The Magazine of the Missionary Society of St. Columban
August/September 2011
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Being in Relationship “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.” (John 14:27) Jesus knows what awaits his disciples when he speaks these words of reassurance. He knows that hard times lay ahead for all those who choose to follow Him. The challenges are great, but the promise of a dwelling place in the house of the Father is greater. Let us not confuse Jesus’ message of peace with that of comfort or ease. He is not trying to sugar-coat what it means to be a Christian. On the contrary, Jesus invites us into life of radical but joyful sacrifice, one that if lived by the Gospel, puts us at risk for the same rejection experienced by early Christians like St. Paul, “They stoned him and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead.” (Acts 14:19) By feeding the hungry, welcoming the stranger, visiting the prisoner, caring for Creation, we rest our gaze on the excluded where we can more clearly see the face of God. In our world filled with constant distractions of consumption, media, and power that promise contentment, satisfaction, and happiness, it can be nearly impossible to center our hearts on Jesus’ promise In So Many Words By Amy Woolam Echeverria of peace and love. In our modern culture the relationship of choice is not with one another or with Creation, but with stuff; the stuff we buy, the stuff we use; the stuff that we allow to define us. Jesus warns against these false sources of fulfillment, “Not as the world gives do I give it to you,” and instead invites us to a far deeper place where the cool waters of His love give us life. Throughout our history, Columbans surely have taken to heart Jesus’ promise of peace when faced with uninviting conditions of poverty, violence and discrimination. Committed to being in communities and with people who live in the shadows because of social, economic, political ethnic or religious identity, Columban mission is about being in relationship especially when those relationships threaten personal well-being. Unlimited by geographical boundaries, the ability to be missionary presents itself everyday by the relationships we keep. May we consider ourselves blessed to be faced with the threat of rejection and contempt as followers of Christ and builders of the Kingdom in His name. May our hearts be filled with the peace that only comes from the Father.
May our hearts be
filled with the peace that only comes from the Father.
Amy Woolam Echeverria is the director of the Columban Center for Advocacy and Outreach in Washington, D.C. www.columban.org
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Aparecida and Inculturation New Insights from the Latin American Church By Fr. Robert Mosher
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hen Columban missionaries cross boundaries of culture and language that separate peoples, they help harvest the richness of a tremendous variety of ways of life and gather them into the unity of the community of Christian faith, the people of God. The new program and teaching of the Latin American Church, expressed in Aparecida, Brazil, in 2007, offers us some deep insights into bringing our faith and cultures into contact, and challenges all disciples of Our Lord to fortify their own missionary calling throughout the world. The title page of the Aparecida Document announces that Catholics in the region are called to be “Disciples and Missionaries of Jesus Christ, so that our Peoples have Life in Him.” Pope Benedict XVI, in his inaugural address to the conference, warmly welcomed the theme. The disciple of Jesus, he declared, “feels driven to bring the Good News of salvation to his brothers and sisters. Discipleship and mission are like the two sides of a single coin: when the disciple is in love with Christ, he cannot stop proclaiming to the world that only in Him do we find salvation. (cf. Acts 4:12) In effect, the disciple knows that without Christ there is no light, no hope, no love, no future.” 4
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Disciple and Missionary
The Church in Latin America took a fresh look at mission in this “Aparecida Document,” and proposed launching a permanent Continental Mission in the region. “We cannot let this hour of grace slip by,” the bishops announced. “We need a new Pentecost! We need to go out to meet individuals, families, communities, and peoples to communicate to them, and share the gift of encounter with
The bishops link the mission of the Church to the need for a healthy relationship to the planet when they wrote of the ecological implications of Christ’s message of salvation. Christ, who has filled our lives with ‘meaning,’ truth and love, joy and hope!” (Paragraph 548) By identifying the values of truth and love, producing joy and hope especially for the poor and marginalized of the region, the bishops directed their attention towards the values, and also the disvalues, present in the many cultures in Latin America today, and the need for further and
deeper influence of the values of the Gospel. They defined culture as “the particular way in which human beings and peoples cultivate their relationship to nature and with their fellow humans, with themselves, and with God, so as to attain a fully human existence.”
