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...
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...
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...
Fr Iowane Naio ordained a Columban missionary priest

Fr Iowane Naio ordained a Columban missionary priest

On 10th April 2024 Fr Iowane Ilaidoko Naio was ordained a Columban missionary priest in the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, Suva, Fiji. Fr Iowane has been appointed to the Pakistan Mission Unit, and is due to arrive there on 1st December 2024. He is the third of ten...
Columbans Pay Tribute to Charlie Bird

Columbans Pay Tribute to Charlie Bird

As veteran RTE journalist Charlie Bird is laid to rest, Columban missionary Fr Donie Hogan recalls meeting him in the Philippines when he covered the story of the Negros Nine. Fr Donal Hogan first met Charlie Bird in Bacolod City on the island of Negros in the...