Past Magazine Stories

I am Fr. Barry Cairns, and I am 94. I am 70 years ordained as a Columban missionary priest and 69 years ago I came, compared to today, to a very different Japan. War…

Mt. Fuji, at 12,388 feet, is the highest mountain in Japan. Its location in central Honshu is only about 60 miles west of the Tokyo-Yokohama metropolitan area. It is a…

Sometimes the older Columbans sit around the dinner table sharing stories of the eccentricities of one or another brother Columban — strange habits, eccentricities, etc.…

The old year folds its weary wings
And drift s into the dusk of time,
Its laughter, tears, forgotten things

Weekly, I make it a habit to visit randomly the nine chapels of the Columban parish of San Mathias in Bajos de Mena, Santiago, Chile, where I have been sent.
Riding a…

Even though the celebration of morning Mass for the Columban community in our house chapel seemed like a burden for Fr. Jack, he continued to add his name to the rostrum.…

In an Islamic country like Pakistan, Christmas doesn’t cause much of a stir for the majority of people. However, it does matter to many Christians, as it represents a…

August 15, 1549, when St. Francis Xavier stepped onto Japanese soil at Kagoshima. He spent less than two years in Japan but had a major impact. Other Jesuits took up the…

Let us increase our thanks and pray for courage as we think about Joseph and Mary setting out in trust into the unfamiliar and unknown. I pause at, “In those days a decree…

Advent this year seems to have a different flavor from any other. It seems that we are all confused in a bewildering world as wars escalate despite efforts at peace,…

“How do you plan to celebrate Christmas?” I asked Fr. Peter, who having spent more than fifty years on mission, was then in need of ongoing nursing care due to various age…

As the holiday season wraps its warm embrace around us once again, it’s a time to pause, reflect, and embrace the true magic of Christmas. It’s a time when the world seems…