Culture and our Relationship to Nature
The bishops link the mission of the Church to the need for a healthy relationship to the planet when they wrote of the ecological implications of Christ’s message of salvation. In this way, understanding and appreciating the culture of a given people, especially of the indigenous societies in the Americas, opens the Church to recover ancient and venerable practices of respect for the cycles of replenishment in nature, and—a universal phenomenon—for the transcendent dimension of God’s Creation. “With the native peoples of the Americas, we praise the Lord who created the universe as the realm of life and the shared existence of all His sons and daughters, and left it to us as sign of His goodness and His beauty,” the bishops wrote. “Creation is also the manifestation of God’s provident love; it has been entrusted to us so that we may care for it and transform it as a source of decent life for all.” www.columban.org
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“Creation is also the manifestation of God’s provident love; it has been entrusted to us so that we may care for it and transform it as a source of decent life for all.” –From the Aparecida Document
“Although a greater valorization of nature has become more widespread today,” the prelates continued, “we clearly see how many ways human beings threaten and are still destroying their habitat. ‘Our sister, mother earth’ is our common home and the place of God’s covenant with human beings and with all creation. To disregard the mutual relationships and balance that God Himself established among created realities is an offense against the Creator, an attack on biodiversity and ultimately against life. The missionary disciple to whom God has entrusted creation must contemplate it, care for it, and use it, while always respecting the order given it by the Creator.” (Paragraph 125) www.columban.org
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The Church leaders in Aparecida did not shy away from confrontation with the destructive practices of our age. Besides denouncing the destruction of ecosystems within the countries of the Amazon basin, the pastors likewise looked toward the glaciers melting at the southern cone of the continent as a result of global warming. “Today the natural wealth of Latin America and the Caribbean is being subjected to an irrational exploitation that is leaving ruin and even death in its wake, throughout our region,” the bishops declared in a prophetic voice. “A great deal of responsibility in this entire process must be attributed to the current economic model which prizes unfettered pursuit of riches
over the life of individual persons and peoples and rational respect for nature.” “The devastation of our forests and biodiversity through a selfish predatory attitude, involves the moral responsibility of those who promote it because they are jeopardizing the life of millions of people, and particularly the milieu of peasants and indigenous, who are pushed out toward hillside lands and into large cities where they live overcrowded in the encircling rings of poverty.” In the same tone, the bishops took note of “the problems caused by the savage, uncontrolled industrialization of our cities and the countryside, which is polluting the environment with all kinds of organic and chemical August/September 2011
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When Columban missionaries cross boundaries of culture and language that separate peoples, they help harvest the richness of a tremendous variety of ways of life and gather them into the unity of the community of Christian faith, the people of God. wastes. A similar warning must be made about resource-extraction industries which, when they fail to control and offset their harmful effects on the surrounding environment, destroy forests and contaminate water, and turn the areas exploited into vast deserts.” (Paragraph 473)
Culture and Our Relationship to Others
The region of Latin America and the Caribbean is home to a wide variety of cultures. The Aparecida Document specifically holds up both ethnic and social groups as examples of distinct cultures, naming not only the Native American (indigenous), the African-American and the mestizo (mixed European and indigenous) cultures, but also examining the urban cultures of the region. They also identified the carriers of culture from one generation to the next, such as family, schools and the media of communication. 6
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The Aparecida Document reminds all believers that our faith must reach deeply into the substrata— the most profound levels—of the manners of living and the collective values of a society in order for Gospel values to really have an effect. The worldwide phenomenon of globalization has economic, political and cultural dimensions, with both positive and negative consequences for Latin America. Although the bishops quoted Pope Benedict XVI, in his address at the opening of the conference, regarding the “achievement of the human family” that globalization represents, allowing “access to new technologies, markets, and financing,” they also warn that, “…in its current form, globalization is incapable of interpreting and reacting in response to objective values that transcend the market and that constitute what is most important in human life: truth, justice, love, and most especially,
the dignity and rights of all, even those not included in the market….” (Paragraph 61) “…Hence, faced with this type of globalization,” the bishops continue, “we feel a strong call to promote a different globalization, one characterized by solidarity, justice, and respect for human rights, making Latin America and the Caribbean not only the continent of hope but the continent of love, as Benedict XVI proposed in the Inaugural Address of this Conference.” (Paragraph 64) The process by which the Gospel becomes a normative experience for a culturally defined group of people is called inculturation. The 150 bishops present at Aparecida regarded this meeting of faith and culture in the continent as a two-way street, not only challenging and liberating societies with the message of Christ, but also finding fruitful benefits for the Church itself. “…With the inculturation of the faith, the Church is enriched with new expressions and values, manifesting and celebrating ever better the mystery of Christ, and is enabled to unite faith more with life, thereby contributing to a full catholicity, one that is not simply geographical but cultural as well.” Such inculturation will necessary eliminate, as it grows to unite a colorful variety of peoples, glaring social inequalities. “…There is certainly no other region that has so many factors of unity as Latin America, one of which is the fact that the Catholic tradition is the foundation on which it is built,” the bishops state. “However, it is a unity torn apart www.columban.org
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because it is permeated by deep dominations and contradictions, still incapable of bringing together into itself ‘all the races’ and overcoming the gap of tremendous inequality and marginalization. It is our great homeland, but it will be really ‘great’ only when it is so for everyone, with greater justice. Indeed, it is a painful contradiction that the continent with the largest number of Catholics is also the one with the greatest social inequity….” (Paragraph 528)
“…Love pauses, contemplates mystery, and enjoys it in silence. It is also moved, pouring out the full load of its pain and its dreams. The confident prayer, flowing sincerely, is the best expression of a heart that has relinquished self-sufficiency, recognizing that alone it can do nothing.”
