My Return to Chile
After a happy six year break back in Australia as editor of The Far East magazine and working in Columban promotion in Adelaide, I have returned to Santiago, Chile, where I had previously worked for many years.
By Fr. Daniel Harding
November 19, 2018
A Half Century of Change
There were 152 Columbans in 71 parishes. There were 51 Columbans in the south, in Kwangju, and the rest were in Chuncheon and Wonju north of Seoul. There were just two priests in pastoral work in Seoul, in the parish of Donam near the present Columban Center House.
Battling HIV Devastation in Myanmar
In mid-September 2017, a family of three, Aik Ket aged 30 years old, his wife San Bu, also 30 years old, and their only child Chit Oo Mya, just three years old arrived at our shelter at the Hope Center.
By Sr. Mary Dillion
November 14, 2018
The Sun Rises Over Makauk village
It is five in the morning, and I hear the head monk chanting his prayers which by now are quite familiar to me. The night before I asked my friend's brother Ko Thein Zaw, if I could join them the next morning to harvest rice. Makauk Village sits next to the Irrawaddy River. The Irrawaddy River runs through most of Myanmar (Burma) from the north to the south.
By Fr. Kurt Zion Pala
November 12, 2018
Simple Things Matter Too
I am from Kwangju in Korea. I had been teaching for a number of years when I heard about the Columban Lay Missionary program and decided to attend some meetings. I was 30 by then and was thinking of a change. When I mentioned the idea
By Columban Lay Missionary Eun-Sook Han (Genovia)
November 7, 2018
In So Many Words
The man had never walked. From birth, he was unable to put his two feet under him, but that didn't stop him from going out and joining the crowd that had gathered to hear what the newly arrived preachers had to say. They were the talk of the town, Lystra. He had heard how boldly they spoke of a man called Jesus, how fearlessly they had done wonders in His name. He simply had to go and hear them himself.
Sr. Redempta Twomey
November 1, 2018
A New Century of Mission
As the Columban Centennial Year draws to a close, and as we prepare to embark on a new century of mission, I am reminded of how the Catholic Church engaged a significant milestone in its history—the transition from the second to the third millennium—and turned it into an opportunity for conversion in order to rededicate itself to God's mission.
Back in the year 2000, the Pope at that time, John Paul II, made a public confession on behalf of the Catholic Church for its failures during the course of two thousand years. During Mass in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, he acknowledged various mistakes and humbly asked forgiveness for the hurt or harm that people had suffered as a result of the
My One-of-a-Kind Adventure
Allow me to share with you my one-of-a-kind, exciting and meaningful adventure. I am just an ordinary, simple woman. I was a teacher by profession. I happily and passionately taught the children for many years. I was comfortable and content with my life.
By Luda Egbalic
November 1, 2018
Are You a Jesus to Me
I met Raj, a Sri Lankan Hindu asylum seeker, about nine years ago at the the Solihull Welcome drop-in center for asylum seekers when I was attending the home office reporting center nearby. He and his family had just been evicted from their apartment and literally had nowhere to go.
By Mauricio Silva
October 31, 2018
Being Present to Others
I always enjoy returning to my home parish of St. Joseph's, New Plymouth, in New Zealand over the Christmas period. There is something refreshing and nourishing about going back to familiar places and meeting again with friends.
By Fr. Brian Vale
October 29, 2018
The Last Supper
The preaching of Jesus and His compassion for the poor and the outcasts was at the heart of the Kingdom of God. He uplifted their human dignity and restored them in the "image and likeness of God."
By Fr. Shay Cullen
October 26, 2018
Desert
If the Philippines have the Chocolate Hills in Bohol, here in the north of Chile we have mountains of "chocolates," no green trees, just all brown soil.
By Lorna Canete
October 24, 2018
Late Dawn of a Restless Dream
A faith born in the shadows cast by a single candle in a tightly curtained room of a small farming village in a China emerging from the repression of the Cultural Revolution in the early 1980s blossomed on February 4, 2018, in the chapel of the Columban seminary in Manila, Philippines, as Peter D
By Fr. Jim Mulroney
October 22, 2018
Being Human . . .
I first met Amy from the Philippines after she was brought to the Hope Workers' Center in Taiwan. The Center provides temporary shelter, assistance and counselling for exploited workers, victims of labor and/or sex trafficking.
By Beth Sabado
October 17, 2018
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.