Columban Mission June/July 2014

The Magazine of the Missionary Society of St. Columban

June/July 2014

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Volume 97 - Number 4 - June/July 2014

Columban Mission

o n t e n t s

Issue Theme – Exploring the Spiritual Path

Published By The Columban Fathers

Columban Mission (Issn 0095-4438) is published eight times a year. A minimum donation of $10 a year is required to receive a subscription.

Send address and other contact information changes by calling our toll-free number, by sending the information to our mailing address or by e-mailing us at missionoffice@columban.org.

A Life Well Lived

8 CELL Experience

4 A Composite Portrait of Fr. Leo Donnelly

Being a Missionary Today: Comments by Fellow Missionaries

10 The Art of Giving

Inherited Ancestral Response

14 My Korea: Forty Years with a Horsehair Hat

The Experience of One Columban Father in Korea

16 “Pedaling to Live” Update

Helping the Urban Poor

18 When Human Values Are Forgotten…

Power and Corruption Flourish

21 The Last Supper

Experiencing His Presence

Departments 3 In So Many Words 23 From the Director

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Mailing Address: Columban Mission PO Box 10 St. Columbans, NE 68056-0010 Toll-Free Phone: 877/299-1920 Website: WWW.COLUMBAN.ORG Copyright © 2014, The Columban Fathers (Legal Title) Publisher REV. TimOTHY Mulroy, SSC directorusa@columban.org

Editor Kate Kenny kkenny@columban.org

Editorial Assistant Connie Wacha cwacha@columban.org

G RA P HI C DESI G NER KRISTIN ASHLEY

Editorial Board Dan Eminger Jesus Manuel Vargas Gamboa Chris Hochstetler Kate Kenny REV. TimOTHY Mulroy, SSC Jeff Norton Greg Simon Fr. Richard Steinhilber, SSC Connie Wacha Scott Wright

The Missionary Society of St. Columban was founded in 1918 to proclaim and witness to the Good News of Jesus Christ.

The Society seeks to establish the Catholic Church where the Gospel has not been preached, help local churches evangelize their laity, promote dialogue with other faiths, and foster among all baptized people an awareness of their missionary responsibility.

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A Community Garden Genesis tells us that it all began in the Garden, the Garden of Eden. And our hearts are restless, to paraphrase Augustine, until we return to the Garden.

We are created to live with God. It is the journey of our lives to be centered in God’s love, a love which constantly emanates as rays of sunlight shining through the clouds.

Practically, we each need to tend our own garden to metaphorically weed out the things that block us from being transformed. We are invited to nurture in prayer and sacrifice the love that is unconditionally offered to us each day.

Because we do not tend our spiritual garden alone but in the community of those who accompany us on the road, the Columbans in Nebraska are beginning a community garden on our property in St. Columbans. It will be a place to grow vegetables and other edibles. It will be a place to meet neighbors and share chores.

In So Many Words

Several other sustainable gardens have

By Fr. Tom Glennon

appeared in Columban mission countries.

Fr. Brian Gore and coworkers share in God’s

creative design in the Philippines. Fr. Sean Conneely has toiled in vegetable plots in Chicago, Illinois and now in Seoul, South Korea. Chinese Sisters have turned a hand to growing food in their quest for a sustainable style.

In some way, the small community garden beginning in St. Columbans, Nebraska, is a sign of

We are invited to nurture in prayer and sacrifice the love that is unconditionally offered to us each day.

solidarity with people around the world who till the land. And, so, as we trudge through the toils and joys of daily living, let us remember those who work in the fields across mission lands.

And, if we are invited to grow our own community vegetables, let us join the gardens here on earth as we prepare for the eternal land of our heavenly home.

Columban Fr. Tom Glennon lives and works in St. Columbans, Nebraska. www.columban.org

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A Composite Portrait of Fr. Leo Donnelly Being a Missionary Today: Comments by Fellow Missionaries Compiled by Columban Fr. Peter Woodruff, with contributions from Luke and Marion Guthrie (Mildura), Rom Hayes (Bendigo), Srs. Joan Doyle and Patricia McDermot RSM (Sydney), Columban Fr. John Hegerty and Columban Fr. Chris Baker (Lima, Peru)

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fter a lifetime in Peru, Columban Fr. Leo Donnelly passed away in February 2014 following a short illness.