Culture and Our Relationship to God
Culture also represents the particular way in which members of a given group of people relate to God. Popular religiosity is a strong feature of local cultures on the continent, and the bishops highlight it as a good starting point for inculturation. In one beautiful passage, the Church leaders put an emphasis on pilgrimages as an especially fruitful tradition: “…There the believer celebrates the joy of feeling surrounded by myriad brothers and sisters, journeying together toward God who awaits them. Christ himself becomes pilgrim, and walks arisen among the poor.” “The decision to set out toward the shrine,” continue the pastors, “is already a confession of faith, walking is a true song of hope, and arrival is the encounter of love. The pilgrim’s gaze rests on an image that symbolizes God’s affection and closeness. Love pauses, contemplates mystery, and enjoys it in silence. It is also moved, pouring out the full load of its pain and its dreams. www.columban.org
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–From the Aparecida Document The confident prayer, flowing sincerely, is the best expression of a heart that has relinquished selfsufficiency, recognizing that alone it can do nothing. A living spiritual experience is compressed into a brief moment.” (Paragraph 259)
In the Manner of Jesus
“This Fifth Conference, recalling the command to go and make disciples (cf. Mt 28:20), wishes to awaken the Church in Latin America and the Caribbean toward a missionary impulse,” the shepherds of the Latin American and Caribbean flocks conclude. This is not a matter of waiting for one stage to end before bringing in a missionary stage, as if Latin America were ending its period of discipleship. The missionary dimension of the life of faith is present at all times and levels of Church growth and formation, and reflects the manner in which Jesus Himself trained his followers. The bishops identify the implications for the Latin American church of this manner in
their own recommendations for the formation of disciple missionaries in all their countries: beginning with an encounter with Jesus Christ that leads to conversion and friendship with Him, strengthened by the teachings and in the fraternal life of the Church, while sharing with others, especially the neediest, their joy. “We cannot passively and calmly wait in our church buildings….We are witnesses and missionaries: in large cities and the countryside, in the mountains and jungles of our Americas, in all the areas of shared social life… assuming ad gentes (to the nations) our concern for the Church’s universal mission.” (Paragraph 548) CM
After many years in Chile, Columban Fr. Robert Mosher currently works in Omaha, Nebraska.
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Interreligious Dialogue in Brazil Walking Together by Fr. colin mclean
“I believe that we are all walking towards the divine along parallel paths, and that one day our paths will converge, and we will walk the final distance together.”— Mae Stella of Oxossi, priestess/ medium of a Candomble terreiro in Salvador, State of Bahia, Brazil. In 1999, I was privileged to be at a history making meeting of the Black Priests, Bishops and Deacons of Brazil in Salvador. The meeting is an annual event, but what made this one so special was the presence 8
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for the first time of Mae Stella, the most prestigious figure of Candomble in Salvador. Candomble is a widely-followed Afro-Brazilian religion, the origins of which are found in the “religion of the orixas” located in the tribal Yoruba regions of Nigeria and Benin today. The orixas are Yoruba spirits brought across the Atlantic ocean in the fetid holds of the slave ships during the 350 years in which Brazil received 40% of the Atlantic slave traffic. Each of the orixas
(spirits created by the all supreme deity Olorum) has divine attributes associated with ecological and cosmological forces, and all human beings have a guardian orixa, whose presence is often gauged from the personality of the individual person. The faith experience of millions was confined to secret celebrations under the cover of night until three Nigerian women founded the first official terreiro (sacred space where the spirits – the orixas – could be honored and www.columban.org
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invoked) in Salvador in the 1880s. Throughout decades of repression — Candomble was only legitimized by the government in 1976 — faith in the Yoruba orixas was channeled into the figures of Catholic saints so as to preserve it. Hence, Xango, Yemanja, Iansa, Oxossi, Oxum and Ogum, to name but a few, all have their equivalents among Catholic saints (St. George, the Immaculate Conception, St. Barbara, St. Sebastian, Our Lady of the Candles, St. Anthony, etc.) and elements in nature— lightning and thunder, sea, tempests, the forest, fresh water, iron and steel. The government repression of Candomble and other forms of it, which today we refer to as Afro-Brazilian religions, was, of course, sanctioned and promoted by the Church (the government being nominally Catholic). Many of today’s “purist” Brazilian Catholics still have trouble seeing these religious expressions as anything other than sects, or, worse still, devil worship. Yet a great majority of Brazilian Catholics would have some belief in, if not fear of, Candomble practices. We refer to it as dulpa percena or double belonging. Due to the abominable history of African slavery, an evergrowing number of priests, bishops, nuns and lay Catholics today would understand and be tolerant of this phenomenon and see it as a necessary part of our interreligious dialogue. Fortunately, the CELAM conferences (the various bishops’ conferences of Latin America and the Carribean) have finally come to specifically deal with the cultural and religious experiences of peoples in the Americas of African and indigenous descent, both of whose traditions were formerly seen as little more than superstition. Given this background, it was so moving to see Mae Stella seated www.columban.org
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on the same level between the Cardinal Archbishop of Salvador, Dom Geraldo Majella Agnelo, and his auxiliary bishop, Dom Gilio Felicio. Dom Gilio, the first black bishop appointed to Salvador (his arrival at the airport in 1998 from the south of Brazil was greeted like a mini-version of Nelson Mandela’s arrival in 1991), was the person responsible for this historic meeting. During his all-too-brief five years in Salvador, Bishop Gilio made strong inroads towards dialogue with Candomble, visiting all the major Candomble terreiros and meeting with the ialorixas (female priest/mediums) and the babalorixas (male priest/ mediums). Personnel from Mae Stella’s terreiro, Ile Opo Afonja, told us afterwards, of her (and their) unease at participating for the first time in such an official Catholic Church meeting. They would be wary of the Catholic Church’s possible use of the term interreligious dialogue as a tactical weapon to win over and control Afro-Brazilian religions. The meeting was groundbreaking, but, unfortunately, failed to see any official follow-through on the part of the Church. An attempt was made to form an archdiocesan commission for Interreligious Dialogue with Candomble in Salvador (myself and Marcelo Batista, one of the married deacons from our parish, were invited to be part of this commission), but it lacked real direction from the appointed coordinator and finally floundered. Once again, it was left to us, the foot-sloggers to take it further! Fortunately, for those of us in the Brazilian Black Priests, Bishops and Deacons’ Conference, inroads have been made due to the strong participation of the black Jesuit, Fr. Clovis Cabral, whose mother
