Below are stories from past issues of Columban Mission magazine. The Columban Fathers publish Columban Mission magazine eight times a year. Subscriptions are available for just $15 per year. Sign up to receive our next issue. Read more about Columban Mission magazine.
Although all Columbans may not agree with me, I think our life as Columbans has three important hallmarks.
Community
“Loneliness has become a silent epidemic; it is, as one doctor wrote, ‘the most unrecognized health crisis of this generation.’ ”
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, Philippines.
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 of origin, the Philippines. Actually, it was not part of the original plan of the Columbans that I would be here.
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. Alberto Hurtado S.J., the great social apostle of Chile. This year, 20,000 young people walked through the streets of Santiago to pay homage to St.
In March this year I was one of a group from the Region of Peru to attend a Columban meeting in Santiago, Chile. It was a joint meeting between the Columban regions of Peru and Chile.
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 speak. That was what came to my mind even before I landed in Fiji.
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. They have brought with them a rich diversity of cultures and a diversity of faith communities.
The Columbans are a society of missionaries, including priests and lay people, who minister to people of various cultures as a way of witnessing to the universal love of God.