The struggle of any missionary is to give effective aid to those who are in need. Yet, it is sometimes difficult to determine how best to aid others. In the 1990s when I was a seminarian, a man came knocking on the door of our Columban house. He wanted to speak to...
Fr Ed O’Connell considers why so many voters in different parts of the world today feel such apathy and argues that we must all discern how to play an active part in society. It certainly has become a small world! I was talking recently, on Zoom, with young adults...
The collapse of our oceans will spell disaster for all life on this planet, warns eco theologian Fr Sean McDonagh. In 2021, Rosamond Naylor an American economist who focuses on global food security and sustainable agriculture calculated that the amount of fish...
Fr Dan Troy writes about Nanfeng, a small corner of China that is forever Columban, where three of our missionaries worked in the parish and are now featured in the parish church’s stained glass windows. Two years ago, as restrictions around Covid-19 were being...
Students aged 13-18 were invited to produce a piece of writing or create an image on the topic ‘Biodiversity Matters’ for the 2024 Columban Schools Media Competition. Their work had to demonstrate an awareness and an understanding of the issue of biodiversity and...
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 along with...
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...
Our newest Columban missionary priest has already lived many different lives, writes Fr Frank Hoare. Fr Iowane Naio speaks five languages and has lived in five different cultures and will soon add to that. But his roots are in Namau Settlement about 10 km from Ba...
Easter reflection by Fr John McEvoy on Scripture passages Acts 10:34, 37-43; Col 3:1-4; Jn 20:1-9 Some years ago, I visited the Holy Land, and one stand out moment was the Shrine of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Pilgrims from all over the world visit an empty...
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...