Mae America, was a recognized Mae de Santo (mother of the saint, the Portuguese title given to Candomble ialorixas, who regularly receive a particular orixa). All of Clovis’ brothers and sisters (with the sole exception of himself) have been initiated into Candomble. I am a close friend of their family, since Antonio Cabral, one of Clovis’ brothers, was the administrator of our Cena Um theatre project. A year after their mother’s death, I was invited to participate in a closed ritual of the commemoration. It was a great honor, and started to get really interesting, but, unfortunately, most Candomble rituals, especially the closed ones, take place very late at night and continue until the early hours of the morning. Since the next morning was Sunday, and I had a couple of early Masses in parish communities, I had to excuse myself in the middle of the celebration. Since I am a good friend of Antonio, I can only hope my leaving was not considered insulting by the presiding babalorixa, his brother, Balbino. Other more regular Candomble fiestas that are open to the public do not occur on a weekly basis like Christian liturgies but are celebrated during a cycle of dates that are considered important to the various orixas/spirits. And therein lies the problem! If we are really serious about dialogue, how can we liberate people for it, or are we talking about what we can do in our spare time? CM Fr. Colin McLean lives and works in Brazil.
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Future and Hope Helping FloodAected Families by Sr. roberta ryan
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t has been some time since the devastating floods of last summer. To be honest, very little has changed for the people whose homes and lands were flooded. If anything, life has become harsher for them over the passing months with regard to their outward circumstances. In November 2010 we were faced with a critical decision. Do we go on trying to find the $3,586 that it costs to feed around 900 people for a week, or do we start looking at more long term options for those who had nothing to go back to from their lives before the floods? We sat down with a few of the leaders of about 40 families with whom we had been working closely
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from the beginning to hear what they had to say. They explained to us that they, and their kinsmen, were sharecroppers renting fields from the local landlord with a certain percentage of the crop going to the sharecroppers. If, however, the crop failed, they ended up in the landlord’s debt which was further compounded by the fact that the landlord was the only one who would advance the farmers a loan in time of sickness or for a wedding, a funeral or other emergency. It was in this way that they and their families ended up becoming the landlord’s bonded laborers. The leaders said they understood our dilemma and felt the greatest blessing that we could give them would be a piece of land on which to build their own homes and a village school. Prior to the floods, they did not have the opportunity to send their children to school in the villages from which they came as there was no village school! In the meantime, they would try to get casual labor wherever they could, and with the money earned as day laborers together with the money the women earned from the income-generating sewing project that we had set up in September, they would try to tend to their own needs. Well, we came away from the meeting with a bigger headache than the one we brought with us! Purchasing land is a mammoth task in Pakistan. It is also expensive. We sat with our project manager www.columban.org
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to weigh the pros and cons and decided to mull them over for a few days. Then, unexpectedly, two offers came to help us with the buying of the land. This was the green light we had been waiting for, and in it we saw God’s hand showing the way forward. Our project manager swung into action and New Year’s Day 2011 found us in possession of the legal land titles and local authority papers. We now had a site large enough on which to build 40 houses. It was in a beautiful rural area beside a village that had a school and was within fifteen
We did not have to wait long for the answer for over the past two months unsolicited funds flowed to us from several religious congregations who had received funds from their benefactors for flood victims. On February 11, 2011, the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, the construction of 40 singlestory two-room houses began. Each house will have a kitchen, a bathroom and outer courtyard for small animals. Yet, again, we were in awe of God’s love and compassion reaching out to us and the floodaffected families through the goodness of others.
Yet, again, we were in awe of God’s love and compassion reaching out to us and the flood-affected families through the goodness of others. minutes travelling distance of the city by bus. This, we felt, would give the men the option of working in the fields or taking up laboring jobs in and around the city. While we were in the process of purchasing the land, we faced another dilemma. Do we stop here and let the villagers build their own houses over time, or do we take on this task and give them the chance at a fresh start in life without the burden of debt which has always been their constant companion?
We would like to thank everyone who contributed to the flood relief in Pakistan. We have linked hands across the world to help some of those left utterly destitute by the devastating floods in Pakistan last summer. Work continues to progress as these tribal people move to what is for them the Promised Land. CM
Columban Sr. Roberta Ryan lives and works in Pakistan.
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Easter in Pakistan Special Significance by Fr. colm murphy
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ome years ago, on a visit to northern Myanmar (Burma), I met a German Sister, a theologian, who had come to give courses to the local clergy. Such courses were common in the territories formerly entrusted to the Columbans, due to Myanmar’s isolation from the rest of the world in the years immediately following the Second Vatican Council. The courses were part of a necessary updating of the local diocesan Church.
