August and September 2013

The Magazine of the Missionary Society of St. Columban

August/September 2013

Unity, Understanding and Interdependence CM AS13 1 final.indd 1

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Bending at the Waist

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ot long ago, I was walking down the street and I saw a man who was bent over at the waist, walking with a cane, painfully shuffling along. Crippled by some illness, his worldview was the ground beneath him. So painful was his gait, I wondered if he found relief in sitting or lying down. If I were to venture

a guess, I would say he finds little relief from his physical suffering.

In the instant I saw him, a wave of sadness and longing came over me. His inability to look up and around seemed more tragic on that day because he could not see the beauty that was all around him. The sky sparkled blue with a breeze that caused the leaves to dance. The sun stretched out its rays and wrapped the Earth in an embrace. I found myself wanting to search his eyes, to see what story they would tell of life, love, sacrifice, acceptance, and patience. How strange, to feel so connected to this stranger.

I was reminded of the story of the woman in Luke’s Gospel who was crippled by a spirit leaving her bent over for eighteen years (LK 13:10-17). Jesus healed her by placing his hands on her saying, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” Upon being healed she gave praise to God for being released from what had kept her bound for so many years. Jesus was criticized by the religious leaders for this act of love and compassion because in His action He broke the Sabbath law of rest.

In So Many Words

By Amy Woolam Echeverria

But how could Jesus rest in the face of such pain?

This challenge to rule and social structures was a

Jesus came to set free not just the crippled woman, or the woman at the well, or the tax collector, but all who were bound.

fundamental dimension of Jesus’ ministry. Whether it was healing the sick on the Sabbath or breaking bread with outcasts or welcoming the stranger, Jesus witnessed that the one rule above all others was to love one another. Jesus came to set free not just the crippled woman, or the woman at the well, or the tax collector, but all who were bound. Some were bound by illness, exclusion, and injustice. Others were rendered slaves to greed, power, and law. To all of them, Jesus promised a New Way. Just as my heart longed to look into the eyes of the man on the street, Columban mission at its heart longs for a world in which the wounded are healed, the sapphire sky is revealed, and the stranger is welcomed.

Amy Woolam Echeverria is the Director of the Columban Center for Advocacy and Outreach.

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Drug Addiction, Family and God The Importance of Compassionate Support Fr. Leo Donnelly and Ronald by ronald Tasayco as told to columban Fr. leo Donnelly

I was around 15 or 16 years of age and studying in high school when I began to smoke marijuana. I was in it for the fun with a few friends and within three years realized that I was addicted. Some years prior to that my younger sister had fallen and landed on her head resulting in a serious injury that required constant treatment for years. She was eventually diagnosed with a condition, schizophrenia, which will permanently put pressure on our family’s resources.

My Mum and Dad had to work around the clock to help cover costs, so I did not see much of them. My Dad was a policeman, but an honest man, so he did not earn much and needed to get a second and third job to help cover the costs of living and medical treatment.

His police medical insurance did not cover the expensive medicines and, at times, not even the less expensive common medicines.

With my parents so caught up in trying to cover costs I was more or less free to go my own way, but clearly I got lost.

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To pay for my addiction I began to steal things from home and from others. I had begun university studies but soon dropped out and just hung about with my friends who were also into drugs. I did not study, had no job and had given up on life, including on my family.

Eventually, on seeing the suffering that I was putting my

With my parents so caught up in trying to cover [my sister’s medical] costs I was more or less free to go my own way, but clearly I got lost. parents through, I began to take stock of what I was doing. I was only 22 years old, and my only constant activity had become smoking marijuana. I saw my Mum crying; she pleaded with me to stop. She had to hide anything of value in the house. I wanted to drop the marijuana habit but could not

do it alone. I desperately needed help and knew my parents were there for me. If it were not for their patient and determined insistence that I reform my life, I doubt I’d ever have beaten the drug habit.

Because of the marijuana I stopped participating in the parish youth group where I was a catechist in the first communion program.

But then, one day my parents really got through to me, and Columban Fr. Leo Donnelly came to see me.

They took me to a nearby hospital for therapy, and Fr. Leo helped cover the cost. I don’t think that program helped me much, but my Dad thinks that maybe it did help me more than I think.

My Dad became really concerned when one day last year I stole his police revolver to go out and rob some place with my friends. He was so stressed and worried that he suffered partial paralysis of the face. If I had done any harm or been caught with the weapon he would have been punished severely by the police for being irresponsible with his www.columban.org

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The Tasayco Family

I began to read the Bible and to pray the rosary. I’d already broken with the drug habit thanks to the support of my parents and Fr. Leo, but I needed something more to keep going with my life, to be hopeful and happy about myself.

Ronald, his parents and Fr. Leo

pistol. Dad got a real fright and that also frightened me; I realized the gravity of the problem I might have caused.

Then, around that time some women from our small parish community came to the house to invite my Dad to a retreat, and he persuaded them to invite me. Of course, he told them about the problem I had with drugs. That invitation came at just the right moment for me. They agreed to

come to the house to collect me on a Friday evening at 6:30 p.m., and I was packed and ready at 5:00 p.m.

During the weekend retreat things changed for me in a major way. I met others who had been through a similar struggle. I saw what their faith in God had led them to. I saw how happy they were with their renewed lives. Their families were happy, too.

I began to read the Bible and to pray the rosary. I’d already broken

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with the drug habit thanks to the support of my parents and Fr. Leo, but I needed something more to keep going with my life, to be hopeful and happy about myself. I found that through the community that ran these weekend retreats. I had returned to my family, and the retreat helped me return to God. Things began to change for me.

I got a job. In consultation with my parents I moved out of our home in order to put some distance between August/September 2013

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Hopeful and happy at last

me and my marijuana-smoking friends. I made friends at work and lived by myself near to my place of work.

I feel so grateful to God for all that I have been able to change in my life. Prayer and faith have given me so much inner strength to face up to this terrible addiction that I’d allowed bury me alive when I should have been pushing ahead with my life.

