"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 graduate back on track to becoming a Columban missionary.

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 life and experience since arriving in Chile. I translate her words from Spanish to English.

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 Gospel.

Fr. Peter LiChun Dong is a new face among Columban missionaries. Recently ordained, he is the first Columban priest from mainland China. This month he is celebrating the Chinese New Year in his home country, but soon he will head off to his new mission in Pakistan. Together with several experienced colleagues, he will shape a new century of Columban mission in that country, where ninety-five percent of the population are Muslim and less than two percent are Christian.

However, Fr. Dong already knows what it is like to live as a member of a religious minority. Christians account for less than five percent of the total population of China, and Fr. Dong was born in a remote village where Catholics were very few. However, his family had treasured their faith for several generations, and his parents were determined – despite indifference and misunderstanding by those around them – to pass

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 responded to the monumental changes in church and society since then and thank, or tried to thank, the hundreds of thousands of peop