The Church in Pakistan
The German Sister had hoped that, at least in that diocese in north Myanmar, there would be as many men as women at Sunday Mass. She was disappointed to find that, even there, women far outnumbered the men in the congregation. Unfortunately it did not strike me at the time to suggest that she go to Pakistan. There certainly she would find as many men as women at Mass. Statistics vary, but 95-97 percent of Pakistan’s population is Muslim. While Christians are the minority in the practice of their religion, Catholics want to show that they in no way lag behind the Muslims. Among the Muslim population, men occupy the main section of the mosque at Friday prayers and do so with great devotion. If women participate, they do so through a window from a separate room, or from behind a curtain. Incidentally, the same practice holds for Jewish women in Orthodox synagogues. Catholic men in Pakistan are 14
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certainly influenced by their Muslim neighbors though they would be loath to admit it. In Pakistani churches, men and women are normally separated with women on one side, men on the other. But in the choir they sing enthusiastically together, accompanied by the tabla (small drums) and baga (mini organ).
Participation on Good Friday The largest Catholic congregations in Pakistan are found during Holy Week and especially on Good Friday. This phenomenon has always prompted Catholic missionaries like ourselves to wonder why this should be. One reason may be because the Muslims do not accept either the crucifixion or the resurrection. According to the Koran, Jesus is the second among the prophets after Mohammed. They even believe that it is Jesus who will come at the end of the world to judge us. But they cannot accept that a prophet would die on a cross, and there can be no resurrection without a death. It is clear then why Catholics would want to demonstrate their faith in these two great mysteries by their enthusiastic participation in these rites. But, the Good Friday rites draw by far the largest crowds and perhaps there is yet another reason for that.
Identification with the Crucified
Christians lead extremely hard lives in Pakistan. Most are from the lowest castes and can
only find work doing the most humiliating tasks. Typically they find jobs sweeping the streets and public places. Consequently they are always poor, and poverty in Pakistan can be extremely cruel. Besides, though the great majority of educated Muslims are tolerant and wish their children to be educated in Catholic schools, there are many extremists who want Pakistan to be totally Muslim. Illiterate people are at the mercy of these extremists, and many will blindly follow them. It is because of this that I have always insisted that the Columban radio programs, aimed at improving relationships between religions, should be broadcast on medium wave and thereby reach even the most isolated villages where everybody is probably illiterate. Like other minorities in Pakistan, Christians are really persecuted. At the present time www.columban.org
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two women stand accused of blasphemy. One has already been sentenced to death while the other’s case is still in process. Even minor disagreements, or the desire to take over a Christian’s land, can lead to false charges of blasphemy. In recent weeks the Governor of the Punjab and the only Catholic Government minister each have been assassinated because they proposed changes to the present blasphemy law. Another example of
discrimination is that if a Christian drinks from a cup at a tea shop, the cup is often immediately broken which is a most humiliating experience for the Christian. In such a climate, Pakistani Catholics easily identify with the Christ of Good Friday, and they flock to the ceremonies on that day. They come in great numbers on Holy Saturday also. On Easter Sunday, Masses will begin very early, at six or seven o’clock and
Education: Road of Hope for the Poor Encouraging Signs of Progress By Fr. Thomas Hanley
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here are many inflated claims made about the state of education and literacy in Pakistan. Those who work directly in this field tell a very different story. Almost everyday children are seen playing in the dirt on the streets during the time they
do is plow and sow the field we find ourselves in and hope that the fruit of our efforts will flow over to the neighboring fields. Having come to St. Columban’s Parish Green Town Lahore, Pakistan, almost two years ago now, this is the effort in which we
will continue until all the faithful have been able to participate. The Pakistani Catholics are truly faithful. CM Columban Fr. Colm Murphy, a specialist in Catholic broadcasting, previously served in Myanmar (Burma), Korea and Brussels. At present he works in Luxeuil, France.
have been engaged. At that time there were 176 students in a sadly dilapidated building with toilets that only the bravest were prepared to use. Many of the female students told me that in the morning before coming to school they never ate or drank anything so as not to have to use the toilet during the day. The schoolroom floors were torn up, and cleanliness was more of a wish than an achievable fact. The generosity of our supporters has changed all of those issues substantially. Now, the school has a new toilet block, four for male students, four for female students and one each for male and female teachers. The roof, which
We look forward to the day when an increased awareness of the value of education and, hopefully, a better standard of living for the people will allow us to work more independently. should be in school. Either their parents cannot afford to send them to school, or their parents really have no awareness of the value of education. The problem is vast, and most of the time all we can hope to www.columban.org
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Students with their exam results
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The [education] problem is vast, and most of the time all we can hope to do is plow and sow the field we find ourselves in and hope that the fruit of our efforts will flow over to the neighboring fields.
Female students at school
was crumbling and dangerous to the students underneath it, has been completely replaced. Many of the schoolroom floors have been replaced with marble tiles, and new steel doors have been put in place. It is important in the prevailing atmosphere to protect the little we have at the school. The immediate positive effect of all of this is seen in the fact that the number of students is now nearly 300. We have a good staff all of whom have a very acceptable level of education including a brother and sister, Waqar and Kirn, who are qualified in the field of science.