My Dad tells me how I used to cry and promise him that I’d change but, at the same time, he was finding little packets of marijuana in my room. My Mum was tough with me, but my father chose to be patient and kind; without planning, it was like a “good cop, bad cop” act. I tended to confide in and depend on my Dad. Things got so bad at one stage that I left home, but I kept going back. My Mum would buy me clothes because all I had was old and unwashed, but then I ended up selling what she bought me. My Mum did not ask me what I did while away from our home, but 6

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I feel so grateful to Dad and Mum for hanging in there with me and for Fr. Leo, who in supporting my parents, helped make my recovery possible. friends and neighbors commented to her; I know it all hurt her so much.

My Dad was often away from home because of his work. When I was small we lived in Chincha, three hours by bus to the south of Lima, but my Dad was working as a policeman in Lima. When we moved to Lima, we lived in rented houses for a while.

Because Dad was away so much doing extra jobs to cover living and medical costs, we did not have a close family life. I know that he later felt that maybe, because he was not there as much as he would have liked to be, I had not had the stability necessary to help me steer a straight and narrow course.

However, I don’t want to blame Dad for anything; I feel he did the best he could.

After 20 years in the police Dad retired and with his severance pay bought the block of land where we now live. Here we’ve had more of a family life, and I’ve come to know my Dad better. In fact, we have become very close through sharing the trauma associated with my drug addiction problem. He bought me a Bible and a picture of Our Lady, both of which I will always treasure. Dad has become a real friend to me. He is an honest man and also a man of God; he would always to go his Bible study meeting in the parish.

I am now 27 years old and have a reasonably good job selling financial products in a credit union.

I feel so grateful to Dad and Mum for hanging in there with me and for Fr. Leo, who in supporting my parents, helped make my recovery possible. CM Columban Fr. Leo Donnelly lives and works in Peru.

www.columban.org

7/8/13 10:25 AM

CM

Indian Summer

By Fr. Cyril Lovett

It is late in the year, well into Autumn.

Trees are, at best, half-dressed and fallen leaves announce a leaner season.

Yet, ’though the air be crisp with hints of frost, the sun still shines albeit with a gentle heat and from a lower angle in the sky.

This season mirrors something of what’s happening in me.

Sixty years have passed but of this one thing I am sure: I would not want them back.

The living of those years has molded me: the giving and receiving, the gains and the losses, the joys and the sorrows, above all, the friendships enjoyed with so many good people, WWW.COLUMBAN.ORG

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have helped me fit more comfortably in my own skin; have loved me into some acceptance of my own limitations; have engendered a compassion for myself and hence, also, for others.

A measure of integration achieved, has made me that much more human.

I accept the present, the now.

There may be bleaker times ahead, but each season has its beauty.

Leafless trees, bare and unadorned, speak of the essence, the vulnerable self, revealed and become gift for others.

Only time and living are bringing the real me to the surface.

Columban Fr. Cyril Lovett is the editor of The Far East magazine in Navan, Ireland.

August/September 2013

7 7/7/13 3:03 PM

Migration: A Chess Game Who Will Win?

By Lilibeth Sabado

O

ne evening a friend invited me out for a walk and drink in one of the shopping areas in Pasig, part of metro Manila, the Philippines. The structural design, the different artistic expressions, the ambiance and other features of the place is surprisingly and overwhelmingly beautiful for someone like me who sees art as an expression of the soul.

Exploring the place for the first time made my brain cells multitask. We moved to explore the place, but my eyes spotted a giant chess board situated in the middle of the park. Walking closer, both of us agreed to play a casual game, thinking that it would be exciting.

The last time I played chess was with my brother, Patboone in the summer of 1981. Soon after his death on December of that year, the family chess board was packed away with his other stuff in our underground storage. Since then, I had never had the chance to play chess.

I could still recall the basics of the game though my friend had to remind me every time I make a wrong move, “you can’t do that”, “be careful with that move.” His 8

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patience was commendable. Trying to concentrate, I also enjoyed the distractions of people passing by who were wanting to take photos of the giant chess board. I had enough reason not to play a blitz. Every move I made brings back memories of my brother but surprisingly, the enjoyment of winning wasn’t there anymore. Every move I made was purely mechanical, just minimal analysis, no strategy but mainly a memory refresher. After a while, I mustered up the courage to say, “I’m tired, let us stop.” The unfinished game was left under the brightly lit grounds.

Reflecting on this experience I can’t help but compare playing chess with the different roles played in the family. I wonder how the families of migrant workers play their roles when after several years of absence, they would go back to be reunited with their families. I

can’t help but wonder how a man would play the role of a husband and father, a woman play the role of a wife and mother, to play the same familiar roles they left several years ago. Would they still be willed to play the same role? Like playing chess after many years of not touching the chessboard, will the enthusiasm of winning and ending a game be there?

To work abroad seems to be the trend for survival for most Filipinos. A report from the Institute of Migration recorded an estimate of 8.7 million Filipinos in 239 host countries, or territorial entities, with an average of 3,377 daily deployments. This means that mothers and wives, husbands and fathers would suspend their present roles and physical presence with their families in search of greener economic pastures. The children left behind will be turned over to www.columban.org

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Is leaving the present to live in the future the only choice we have?

Would there be a bright, secure future for the families? What about the ethical challenge of migration? These questions arise from the vast scope of migration. a trusted relative or friend or the eldest child will take on the role of a parent to his or her younger siblings. Will the suspension and taking over of roles in the family be temporary? The answer could be yes and no. Each time someone leaves, it’s a gamble, and the result is unpredictable.

Out of the 3,377 migrant workers leaving every day, how many leave the country of their own will? How many of them are pushed by their families to leave the country, forced to fulfill a parents’ role or because of a family project? One of the children of a worker said, “Waking up one morning, I noticed luggage in the room, my mom started giving me instructions to wake up early so I could prepare breakfast for my siblings… confused but managed to ask why, mom said she is leaving to work abroad… I wish I was part of that decision.” (Jane, not her real name, is 14 years old with three siblings, ages 12, 10 and 8).

