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...
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...