Fr. Hanley and the teaching staff
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There is much work that remains to be done. We still don’t have proper school furniture. We have made great efforts to repair some of the old stuff, but we are still coming up short. With the growing number of students, this problem is becoming more acute. In addition, covering the day to day running costs is always a struggle because the school is dependent on the parents paying the fees of their children. Many of them, very often, are unable to pay the fees due to economic hardship. However, we remain hopeful. Just recently we had a very
enjoyable exam result and prize giving day. This encourages the students to strive to do better. Much progress has been made, and we are thankful to God and deeply indebted to the generosity of our benefactors. We look forward to the day when an increased awareness of the value of education and, hopefully, a better standard of living for the people will allow us to work more independently. CM Columban Fr. Thomas Hanley lives and works in Pakistan.
Fr. Hanley and students
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In God We Trust … and Also With One Another by gloria canama
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he headline of one of Pakistan’s national newspapers carried another distressing, even fearful, news “Blasphemy law claims another life” referring to the recent assassination of Salmaan Taseer, Punjab Governor. Minorities of Pakistan found a defender in Taseer as expressed with the message sent around after his death, “Salmaan Taseer was the most courageous voice after Benazir Bhutto on the rights of women and minorities….” There may be mixed responses to this tragic event but all peace-seekers, both Muslim and Christians, shared sadness with another hope dashed, another deep wound of division and intolerance inflicted on one’s own people causing more pain and insecurity. It’s very easy to be judgmental, to be depressed and even paralyzed with fear and hopelessness especially when we focus on what’s being reported in the news. My emotions are heightened when I hear sensationalized news. I personally need to seek and hold on to signs of hope to keep me going. There were moments when I painfully struggled to find meaning and reasons in my continued missionary journey in this “land of the pure,” Pakistan. Yet, I don’t have to look far to find signs of hope. My daily encounters here are filled with experiences of the goodness and hospitality of Pakistanis, both Christians and www.columban.org
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Muslims. All people have dreams and aspirations in life. Dreams of peace, security and life in fullness cross boundaries of culture and belief. Moreover, it’s humbling to learn and experience the truth, goodness and beauty of the other. Naseem’s family has been part of my journey here since I arrived in Pakistan twenty years ago with my lay missionary companions, Pilar Tilos and Emma Pabera. Experiencing their goodness, we thought they were Christians! Likewise as they experienced our goodness, they thought we were Muslims like them. I am always filled with joy and gratitude remembering moments with the whole family who accepted, supported and shared their lives with me. Baji Farida, the mother, also showered me with the same care and concern as she did her own family. All through the years, they let me feel part of their growing family in diverse, humbling ways. I’m always invited to join their family celebrations of weddings, birthdays and Muslim feasts. They remember me in times of sickness and death in the family. They always ask me about the well-being of my family back home, especially of my own mother and father. During the early years, my visits meant two or more days with the family, definitely not just for a few hours. As I got busier with my ministries, my visits became infrequent. Like a prodigal
daughter, I always find Baji Farida and all family members have their arms open and warm to welcome and lavish me with their hospitality and care. Yes, a feast of delicious Pakistani food always followed my homecoming with the mutual sharing of stories, of the joys and difficulties we have experienced in life. During a recent visit, I shared the expectant joy of the family as they await daughter Sarah’s college graduation. She’s the youngest. Like many families at this time, they too are filled with apprehensions of what the future will hold for the young generation when the country seems to be in endless mess, with crises one after the other! “God is Great and merciful. In God we put our hope and trust,” Baji Farida said as she fixed the duppata, or long scarf, covering her head. I say, “Amen.” Once again, Naseem’s family rekindles my hope and trust in the goodness and beauty of all people. Times with them are always moments of grace, when I experience love and the sacred from people whose religion and culture is very different from mine. CM Columban lay missionary Gloria Canama lives and works in Pakistan.
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A Taste of New Life Nurturing Life by Sr. roberta ryan
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T
he sign outside the door reads in Urdu: Hayat e Nau, which literally means new life. This sign gives a tiny inkling of what is happening within the building. Each morning a steady stream of children makes their way inside. Some of the children are carried in by parents or older siblings; others are in wheelchairs and yet more make their way in by walking. For this is a Community Day Center for children and young people with special needs. Some children wear the expression of a flower fully open, drinking in the warmth of the love of those around them. Their eyes are bright and welcoming even though their tiny limbs are withered and sometimes jerk with spasms over which they have no control. Other children are like the closed petals of flowers, wrapped tightly around each other, to
protect a deep, vulnerable, inner core. And in between, there are the mischievous grins of naughty boys; the laughter of friends joking and teasing each other; and the wordless plea for love written on a little girl’s face and spoken from her dark eyes that are often clouded over with the mist of tears. Most of the children, but not all, come from homes touched by the deepest poverty. Often, though not always, they come from places that are places rich in love. Some of their parents bear the burden of not only having a disabled child but also the brunt of negative perceptions and deeply rooted superstitions within the wider community as to why the child was born that way. The temptation, often succumbed to, is to hide the child away. Sometimes, it has been known to happen, a child is sold to a syndicate of beggars or enters the www.columban.org
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chain of human trafficking to be used/abused for profit. No one would wish this fate on any child. Yet, for some parents, love conquers fear, and they find that in caring for their special child they tap into deep well-springs of inner courage and strength that they never knew they had. And often, to their own amazement and wonder, this little one, the most dependent of all their children, awakens them to the mystery of life’s true meaning and gift. However, this in no way takes away from the agony that parents endure in seeking the best way forward for their child or the countless hours spent in looking after their most basic physical comfort and needs, often at great personal cost. An abiding memory for me, and for the others present when it happened, was the wonder and miracle of seeing an autistic child who was sitting in a specially
designed chair that supported his head in a comfortable way lean forward, of his own accord, to gaze in fascination at a toy seal twirling a ball on the tip of its nose, his face transported in awe and delight. It was a moment of new life for us all. Hayat e Nau Community Based Rehabilitation Center came into being through the hard work and patient efforts of committed Catholic layman Javed Sadiq who is its founder and Director.