Still vivid in my memory is an experience where a six year old patient expired on my shift due to complications of Dengue fever.

The mother in grief cried out “you have a nice voice, you can sing and dance well, and I dreamt that you work in Japan, but now you’re gone.”

Hearing the mother utter those words while weeping made me walk out of the room disturbed and angry. I believe to work abroad is a family decision. Each member of the family must be consulted before making a decision. When a family member starts packing her luggage, she packs as well the dreams of her www.columban.org

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family. Each member of the family has the responsibility to keep their focus in achieving their goal – the fulfillment of that dream.

It cannot be denied that people have the right to move, yet statistics show how this movement is affecting the basic unit of the society, the family. When thousands of people leave the country for a better future, a question that needs an honest answer should be asked. Is leaving the present to live in the future the only choice we have? Would there be a bright, secure future for the families?

What about the ethical challenge of migration? These questions arise from the vast scope of migration.

Migration as a phenomenon itself is unfathomable, even a mystery. However, families are directly affected by the impact of migration. I firmly believe that the Church plays a very important role

both from the sending country and the host country. The six months I spent in the Philippines to explore the possibilities of the local church being involved in the pastoral care of migrant families is not that affirming. I cannot help but wonder, like the unfinished chess game left under the brightly lit grounds, the issues, concerns, problems associated with migration are already exposed in the open, seen in brightly lit grounds, yet another series of questions would arise. Would there be willing players? Will the next players decide to continue the unfinished game? Or will they decide to start a new one?

God, keep us from redefining your home in the society — the family. CM Lilibeth Sabado is the Coordinator of the Columban Lay Missionary Leadership Team .

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San Lorenzo Ruiz

Faith Alive San Lorenzo Ruiz Parish, the Philippines

by Fr. Peter Kenny

In this year of faith, many people will tell their stories and share their faith and gratefully say how they captured their faith or how their faith captured them. Pulpits will creak and blush with preacher’s anecdotes and experiences, some true, some exaggerated and some conveniently called parables as they try to convince congregations. In this little story of faith alive, I will try to tell how my community converted me from a doubting Thomas to a believing Peter.

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In a very densely populated city of nearly half a million people in the Philippines, I was pastor of a parish that had 110,000 professed Catholics. Even with four active priests, a dedicated community of Sisters and some wonderfully committed lay people, we were only touching the surface and not much more than a presence. One particular area with a population of about 10,000 just outside an American naval base was always of particular interest to me.

It was furthest away from the

parish center and least wealthy or comfortable and felt “unworthy” to become involved in the main stream of parish life and activity.

After extensive home visitation in the area, we formed a group of potential leaders under the name and patronage of San Lorenzo Ruiz, the first Filipino saint. Our objective and challenge to San Lorenzo was to help us form a parish in this area of Katalake and Pagasa, and our bribe would be to dedicate the parish to him. In a place almost devoid of private www.columban.org

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transportation, it was essential to have the church and parish in the center, but it seemed that all the saints in heaven couldn’t find a site where every inch was occupied.

By this time our group of leaders and some followers were becoming interested and had even started a little fundraising for the parish church that was only a dream for me but only a matter of time for them. “Father, don’t worry so much.

You will only get sick. San Lorenzo Ruiz was one of us who lived for his family and was executed for his God. We are all praying to him, and we know he will take care of everything.”

For most of the first year, we had a Saturday night vigil Mass in the tool shed of a public school and even did some baptisms and a few weddings in there as well.

San Lorenzo seemed to be still in Nagasaki, Japan, where he, together with a few Dominican missionaries, was tortured and martyred for refusing to abandon the Christian faith.

Eventually a large old house on a small lot, ideally situated, became available. Against our better judgment, we bought it at a bargain price. It was a beginning but far too small for a parish church but was enough incentive to pester San Lorenzo day and night!

The lot next to ours was owned and occupied by an elderly man who wasn’t too friendly towards Catholics. That didn’t worry our growing community who insisted that Lorenzo would take care of the problem. Within a few months, Lorenzo obliged, and the heirs of the old man were happy to sell us www.columban.org

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the house. We now had a lot large enough for a church that would seat about a thousand people.

I sent letters to friends and relatives all over the U.S. and Ireland, and our ever-increasing community did likewise. San Lorenzo became a hive of activity from bingo to raffles to interfamily contents and sacrifices, until within a year, we were able to lay a foundation, erect pillars and put in place a galvanized iron roof. The hollow blocks were donated mostly by people from all over Olongapo City.

The next couple of steps were at first tragic but later almost amusing. With little forewarning, Mount Pinatubo erupted 32 miles away and dropped ten inches of debris and sand on us. For almost a month, our unfinished church became a place of refuge for about two hundred people whose houses were damaged or destroyed by the volcano. Ironically it provided enough beautiful white sand for the plastering of the walls both inside and outside. San Lorenzo stopped at nothing! The nearby American naval bases were closing at the time, and they kindly delivered enough surplus gravel and cement to give us the concrete floor!

We now had a finished church seating over a thousand people and filling to capacity for most or all of our weekend Masses. However, we still had no rectory, no office and no parish hall all of which should be adjacent to the church. I felt San Lorenzo was due a vacation, but I was about the only one ready to give him a break. The prayers and novenas were doubled, and after a

few months, a widow living in a nice two bedroom bungalow right across the street in front of the church came to me and said, “You know, I don’t really need that house. I can live with my sister. I will sell it to you at half price.” It was perfect for a rectory and had a substantial lot. There was enough space on the right hand side of the house for the parish secretary’s office and for my office and room at the back. But was the access space on the left side of the rectory wide enough to meet the requirements for a building permit? To meet the fire hazard requirements, it must be seven feet wide. I nervously measured it to be seven feet and two inches!

