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…
february
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…
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…
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…
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…
“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.…
“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.
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…
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…
I woke up scared. I didn’t want to get out of the bed. I was due to begin a 3-day workshop on intercultural living with the Columban priests working in Korea. Most of…
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…
Baptized and confirmed, in your word formed, disciple and missionary it is the gift of your calling. You make me go through every town that you have…
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…
I remember many years ago, around 1979, I was up in the village of Navala, in the parish of Ba, Fiji. In those days, the village had a population of around 600, almost all…
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…
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…
“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…
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…
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…
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…
“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…
St. Verano is not one of those popular saints whose name trips off your tongue.
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…
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…
Modern day Korea has undergone massive cultural and technological changes. At first glance, it seems that Koreans, in their rush to embrace modernity and all things…
In my 20 years of mission in Chile, my family and close friends rarely asked about my daily life in the mission.
Mark’s Gospel 9:41-50 is about taking responsibility for one’s own actions. When we have done wrong, Jesus urges us to undergo radical change - using the strong images of…
As a Columban lay missionary, I have been living and working in Britain for two years.
Miriam was married to Raju and they had six children – all girls. I liked Miriam because she was kind and gentle. She always had a cup of tea for a priest visiting…
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.
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…
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…
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…
“Die from Covid or die from hunger. Not much of a choice.”
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…
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…
Life is always a journey of knowing ourselves which hopefully leads to knowing God.
We are now entering a New Year. It doesn’t seem long ago since we entered a new millennium. How time has flown by.
Early in September 2021, a small group of us Columbans visited the Buddhist Tsz Shan Monastery in Tai Po, Hong Kong. In this era of restrictions on our mobility it was…
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…
In Matthew 12: 38-42, the scribes and Pharisees tell Jesus that they want to see a sign from Him. He rebukes them and says that the only sign they will receive will be…
I am teaching and counselling seminarians at the Pacific Regional Seminary in Suva.
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: “…
My name is Fr. Thomas Seugnwon Nam, and I am a South Korean Columban missionary priest.
A young girl and her mother went to the riverbank looking for wild vegetables and leaves.
The Columban Interreligious Dialogue Desk in Fiji was initiated in May 2019. I was asked to advise and guide the coordinator, Ms. Priscilla Magdalin.
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…
God speaks to us through the Scriptures but also through events in our lives.
Since childhood, Holy Thursday for me meant the washing of the feet.
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…
This video production by Preda Foundation shows the life and recovery of the teenagers who were rescued from human traffickers and the horrors of abuse and …
As we look back at the last year, there probably are few people who would name 2020 as among their favorite years.
In 1970 I was a theology student at our Columban seminary in Ireland and worked in our book store.
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…
The Columban Missionary Society which was originally founded for mission in China finally ordained its first Chinese Columban at the beginning of 2020.
On April 25, 1921 St., Mary’s Catholic Church, Bellevue, Nebraska, was established as a parish by Archbishop Jeremiah J. Harty Bishop of Omaha.
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…
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…
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.
In March this year I was one of a group from the Region of Peru to attend a Columban meeting in Santiago, Chile.
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…
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.
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…
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.
"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…
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,…
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…
I am a butterfly,
Know that I like Flying among colorful flowers But now, I won’t do like this I offer to you…My lord.
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.
Mani Ram told me today that he had just had a terrifying experience.
At last, I am back in Korea, my home country. I returned in March 2019 and threw myself into the surging waves of work awaiting me as the new Columban Lay Missionary (CLM…
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…
Last April 18, I boarded a plane going to France. Starting in France, I was on my way to Santiago de Compostela in Spain.
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…
"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…
The faithful at Santa Rosa chapel in Lima might at times feel they are suffering from double vision.
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…
For the five weeks leading up to Christmas 2017, two Adelaide, Australia, diocesan seminarians, Anthony Beltrame and Olek Stirrat, participated in a pastoral experience…
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…
I met a very courageous and determined girl sometime in 2005 in Ozamiz City, Philippines. Maryjoy Tabuco is the eldest among the four siblings.
The vast majority of Filipinos love their children, they care for them, pamper and spoil them at times.
For the gift of this New Year, we say "Thank You." God has already blessed us.
Travelling to strange places and leaving familiar things behind entails a mixed feeling of excitement, joy as well as fear.
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…
The closing of the Columban centennial in Myanmar was held in Myitkyina where Columbans worked for decades until 1979 before being expelled by the military government.
Fr. Peter LiChun Dong is a new face among Columban missionaries. Recently ordained, he is the first Columban priest from mainland China.
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…
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.
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.
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…
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…
We Columbans will celebrate our centenary from November 2017 to November 2018.
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.
"Allahu akbar, God is greater,' begins the call to prayer from the loud speakers of the thousands of mosques throughout Pakistan.
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…
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-…
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.
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…
In February 2015, I was appointed vice-rector to the Columban formation program in Korea.
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.
Movements and changes continue in the Philippines, at this time of celebration of 100 years of the Society of St. Columban.
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…
Anniversaries frequently have symbols associated with them like silver for 25 and gold for 50.
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…
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.
Richard Ranaghan was born in Killough, Co. Down, Ireland, in 1889.
In 1954 Fr. Edward MacElroy became the last Columban of that era to leave China.
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.
I did a funeral in a small village near Dogoru a few months ago.
"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.
This year, as Columban missionaries celebrate a century of mission, we pause to look back and marvel at the abundance of God's blessings.
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…
We all marvel at the deep and simple wisdom children hold in their hearts and on their lips.
Fr.
We were told that we would be spending about five days in Agoo (the Philippines).
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…
After spending a year in Yangon to learn the Burmese language, Columban lay missionaries Catharina, Columba and Lenette moved to Banmaw (Myanmar) to start their ministry…
In the not-too-distant past it was almost impossible to get governments and institutions to discuss immigration and immigrant issues.
I can still vividly remember the day when we first opened Ladies' Day in Christ Church, Farm Road.
It's been nearly six years since I arrived in Birmingham, England, as a Columban lay missionary.
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.
It was a rainy Sunday morning in San Marcelino, Zambales, Philippines. I was to celebrate the San Isidro fiesta Mass in barrio Pili. Pili was a Village far from town.
The Columban missionaries began their work in Peru in 1951 and continue working throughout the country today.
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.
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.
The Columban missionaries staffed the three parishes on Amakusa Island in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan, from 1950 through 1997.
Peru opened its arms to me in the first days of September 1978. That meant learning the language, and the language school was in Cochabamba, Bolivia.
There was a lonely Mission
Where Jesus was adored
They knew His ten commandments
And read His holy word.
Socializing rarely energizes me. In fact, it usually drains me.
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…