At the Community Day Center for children and young people with special needs, some children wear the expression of a flower fully open, drinking in the warmth of the love of those around them. The Center seeks to support the family in giving their special child the opportunity to receive the rehabilitation therapy that they need combined with the basic skills of daily life and learning skills suitable to each child’s ability. The Center provides a caring environment that both challenges and affirms, believing that each and every child has the right to a quality of life with dignity.
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The Center operates out of five rented rooms with a small outer courtyard with toilets and showers off it. Currently there are 37 children registered with Hayat e Nau.Twenty two children attend the Day Center, and seven are in our Outreach program. There are eight children on the waiting list to attend the Day Center. Lack of space, and the individual care and treatment plan that each child needs, makes it impossible to help
any more children at the present time. The Center’s facilities are limited but, in spite of this, for many children and their parents Hayat e Nau is a place that nurtures new life and that’s what makes the difference in the lives of the children and their families. CM Columban Sr. Roberta Ryan lives and works in Pakistan.
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Response to a Sacrifice Supporting Peace and Justice by Julie Espina and Emily Laursen
O
n March 2, 2011, those who work toward peace and justice suffered a great tragedy for on that day, Mr. Shahbaz Bhatti, Pakistani Minister for Minority Affairs, was assassinated. Shahbaz Bhatti was the only Christian cabinet member in the majority Muslim country of Pakistan. At great personal risk, he dedicated his life to working toward promotion of universal values of sanctity of life and dignity for all people. He worked for the realization of human rights and a life free of religious discrimination for all. Bhatti’s death removed one of the few Pakistani leaders openly advocating the reform of laws which negatively affect minorities. In February 2010, Julie Espina heard Mr. Bhatti speak at an event in Washington, DC. After hearing about Mr. Bhatti’s assassination, she shared these thoughts: “This is very sad news. I heard Minister Bhatti speak last winter at the Religious Action Center. It was a small, informal event in which perhaps twenty-five people were gathered around a long conference room table to hear Mr. Bhatti speak and to ask him questions about his work. Mr. Bhatti was invited to share about his work in Pakistan and about the challenges he faced. The host of the event stressed the fact that Mr. Bhatti had received threats because of his work, and that especially among extremist groups, he was 20
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not a popular individual. In his presentation, Mr. Bhatti expressed his awareness of the dangers of his job and implicitly stated his willingness to risk his life in order to advance the rights of minorities. I had heard others speak about a willingness to die for a cause, but I had never before heard someone speak of it with such palpable resolution. Despite the gravity of his statements, I have to admit that I left the event without a true understanding of how seriously Mr. Bhatti was putting his life on the line. While listening to him speak in a cushy conference room
“Here was a man whom I had met, whose hand I had shaken, who was brutally murdered for standing up for his beliefs, for trying to make his country a better place.” –Julie Espina on Washington D.C.’s Embassy Row, it required mental effort to grasp the dangerous nature of his career choice. Given my limited understanding of what it means to risk your life for your ideals, I left the event with an incomplete picture in my mind of Mr. Bhatti. He was someone with an international air and a cosmopolitan
vibe who championed the cause of religious, ethnic and cultural minorities in his home country; who visited the U.S. to meet with senior government officials. The idea that he was risking his life for all of that just added some glamour to his reputation. My flawed understanding of Mr. Bhatti’s risk made his assassination more shocking. Here was a man whom I had met, whose hand I had shaken, who was brutally murdered for standing up for his beliefs, for trying to make his country a better place. He had said he understood the risks, was aware of the stakes, knew what he was doing. I just wasn’t able to see the reality of it until I read the headlines announcing his death. For a few days after his assassination, I kept thinking of the event last winter, trying to remember more of what he said. I took his business card out of my card case more than once, staring at the name and title, the embossed green text and official seal. What I kept coming back to was the sense of inspiration I felt during the presentation last February. Even with my limited understanding of the genuine risk he was taking, Mr. Bhatti’s determination to work for peace and justice in the face of opposition provided hope for the future of minority affairs in Pakistan, and in all regions of the world. Mr. Bhatti’s life was an example of a total commitment to WWW.COLUMBAN.ORG
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justice, and it is a shame that Pakistan’s minorities now have one fewer defender. However, I am certain that I am not the only one who was inspired by his words and actions and I remain confident that his sacrifice will not be forgotten, hopeful that his example will be followed.” Upon learning of the assassination of Shahbaz Bhatti, The Columban Center for
Advocacy and Outreach drafted a statement recognizing the immense and unforgettable achievements of Mr. Bhatti. We extended our solidarity to the people of Pakistan and the continuation of Mr. Bhatti’s dream of human rights for minorities in Pakistan. One hundred and twelve individuals signed onto the letter and it was sent it to the Pakistani embassy. People from both the Catholic
and Muslim faiths signed onto the letter, expressing their gratitude for and solidarity with Shahbaz Bhatti. Mr. Bhatti’s life was one committed to justice.We applaud his work and all that he has done in support of peace and justice. CM Julie Espina is an Outreach Associate at the Columban Center for Advocacy and Outreach. Emily Laursen is a former intern at the Columban Center for Advocacy and Outreach in Washington, D.C.