San Lorenzo Ruiz parish now has a Filipino pastor. One year ago, one of its parishioners from a family that moved in when the parish was established, was ordained a priest in San Lorenzo church. Two years ago at the diocesan Holy Name, a lay organization for men, convention, it was voted the most active parish in the diocese!

I am now on mission awareness and magazine promotion here in the United States, but San Lorenzo and I communicate every day! CM

Columban Fr. Peter Kenny lives and works in Los Angeles, California.

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Beyond the Pale Christian Outreach to Needy Muslims and Hindus via Housing Projects

By Fr. Peter Woodruff

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y job was to get a story about an outreach project. I was staying in a room at St. Elizabeth Hospital, Hyderabad, not as a patient but as a visitor. My recommendation was Columban Fr. Robert McCulloch who had worked closely with the hospital’s medical outreach program, raising funds and discussing possible projects. With Aamir Sohail, the coordinator of the hospital’s medical outreach program, at the wheel we eased our way through the city traffic faster than most other vehicles. As we

approached the long bridge over the Indus River (built by the British colonial administration in 1931) we stopped briefly, and Aamir also took advantage of the moment to put on his seat belt, so I followed suit. The security guard waved us through with a smile and a salute.

The white foreigner was sitting in the front passenger seat!

We headed out of town in a south westerly direction along the old highway to Karachi. Franklin, the man who maybe had the problem with documents, spoke English and told me that we were

Some of the displaced families

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Clockwise from upper left: Previous housing; Building contractor Yaqoob Aziz and a resident at a new house; One room house; Toilet block

going to some villages where the hospital team was helping with flood relief housing. The road passed through a flat, semi-desert landscape with small, dried mud houses scattered along the way. I began to wonder how far we would have to go to find our villages. Then we turned off the main road along an unsigned but paved narrow road, which soon became a dirt track and then on to another dirt track, and another until we finally arrived at a hamlet tucked away behind a wall of trees. Arriving depended entirely on local knowledge; there were no road signs of any kind, and the hamlet displayed no name.

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contractor, informed me that the hamlet was called Moha Parigal Shoro Goth, that the 22 families living there belonged to the Kachi Kohli tribe and were Hindus. Ama, the head woman, gave us a warm welcome, and then numerous children and adults showed us around from house to house.

Tethered water buffalo occupied much of the free space; in one part drying red chili was spread out on a surface of hard, dried mud. Clearly life was a constant grind for these people, but we heard no complaints and saw plenty of smiles.

I also felt sadness when on asking about schooling for the children they told me that they don’t go to school as the nearest

school is five kilometers down the road. Children walking alone for that distance would, I suspect, be at risk; also, at the school their Hindu and tribal background might be cause for discrimination, overt or otherwise. It seems that so many of the children in rural villages and hamlets have little chance to go to school, and so the cycle of poverty, due in part to illiteracy, continues to follow its fatalistic course.

Yaqoob Aziz, the building contractor, was intent upon showing me the eight toilet blocks (two small rooms, one for washing and one for the toilet). The residents’ houses were one room per family, with one steel door and windows for a cross breeze. The August/September 2013

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hospital relief project supplied the steel and wood roof supports, the steel door and windows. The residents built everything and then added a large verandah. One wall is made of dried mud and when the monsoon rains come they beat against one of the walls. The home-owner rebuilds the fallen wall after the rain passes. The builder told them that mud plastered on intertwined sticks would not fall in the rain, but to no avail. Old habits die hard!

These people work the land for a landowner. Their village has a Hindu temple, and they observe the teachings of their religious faith, one of which is not to eat any kind of meat or fish, even though other groups of Hindus might eat chicken or fish. Ama showed me with pride her personal religious shrine located in the outer living space of her home.

We moved further down the main road to what was one of the most heart-rending sights of misery I have ever seen – 75 families of the Parkari Kohli tribe, all Hindus, and living in a space beside a river, which was the fifth place they had been moved to. The St. Elizabeth Hospital team is negotiating with a local landowner to buy four acres of land nearby, around which they will build a wall and have the land use transferred from agricultural to urban, from his name to that of 14

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a building society that they must form. The 75 families will move on to the site and Yaqoob will begin building the houses, which will be elevated about two feet above the ground to protect against flooding.

Because construction costs have more than doubled in the past few months, even after receiving all the money they have been promised, there will only be enough for about 40 houses.

The cost of purchasing the four acres of land is about $6,889.00, of transferring its use from agricultural to urban use $787.00, of building one house $1,2790.00, of building one toilet block $394.00 (one toilet block serves three houses). The hospital outreach team takes on this kind of project in the context of its program of preventive medicine.

I was introduced to Reshma, the head woman who has been active in finding a solution to her people’s housing. Like Ama, Reshma was gracious and kind in her welcome.

We went from shelter to shelter photographing family members posing in front of their temporary dwelling. I don’t think they realized that I was using a telescopic lens, and they had a great laugh at the expressions on some of the faces when I showed them the photos on the digital camera display. No doubt they saw me as one more big shot from officialdom doing

what has to be done to help their dream of a home come true. These people may be slight of build but most of those I saw were gaunt not slight. Needless to say, their children have no chance to attend school. Our last stop was a Sindhi Muslim village with 46 families.

They too gave us a warm welcome but, for the most part, the residents were busy about the business of the day; we arrived there just after noon. The head man, Ali Buksh, walked us around his village, Burfat, and obviously knew Aamir quite well. Every Saturday he travels to one of a number of villages with the hospital mobile medical team (including a doctor). In Burfat, Yaqoob proudly showed us the finished houses that he had built, and one family posed in front of their house for us. Life is clearly hard for the residents of this village too, but they do have stability even though most of their children don’t go to school either.

We returned to Hyderabad, and my hosts invited me to a meal at an air-conditioned restaurant that serves very good Pakistani food. CM Columban Fr. Peter Woodruff lives and works in Australia.

