“Bombed but never Broken”

“Bombed but never Broken”

Deep in the industrial heartland of northern England, Fr John Boles encountered a parish with a remarkable tale to tell.  “Every picture tells a story”, goes the expression. However, it could just as well read, “Every parish tells a story”....
Walking to Save the Planet

Walking to Save the Planet

Ahead of COP26 Columban Fr John Boles joins a group of young Christian activists walking for climate justice. The ripening corn sparkled in the sunlight as we set off. Birds chattered in the bushes around the fields. Two copses of trees perfectly framed the tower of a...
Quarantine Adventures

Quarantine Adventures

Columban Fr John Boles reflects on the travels of a missionary in times of Covid. Overseas missionary work brings many surprises, but a 12-day obligatory quarantine period in a secure facility near London Airport was a ‘first’ for me. Travelling back to Britain during...
Good News from Wuhan!

Good News from Wuhan!

Fr John Boles speaks to a young Columban who shares words of hope from an unexpected place. Wuhan! A name now notorious as the probable source of the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic. But, for Catholics and especially Columbans, Wuhan means GOOD NEWS. It is where the...
Christmas in ‘Paradise’

Christmas in ‘Paradise’

Columban Father John Boles celebrated Christmas Mass in ‘Paradise’ last year. It was not the future paradise we all aspire to but something from the past – a 4,000-year-old temple in Peru. People often boast about having celebrated Mass in churches that are...