Dear Ambassador Husain Haqqani, We, the undersigned individuals and organizations, express our deep condolences over the assassination of Mr. Shahbaz Bhatti on March 2, 2011. Mr. Bhatti served as the Federal Minister for Minorities in Pakistan and his assassination is a great tragedy. He dedicated, and eventually sacrificed, his life working towards the promotion and institution of universal values of peace and justice that we, as people of faith, hold dear. He passionately advocated for the rights of minorities in Pakistan. We share the same ambitions for the promotion of universal values of sanctity of life and dignity for all people, for which Mr. Bhatti sacrificed his life. We are committed to a world where peace and nonviolence reign. We work towards the promotion of human rights and a life free of religious discrimination for all. We sincerely believe that we are all children of God and should share equally in such values as the right to practice one’s own religion and to speak one’s voice. We promote the peaceful achievement of rights for minorities all over the world. We applaud the immense and unforgettable achievements and strides towards human rights of minorities that Shahbaz Bhatti accomplished. His dream of a world free from religious discrimination, a world in which one has the right to speak one’s mind, as well as the right to practice religion as one chooses, does not die with him, but rather, will live on with each of us. The assassination of Shahbaz Bhatti is a call for a change of Pakistan’s laws that keep minorities vulnerable and excluded. By our endorsement of this statement, we express our solidarity with the people of Pakistan and the continuation of Shahbaz Bhatti’s dream of human rights for minorities in Pakistan.
WWW.COLUMBAN.ORG
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One Family United in Faith “Come and eat, the meal is ready!” Who doesn’t
moved by the kindness Jesus showed for His friends.
have memories of being called to the table with the
It is an image of Jesus that shows His understanding
love and intimacy that comes with a life shared day-
for the need we all have to be loved and nourished in
to-day? These also were Jesus’ words to His beloved
mind, body and soul.
ones after a long night of fishing that yielded no
In fact, Jesus shows that same love for all of us.
catch. For the third time after being raised from
Every time we sit at the table in whatever culture or
the dead, He revealed Himself in this most intimate
country we find ourselves, we experience the same
and ordinary act, the sharing of a meal. (Jn 21:1-14)
generosity and care shown by Jesus to His disciples.
Jesus saw the weariness of His followers and came
From the hands that toiled in and harvested food
to comfort, nurture and
from the earth to the hands that prepared the
care for them.
meal, the people with whom we sit show the same
An important part of
kindness, care and generosity to us. It doesn’t matter
daily life for Columban
if the meal is a grand, multi-course affair or a simple
missionaries is celebrating
sharing of bread. What matters is that we share at
the Eucharist together.
the table, that we share the banquet of life. We are
From the Director
Eucharist people, that is, a community of believers
By Fr. Arturo Aguilar
who in the breaking of bread and sharing of the cup are transformed into the One Body. It is no coincidence that Jesus chose the most
Frequently we share our reflections on the readings
basic and life sustaining acts to demonstrate God’s
of the day. On the occasion of this reading of Jesus
profound love for us. Sharing a meal brings us into
cooking for His disciples, one of my Columban
greater unity and fullness of God’s love and reminds
brothers shared with me that he was struck and
us that we are one family united in faith. The next time you are called to the table or the
Sharing a meal brings us into greater unity and fullness of God’s love and reminds us that we are one family united in faith.
CM AS11 023 final.indd 23
next time you call someone to the table, I invite you to remember that in your meal you are sharing not only the bounty of a harvest, but the abundance of love God has for you and the love to which you are called to share with the world. “Come and eat, the meal is ready!”
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Columban Fathers Legacy Society P.O. Box 10 St. Columbans, NE 68056 Phone Toll Free: 1-877-299-1920 www.columban .org email: plannedgiving@columban.org
CM AS11 024 final.indd 24
An Invitation Calls for a Response We are but clay, formed and fashioned by the hand of God.
That is to say, we are weak and vulnerable but with God’s grace we are capable of great generosity and idealism. Is God calling you to spread the good news? To a life of ministry among those who are less fortunate and more vulnerable than you are?
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…
If you are interested in becoming a Columban Sister, write or call…
Fr. Bill Morton National Vocation Director Columban Fathers St. Columbans, NE 68056 877/299-1920 Email: VOCATIONS@COLUMBAN.ORG
Sr. Grace De Leon National Vocation Director Columban Sisters 2500 S. Freemont Avenue #E Alhambra, CA 91803 626/458-1869
Japan + Korea + Peru + Hong Kong + Philippines + Pakistan + Chile + Fiji + Taiwan + North America
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