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Columban Father Frank Douglas (1910-1943) Honoring His Memory

By Fr. Michael Gormly

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n July 2013, Columbans marked the 70th anniversary of the heroic death of a colleague, Columban Father Frank Douglas, who is now honored in the New Zealand Catholic Church as an inspirational missionary figure.

Francis Vernon Douglas was born in Wellington on May 22, 1910, into a close, lively, Catholic working-class family in the suburb of Johnsonville. Leaving school at 14, he worked in the post office as a messenger boy. From his youth he was tall, robust, dark-haired and sports-loving. Friends spoke of him as strong-minded, with a fine sense of social and religious duty.

In 1927, he entered the national seminary at Mosgiel, trained for the diocesan priesthood, and was ordained in 1934 for the Archdiocese of Wellington. In 1937, as an energetic and extroverted young priest, he volunteered to join St. Columban’s Mission Society. His bishop graciously acknowledged the idealism and leadership qualities suited for overseas mission.

Fr. Frank was assigned to the Philippines, to Pililla, a lakeside township beyond Manila. It was not an easy assignment. He made the most of every opportunity, especially in learning the language, WWW.COLUMBAN.ORG

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and in coming to terms with the culture and unfamiliar customs.

The people were poor, and, because of religious indifference, the number attending church was small. Life became more difficult when the Japanese military invaded the Philippines in December 1941.

The invading soldiers were intent on containing local resistance, so they kept a close eye on Fr. Frank, with a suspicion that he was a foreign spy. He was finally arrested

The suffering of Fr. Frank made a deep impression on the town.

Here was a strong and brave man who withstood days and nights of horrific punishment. He suffered in silence, not betraying the trust of others. Filipinos spoke of him as a Christ-like figure. When anger was centered on him, others were spared. Beaten and ill-treated, he was a kind of savior.

After the war, reports of his heroic death reached his homeland,

The people were poor, and, because of religious indifference, the number attending church was small. Life became more difficult when the Japanese military invaded the Philippines in December 1941. in late July 1943 and taken to the neighboring town of Paete.

Along with others, he was interrogated, deprived of sleep and tortured. Through the whole ordeal, tied to a pillar in the church, he remained silent. After three days, bloodied and bruised, he was bundled away on a truck. It is believed that he died as a result of the beating. But he was never seen again, and his body was never found.

New Zealand. The challenging aspects of his dedicated life and heroic death became known, and are remembered still. To honor his memory, Columbans in New Zealand have commissioned a carved memorial stone to be presented to the Archbishop for the Cathedral in Wellington. CM Columban Father Michael Gormly is mission coordinator in Wellington, New Zealand.

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Meeting People on the Margins A Lifelong Experience of Kind and Gracious People in Taiwan and the U.S.

By Fr. Tom Glennon

I was sixteen when my family moved from Queens, New York, to Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The 2,300 mile change of location expanded my outlook, introduced me to a Hispanic and Native American world, and allowed me to experience lots of space.

Albuquerque was for me such a contrast with the relatively cramped urban development that I had known in New York. It was spread out, and one could see long distances; there were just a few multi-story buildings in the downtown area. The change gave me a feeling of beginning anew.

After one year at university, at age 19, I joined the Columbans. On completing the seminary course I was ordained deacon and worked pastorally in a housing project for the poor in New England. It was my first experience of working with the poor and I had the good fortune to have the support of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) staff for 16

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that year. They helped me monitor all I did and felt in the course of my work with residents.

In 1979, I was sent to join the Columban mission in Taiwan.

Even though I struggled with the Mandarin language I found it fascinating, particularly the evolution of the Chinese characters from pictograph to modern character.

The Taiwanese were friendly, encouraging and down to earth.

However, my limited Chinese seemed to prevent me from developing deep friendships. I felt a little on the outside but maybe I should have expected the locals to relate in this way to a foreigner who was to be with them temporarily.

I worked in a country parish where we had just ten Catholics.

Other members of the rural community were friendly but uninterested in Catholicism. Later I worked with another Columban in a city parish where we had three

churches and about 50 Catholics.

As you might imagine, I never suffered from a feeling of being overworked.

Conscious that I was not in Taiwan simply to maintain what had already been established, I searched for ways of announcing the Good News beyond the boundaries of traditional parish life.

In the city I successfully promoted a Bible study group, an initiative that I repeated later with Chinese Catholics in Chicago. I also initiated a parish prison ministry, a venture that seriously challenged my persuasive and pedagogical skills. At first, the parishioners could not see the value of going to visit criminals who were locked up for crimes they had committed.

To this day that parish prison ministry continues under the guidance of an ex-parish catechist, who has facilitated it from the beginning. She lost her job as parish catechist once the Columbans left www.columban.org

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the parish but was subsequently employed by the Columbans as prison chaplain and has trained as a probation and parole officer.

I was also supportively in touch with an ecology group in the city.

When they lost their offices, I offered them an office in our parish house as we had lots of unused space. The parish community was not pleased with my unilateral initiative and resisted all attempts on my part to persuade them to accept my guests. As soon as I left the parish the ecology group also moved out of the parish house. On reflection, I realize that I would do things differently now. I did not consult; I informed and reaped what I had sown.

Even though I suffered from constant gastroenteritis the first year I did learn to like the local food, mainly stir friend vegetables, rice and chicken or fish. I went six times to a class on Chinese cooking and was fascinated by the phenomenal variety and detail. Also, friendly and gracious Taiwanese did their best to help me make a home away from home.

In 1991 I returned to the U.S. Difficulties with language, culture, loneliness, and other things were weighing heavily on me. I had had enough. Trying to connect to Taiwanese society in some way was always a huge challenge for me. Ninety-eight percent of the population was non-Catholic; very few that I met had ever spoken to a Catholic priest, let alone know what a priest was. The vast majority had no interest whatsoever in Catholicism and were quite happy with their syncretistic approach to life.

