Twelve months ago, the Far East magazine had a striking picture of a young man, stripped down and tied to a cross in Fiji, while soldiers in mock cardboard uniforms alternately derided and worshipped him. It came from a Good Friday liturgy I had led. I commented...
As Easter approaches, Fr John McEvoy recalls his years spent in the Gold Mines Parish of Vatukoula which he has “always considered as the happiest years of my missionary life in Fiji”. Back in 1981, as Easter approached, dark clouds of industrial strife also...
Fr Maurice Hogan writes about the development of Patrician studies in recent years and the Columban contribution to this, notably Fr Aidan Larkin’s book, ‘The Spiritual Journey of St Patrick’. The middle of the twentieth century witnessed a revolution in the study...
It is forty-two years since Fr Noel O’Neill began the Emmaus project for those with special needs in South Korea. He provides a snapshot of some of those the project has helped. A phone call from Seoul. It was Pak Hyun Sen wishing me a happy birthday. In the post...
As he comes to the end of his term overseeing the formation of Columban seminarians, Fr Frank Hoare explains how being in this community with students from Fiji and Kiribati helped his spirituality. It’s the closest I will ever get to feeling like a father! As I...
As the Columban Sisters open their centenary year, Sarah Mac Donald speaks to Congregational Leader Sr Anne Carbon about her life as a missionary and the challenges ahead. “To be a Columban you need to be a risk-taker,” Sr Anne Carbon states matter-of-factly....
Even though 2023 was the hottest year for 100,000 years, climate change may paradoxically plunge Europe into an Ice Age warns eco theologian and Columban missionary Fr Sean McDonagh. In February 2024 the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service reported...
Born and raised in the mountains of Peru, Columban missionary Fr Salustino Villalobos now finds himself serving God’s people in the mountains of Taiwan, writes Fr John Boles. The Holy Spirit is a great mover. In the Bible, the Spirit moves Jesus from Galilee to...
Last summer Josh Egan from Co Tipperary took part in the Society’s Invitation to Mission programme and travelled to Chile to learn about Columban mission there. He writes about some stand-out moments during his time there. I am currently a full-time student...
I am writing this crouched under a lazy ceiling fan, dripping with sweat and staring out at the squalid, chaotic, dust-blown bedlam that is Karachi, the biggest city in Pakistan. You might ask, “Who in their right mind would choose to live and work in such an...