The work of the Columbans over the last 65 years has been blessed by the presence of diocesan priests (associates) who contract with the Missionary Society of St. Columban for a period of six or more years.

Four Columbans, John Casey, Patrick Ronan, Owen O’Kane and Patrick Reilly, all attached to the Huchow mission in the Chinese Province of Chekiang, were arrested by the Communist authorities on the same day in 1952. Transferred to Kashing jail, they spent the next sixteen months in solitary. Here are some extracts about their experiences, as related in the book, But Not Conquered.

The easiest way for me to write about prayer is to speak of my own journey with God. I say this because prayer is a particular experience for each person. It is an experience of a conscious relationship with God that has all the ups and downs of any other relationship.

There used to be a kind of joke going around that said, “As long as there are algebra exams, there will be prayer in the public schools.” Algebra is important, but I think prayer is of even greater importance. Communicating with our Creator gives us dignity and nobility.

Here at St. Columban’s, people do contact us often to offer prayers of intercession particularly when they feel desperate. And recently I had the experience of having a woman I was introduced to as a Columban thank me profusely for praying for her son who had been near death and recovered. The medical situation had been grave, but her prayer was answered. The experience has given her a new perspective on what her definition of a “real disaster” is. Having been so close to losing her precious boy, she is no longer impressed by something as inconsequential as a flooded basement.

I first met Mr. Ikehata when Rev. Tesshu, a Buddhist priest, took Columban Fr. Bede Cleary and me to meet him on a hot summer day. The four of us were sitting round a low table in the tatami room and in no time at all the conversation was about the Holy Spirit.