The pervasive National Security State draped a blanket of fear and mistrust of the nation. Military and police were looking everywhere for potential threats to the established www.columban.org

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social order. Ordinary people would be afraid to discuss certain topics. It was difficult, knowing that information was filtered or censored, to find out what was going on. At times, it was like living in the dark.

On arrival in Chicago I was challenged to put into practice something I had learned in Taiwan – remain involved in people’s lives between Sundays. In Chicago I soon became involved with the homeless and have remained in this work for 17 years. I had benefitted personally from being in counseling and was able to use some of the skills of that trade in my work with others. I was also pleased to accept an invitation to join a Chinese Bible study group.

Since returning to the U.S., I have searched for ways of being missionary in this context. That led me to seek forms of solidarity with those on the periphery of our society, and so the involvement with the homeless and prisoners. I moved to Omaha two years ago and have been able to continue down this missionary path and also work part time on Columban mission fundraising.

I am a member of the China Formation Committee, a Columban international initiative, which assists the development of the Chinese Church by providing an opportunity for study and workshops inside and outside China. We have helped students train to be spiritual directors, do a variety of updating courses and retreats; we facilitate ongoing networking with an alumni association for those who have studied under our auspices.

Over the years I have come to appreciate certain Confucian ideals that are very much part of Chinese culture, in particular filial piety and the importance of the

many types of relationship between people. Each kind of relationship is important and distinct and each has a name. Also, there is a Chinese social hierarchical order that is quite different from that of the West. The five relationships are traditionally not hierarchically but concentrically based, that is, the first relationships are based on the family, the community and then society as a whole. The emperor based his relationship with his ministers and with his subjects as he would to his family members.

The five main relationships are: parents to children, husbands to wives, brothers to brothers, friends to friends, and emperor to ministers. Social hierarchy is based on what is seen to be of greater importance to the survival of social structures: government officials at the top, followed by farmers, educators, craftsmen and artisans, which included business people, at the bottom.

Finally, I must say that I had the support of a great team of Columbans in Taiwan. Being on mission with them leaves me with a profound memory of gratitude for the time I spent striving to live immersed in a Chinese world.

Despite the language and other difficulties that I encountered during my time in Taiwan, I do feel a great satisfaction in having achieved a reasonable level of fluency in Chinese, which I kept up in Chicago and maybe I will find a way of doing something similar in Omaha. I feel that throughout my life as a Columban priest I have constantly sought and found ways of being missionary overseas and at home. CM Columban Fr. Tom Glennon lives and works in St. Columbans, Nebraska.

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Badami Bagh Lahore, Pakistan

By Fr. Tomรกs King

M

uch has been written about the attack on the Christian colony in Lahore on March 9, 2013. There is not much new that I can say, but I will make a few brief points: Badami Bagh could have been prevented. Like similar incidents in recent years like Gojra, Sangla Hill and Shanti Nagar, this need not have happened. The authorities knew there was trouble brewing.

The police warned the people that there was danger of attack.

Instead of preventing it, they told the Christians to leave and left 18

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their houses and possessions to the mercy of the frenzied attackers and looters.

This attack happened in Lahore, arguably the most cosmopolitan city in the country. It is also the city of the Sharif brothers, Nawaz, a former Prime Minister on two occasions with aspirations to being the same again after the forthcoming elections, and his younger brother Shabaz, current Chief Minister of the Punjab Province, of which Lahore is capital. Economically and population wise Punjab is 60% of

Pakistan. Nawaz as Prime Minister enacted the most sinister elements of the present Blasphemy Law. Shabaz has been Chief Minister while some of the above incidents occurred. They, and the political party they lead, do have a practice and history of appeasing the extreme elements which cause such incidents in the first place. It does not bode well if they get back into power in the forthcoming elections.

It seems that it is another case of the Blasphemy Law being abused to get minorities, in this case Christians, off prime property www.columban.org

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so that others can take control of it. This Christian colony is in a prime location, and it seems there were vested interests wanting this property.

The work to rebuild the houses started within days of the attacks.

This is commendable, but an opportunity was lost. The original colony had little streets barely four feet wide. The new houses are being built on the footprint of the old. With foresight and planning, the colony could be constructed in a more livable way, especially regarding creating living space and playing space for children, as well as proper ventilation. This would make things a little more comfortable in the oppressive heat of a Lahore summer.

The real irony is that the police did nothing to prevent the attack but a few days later they attack Christians and others with tear gas and batons, who are protesting the attack on Badami Bagh.

A week after the attack I attended the annual meeting of the Major Religious Leadership Conference. All present condemned the attack on the Christians. But the meeting also challenged the Christian community and its leaders to reach out to other minorities who are also being attacked. A prime example of this is the Hazara community in Balouchistan who are Shia. Already hundreds of them have been blown up in suicide bombs this year alone. When other minorities are attacked, Christians and their leaders need to reach out to them, offer them support and solidarity. On the few occasions this has happened it has been much appreciated. It also develops networks of support and enables Christians to break out of their marginalized mentality. www.columban.org

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The response of ordinary people of all faiths and communities to the attack was one of solidarity and support.

The response of ordinary people of all faiths and communities to the attack was one of solidarity and support. There was a constant stream of visitors to the attack site, to meet and condole with the people, bring food, household utensils, clothes and food. This is a sign yet again that vast majority of people do not support the extremists, though they may be fearful of saying it strongly.

A preliminary report of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan finds that: The HRCP mission feels that the responsibility for the incident has to be ascribed at two levels — immediate and ultimate,” says the report. “The immediate responsibility for this act lies primarily with the police and district administration that despite prior knowledge failed to act. The ultimate responsibility rests squarely with the provincial government.” The statement by the DCO establishes that the provincial government at the highest level was aware of the threat and potential damage, even likely violence in advance and yet failed to order any measures.

The HRCP mission also took note of statements made by the people it talked to that the raiders

were ordinary residents from the adjacent areas and could not be identified as a group. That points to the effect of accumulated animus against the minority communities.

