained glass window of Jesus holding a young lamb
Participation

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

From the Director

Fr. Chris Saenz, U.S. Director
Fr. Chris Saenz

Invitation to Mission

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 seminary. As a freshman seminarian, the desire to be a missionary priest was there but doubts still remained if this was truly what I wanted to do. As the year was coming to an end, I had to contemplate on what I was going to do in the summer. Our summers were free, and we were encouraged to take temporary jobs and/or get involved in a ministry of some type. I had heard of some seminarians doing a mission exposure on the…