A Life-Changing and Fulfilling Experience
Lumen Gentium emphasizes the “universal call to holiness” which applies to all the “people of God”– clergy, religious and lay people, stating that “all Christians in any state or walk of life are called to the fullness of Christian life and to the perfection of love and by this holiness a more humane manner of life is fostered also in earthly society.” It further states that the laity “carries on the mission of the whole Christian people in the church and in the world.” (LG 31)
The Missionary Society of St. Columban, having recognized that the missionary vocation is not limited to priests and religious alone, have responded to the Church’s call to bring Catholic lay people to participate fully in the missionary works of the Church by establishing the Columban Lay Missionaries (CLM). With God’s grace, this vision and the mutual efforts of Columbans (ordained and lay) over the years, have made cross-cultural mission for hundreds of lay missionaries (272 to be exact) possible.
Last year we celebrated our 25 years of commitment to cross-cultural mission with the Missionary Society of St. Columban. With grateful hearts, we celebrate the gift of vocation as lay missionaries and for the opportunity to journey with others which has been a life-changing and fulfilling experience. We would like to thank the generous benefactors and supporters of the Missionary Society of St. Columban who make it possible for us to engage in Gods mission in our world today with the Columbans.
Who are the Columban Lay Missionaries?
We are an intercultural group of women and men, single, married couples and families with children, who feel called to respond to God’s mission by crossing boundaries of culture, gender, creed and race.
With joy, we witness to a new way of being Church by finding and celebrating God’s loving presence as we seek to live a simple way of life and journey in communion with the poor, the marginalized and the exploited earth. In partnership with one another, with the Columban priests, and with local communities, we participate in building bridges of dialogue between peoples of diverse cultures and faiths as we strive to be catalysts of transformation in building God’s kingdom.
At present, we have 49 lay missionaries who are from Korea, Fiji, Tonga, Chile, the Philippines, Ireland, and Peru. We serve in ten regions: Fiji, Korea, the Philippines, Taiwan, China, Myanmar, Britain, Ireland, Chile and the U.S./Mexico Border.
We live out our spirituality, in the Church and in the secular world we immerse ourselves in, through our engagement in JPIC-related ministries (Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation), inter-religious dialogue, and pastoral and outreach work with the youth, indigenous peoples, parish communities, migrants and immigrants, victims of human trafficking, asylum seekers and refugees.
Invitation to Join Us on Mission
We continue to invite lay people to join us. The CLM facilitates lay people interested to participate in cross-cultural mission in the Philippines, Korea, Fiji, Ireland, Britain, U.S. and Chile.
To learn more about the Columban lay mission program, please visit www.columban.org.