It is understandable that the attacks on Christians will receive a high degree of media attention in the West, but other minorities also need to be given attention.

Concerned citizens and the organizations to which they belong need to continue to lobby their governments to put pressure on the new Pakistani government to actively protect the rights of minorities, which includes action of the notorious Blasphemy Law. The forthcoming elections are important. Will the extremists make gains? Will they be accommodated in a coalition government wither in the centre or one of the provinces. That is a danger. Or will Pakistan take a step back from the brink and opt to vote for the more secular and tolerant parties? CM Columban Fr. Tomás King lives and works in Pakistan

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Past, Present and Future The Work Continues Fr. Frank Douglas

F

Fr. Frank Douglas gave his life to bring the Holy Gospel and news of Christ’s love to the people of the Philippines 70 years ago. As the Pastor of Pililla on the island of Luzon in 1939, Fr. Frank worked with the poor to bring faith to a place that truly struggled in the absence of it.

He established a Boy Scout Troop to reach the youth and even worked to organize a social action committee. His work moved forward and could not be stopped, even with the coming of war. In 1941 the Japanese invaded the Philippines and for the next several years his work was accomplished under tight and oppressive military subjugation, harassment, and interrogation.

Finally, in 1943, he was arrested under false pretenses and the occupying Japanese forces tortured and beat him horribly. He was taken away by the soldiers and his body was never recovered.

Yet, Fr. Frank’s work lives on today in every life and Filipino family that he introduced to Christ and those he comforted and cared for at the time of their greatest need. Today, his legacy continues in the work of other Columban Fathers.

Fr. Sean Coyle’s dedication to the Miracle Girls of The Holy Family Home brings light to those suffering in the darkness of poverty. The Holy Family Home is

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home to the Miracle Girls, between 40 and 50 girls, some as young as four, some in their early 20s. They are girls who have been abused, or come simply from a background of extreme poverty.

Fr. Vincent Busch’s Subanen crafts project gives the women of Northwest Mindanao a way to provide decent food, basic education and simple necessities to their families.

Fr. Shay Cullen’s work to fight human trafficking and the abuse of women and children has brought peace to those most vulnerable. His co-founding of the Prevent and Rehabilitate Drug Abusers Foundation, PREDA, has given hope to those otherwise faced with a life of torment and subjugation.

If you would like to be a part of the continuing mission of the Columban Fathers through the dedication and efforts of men like Fathers Douglas, Coyle, Busch, and Cullen, please consider praying for and making a gift to the Columban Fathers.

Donations can be made by using the return envelope in this magazine or by visiting www.columban.org/donate For more information about the Columban Fathers, visit us at www.columban.org or call (877) 299-1920.

WWW.COLUMBAN.ORG

7/8/13 10:12 AM

Water Is Life The United Nations Year of Water

By Damien Delgado

I am a young man of Cuban ancestry. Both my parents immigrated to the United States from Cuba in the 1960s. My parents speak of days having little more than a bowl full of beans to eat, and nights bundling themselves up on a bed of hay, to keep warm when the sizzling Cuban sun settled down. Most of all, however, water was prized above the rest, since Cuba had such a hot climate. Water sources, as with many countries across the globe, were sparse.

I tell this story because access to water is one of the most important issues facing people today. Lack of access to clean water and sanitation can lead to an increase in intestinal diseases, and thirst that can be life threatening for families and especially children.

The United Nations (U.N.) declared in 2010 that 2013 would be the “Year of Water.” Many nations in the global community have made a single, powerful statement: the quest for sustainable sources of clean water is one that cannot wait until tomorrow, but must begin today.

Led by the United Nations Environmental, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), The U.N. Year of Water Cooperation has become a major initiative towards bringing clean, long-lasting water supplies www.columban.org

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to impoverished nations, including many countries where Columbans are present. Both water education and water diplomacy headline the UNESCO’s list of agendas to tackle. Ensuring the long-term sustainability of water sources through the organization of global financial cooperation as well as the coordination of transboundary water management have also become major issues at play during this year’s campaign.

Most important, however, UNESCO seeks to build on the U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development (2012) by creating new objectives that will help continue the overall goal of developing sustainable water sources across the globe.

This year’s U.N. focus fits within its broader initiative, International Decade for Action “Water for Life” 2005-2015 as well as the U.N. 2003

Year of Freshwater. The central goal of all of these campaigns is longlasting sustainable water sources.

The coordination of diplomatic and financial channels in order to provide more funding for immediate and long-term sources of water makes this one of the most important years for global water sustainability that we have known in some time.

People of faith can play an important role in this campaign by calling on national governments to contribute funding to this project and educating our own communities about water scarcity.

You can find more information by visiting www.unwater.org/watercooperation-2013. CM Damien Delgado was an intern in the Columban Center for Advocacy and Outreach in Washington, D.C., during the spring of 2013.

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Immigration Reform A Unifying Force

By Chloe Schwabe

W

ashington D.C. was buzzing with word of a bi-partisan immigration bill even before its introduction in April 2013. Could this really happen in a time of deep partisanship? Could the day finally come when Congress is again ready to address the issue?

Unity in Faith for Immigration

We are called by our faith to be in unity as one body of Christ and one human family. As Columban Fr. Robert Mosher, Director of the Columban Mission Center in El Paso, Texas, says, “We are called as Catholics to welcome the stranger and ‘safeguard the needs and rights of the migrant’ as proclaimed by Pope Benedict XVI. We strive at the Columban Mission Center to live out that call by building relationships with immigrants.”

Columban missionaries like Fr. Mosher sees the many ways that we remain divided from our brothers and sisters around the world through economic and military policies, language and cultural differences.

