Remembering Fr Niall O’Brien on his 20th Anniversary

Remembering Fr Niall O’Brien on his 20th Anniversary

Fr Niall O’Brien, the Irish Columban missionary who was wrongfully imprisoned in the Philippines by the Marcos regime in the 1980s, died twenty years ago on 28th April 2004. According to his former classmate and friend, Fr Cyril Lovett, Fr Niall’s major...
Fr Niall O’Brien’s Enduring Influence

Fr Niall O’Brien’s Enduring Influence

Fr Niall O’Brien’s influence is enduring and still bearing fruit in the places he served, writes his friend Hannah Carter. We were so blessed to meet Fr Niall O’Brien in May of 1997 while he was still in Bacolod. It was my first trip to the Philippines...
Preda Offers a Safe Home to 90 Children

Preda Offers a Safe Home to 90 Children

For 50 years, the Preda Foundation has rescued, protected, healed and empowered abused and trafficked girls, saved innocent boys from unjust incarceration in jails, and given a new life through residential care services with therapy and education. Preda Founder Fr...
First Official Walk of the Columban Way in Ireland

First Official Walk of the Columban Way in Ireland

The AGM of the Turas Columbanus Association at Dalgan Park unveiled plans for the first official walk of the full length of the Columban Way route from Myshall in Co Carlow to Bangor in Co Down this autumn. According to Niamh Byrne, who was elected at the AGM to the...
Manila’s ‘Beacon of Hope’

Manila’s ‘Beacon of Hope’

Fr John Boles speaks to Lydio Mangao Jr about how Columban seminarians are bringing hope to one of Manila’s most notorious slums. “This’ll be a real eye-opener”, Lydio told me, and he wasn’t joking. Lydio Mangao Jr is a Columban seminarian from the Philippines. He...