The decade old bi-national U.S. and Mexico Catholic Bishop’s statement Strangers no Longer: Together on the Journey of Hope echoes these concerns and highlights the role of people of 22

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faith as unifiers across borders both real and imagined: “We speak as two episcopal conferences but as one Church, united in the view that migration between our two nations is necessary and beneficial. At the same time, some aspects of the migrant experience are far from the vision of the Kingdom of God that Jesus proclaimed: many persons who seek to migrate are suffering, and, in some cases, tragically dying; human rights are abused; families are kept apart; and racist and xenophobic attitudes remain… The whole Church is challenged to live the experience of the disciples on the road to Emmaus (Lk. 24:1325), as they are converted to be witnesses of the Risen Lord after they welcome him as a stranger.

Faith in the presence of Christ in the migrant leads to a conversion of mind and heart, which leads to a renewed spirit of communion and to the building of structures of solidarity to accompany the migrant.”

The Columban Center for Advocacy and Outreach (CCAO) works with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Justice for Immigrants campaign, which brings together dioceses around the country and many Catholic organizations to lift up the Catholic Social Teachings that call us to seek

justice for immigrants in the United States. We also work with the Interfaith Immigration Coalition to lift up voices across faith traditions to ensure all immigrants are welcome at God’s table.

Unity in Politics for Immigration Reform

Immigration reform has also been a unifying force in the U.S. Congress. By the end of 2012, a group of eight Senators known as the “Gang of Eight,” across the political spectrum came together to craft legislation.

A Prayer for Strength and Unity

Columban Fr. Bill Morton who lives and works in El Paso, Texas, believes that, “A broad embrace of the undocumented within our borders holds the possibility of beginning a process of healing and reconciliation for our nation.

Creating a new community from division and mistrust can only strengthen us for the many and difficult challenges that our nation is facing economically, politically, socially, environmentally and spiritually.” CM Chloe Schwabe is an Advocacy Associate at the Columban Center for Advocacy and Outreach in Washington, D.C.

www.columban.org

7/8/13 10:18 AM

Called to Communion

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t is just a year now since representatives from Columban missions around the world came together in Los Angeles to reflect and plan on our way forward together. Out of that meeting came the document “Called to Communion” that provides all of us Columban missionaries with a common sense of direction and guidance for the next several years, despite the differences in the particular circumstances of our mission from one continent to another. “Called to Communion” emphasizes that we are continually invited by God to live in right relationship with the Creator, with creation and with all the peoples of the world.

Our striving for deeper communion with other Columbans, with the people we live among, as well as with our supporters and benefactors, is not simply driven by the fact that the world is fast becoming a global village. While it is true that rapid advances in travel and the mass media brings us into greater and more frequent contact with one another, so often we are preoccupied with the means of communication – smart phones, iPads, computers – that we confuse competence in using technology with the quality of our relationships.

FROM THE DIRECTOR

By Fr. Tim Mulroy The call to communion, however, requires not so much that we develop expertise in the use of technology, as that we learn to stretch our imagination and broaden our understanding of ourselves, others and the world around us. It is a call to recognize our deep yearning for meaningful relationships, interdependence and unity. It is a call that involves reaching out to others in new ways; sharing our faith, our talents and our experiences; letting go of our prejudices and fears; and embracing the new and the surprising.

Before moving to Omaha some months ago, I had spent several years as a member of an international community of Columban seminarians and priests in Chicago. All of us had come to the

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As we enter into deeper relationships with one another, with creation and with our Creator-God, we too will receive glimpses of the wonder and mystery of this holy communion.

Windy City carrying treasures from our home countries — Korea, the Philippines, Tonga, Fiji, Peru, Chile and Ireland — and through our day to day living together we learned how to share these gifts with others, while receiving in turn what was offered us.

Our efforts to grow in mutual understanding, to promote collaboration and form friendships with fellow Columbans from various countries awakened in each one of us great dreams as well as deep fears, and resulted in both unexpected frustrations and surprising blessings. Frequently, it seemed to me that it was our communal faith in God and our shared commitment to our missionary vocation that enabled us to live with the puzzle that resembled a Rubik’s cube.

Anyone familiar with the Rubik’s cube puzzle quickly realizes that one cannot solve it piece by piece like a jigsaw puzzle. Rather, one needs to first imagine the whole, and then keep that big picture in mind as one proceeds with the various moves and twists that will eventually restore each of its six faces to its own particular color.

This ability to see that everything does indeed hold together and forms one great whole is the fruit of prayer, a sharing in God’s own vision of the world. One of the recently declared Doctors of the Church, the twelfth century mystic, Hildegard of Bingen, expressed her insight into that mysterious bond that unites everything when she wrote: “The moment of my awakening was when I saw, and knew I saw, all things in God, and God in all things.” As we enter into deeper relationships with one another, with creation and with our Creator-God, we too will receive glimpses of the wonder and mystery of this holy communion.

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Journey With Jesus!

“If you knew the gift of God and who it is who is saying to you ‘give me a drink,’ you would have asked and he would have given you living water.”

— John 4:10

Journey With Jesus is the supplementary Catholic mission education curriculum for grades preschool through eighth grade from the Columban Fathers.

Five lessons per grade containing: • Opening and closing prayers • Video presentations (DVD) • Original songs on CD • Activities • At Home Connections • Posters

Journey With Jesus is available free on loan or for purchase. See the Columban Mission Education website (www.columban.org/ missioned) for more information and how to order the program.

If you feel a thirst to spread the word of Jesus, we would love to discuss missionary life with you.

We invite you to join this new generation by becoming a Columban Father or Columban Sister.

If you are interested in the missionary priesthood, write or call…

Fr. Bill Morton National Vocation Director Columban Fathers St. Columbans, NE 68056 877-299-1920 Email: vocations@columban.org Website: www.columban.org

If you are interested in becoming a Columban Sister, write or call…

Sister Virginia Mozo National Vocation Director Columban Sisters 2546 Lake Road Silver Creek, NY 14136 626-458-1869 Email: virginiamozo@yahoo.com Websites: www.columbansisters.org www.columbansistersusa.com

Japan + Korea + Peru + Hong Kong + Philippines + Pakistan + Chile + Fiji + Taiwan + North America

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