His was a huge life – just like his hands and his heart. Fr. Leo served in nine parishes in Peru: in Lima (on the coast), in Huasa Huasi (in the Andes Mountains), and in Tamshiyacu (in the Amazon jungle region). Besides being a missionary priest for over 50 years he painted, wrote poetry, gardened and published pastoral/theological articles in The Furrow.

This is how Fr. Leo saw our shared mission: “We did not just come to do things for our parishioners and then go home.

We came here to share our lives with the Peruvian people, to live close to them and to value them as daughters and sons of God. As missionaries, we could not bring them the faith because they already had strong faith. What we could do is value them as human beings.”

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Portrait by Martin Valera

Fr. Leo began by learning the ropes of working in a parish, where the hardest thing to bear was the poverty and misery of his parishioners, which “ground away at one’s very soul in the constant encounter with families without hope of changing their wretched situation.”

Even so, Fr. Leo once wrote on returning to Lima in 1971: “It doesn’t take much to get you out

of the doldrums. You are a born optimist or you wouldn’t be in this game at all. All it takes is a word of welcome, a smile, a ‘good to have you with us again’ and you are on your feet and ‘God is in His heaven, all is right with the world.’”

Such was the quality that enabled him to push on when there seemed to be little joy in life: “I arrived back just in time to celebrate my anniversary as a www.columban.org

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priest. Fourteen years of what?

Of frustration and loneliness and pig-headedness and ignorance and misunderstanding? Every step forward seems to have been followed by two backwards.

One minute it is problems with personnel and once you sort them out the work itself or the people start creating others and you lay one burden down to pick up another.”

Fr. Leo always looked for ways of standing with the poor. He moved beyond offering emergency relief to stand with exploited factory workers, campesinos and other groups struggling for a way of life framed by dignity and justice.

He had a soft spot for women of whatever age or status, which originated, at least in part, from his pride in his mother who was orphaned early, put into domestic service at twelve and treated very poorly.

On two occasions that I recall he put his life on the line for justice, once in Lima and later in the rural town of Huasahuasi.

Columban Fr. John Hegerty spoke of one such life-changing moment at Fr. Leo’s funeral Mass: “Fr. Leo was assigned to the parish of St. Martin de Porres when a group of workers, who had been unjustly sacked, occupied the church to go on hunger strike. The police arrived with orders to remove them but Fr. Leo refused access. Then the workers themselves persuaded Fr. Leo to open the doors. This experience of utter disillusionment with the status quo and the dignified courage of powerless factory workers marked for Fr. Leo the beginning of belief in the power and the right of the oppressed – a moment of deep conversion.”

Fr. Leo once wrote: “I have tried to act as a Peruvian priest recommended to a group of young www.columban.org

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The Huasahuasi delegation at Fr. Leo’s graveside

priests who had recently arrived in to Peru: ‘You have come as empty chalices to my people. Allow them to fill to overflowing that chalice with their Gospel. When they have done so then and only then will you hold something of value for them.

You will then articulate for them the Gospel they have given you.’”

Rom Hayes, friend and fellow missionary, reflects on Fr. Leo, the missionary: “He never conformed to programs but operated from the heart with poetic imagination. He loved the poor, and they knew it.

He was at his best when preaching.

The folk felt compelled to listen - a big, bearded man with a big, gentle voice and plenty of poetic images.”

Sisters Joan Doyle and Patricia McDermot wrote: “We always knew what was going to be in his homilies. He had such strong belief in God’s love for everyone, no matter their past or present circumstances, so everyone was always invited to Communion, which Fr. Leo understood as a way of saying: ‘Christ, I need you in my life.’ He believed in ‘the truth’ of every person not ‘the lie’ of racial or cultural exclusion – ‘You and I, we are equal,’ he would often say. It is

now one year since we left Peru and it was Fr. Leo who carried our cases to the car.”

Fr. Leo wrote of his time in Huasahuasi: “In Huasahuasi, in January and May crosses from all over the hills are brought in to the parish church, blessed at a Mass and then carried back to a hillside overlooking a village. Daily life happens in the shadow of His saving cross. The crosses, scattered over the hills, silently proclaim the faith of the residents of this region: ‘We are the people of God; we are one.’ The people I’ve been sent to work among tend to see God not as a strict taskmaster but as God showed Himself to us, as ‘Abba’, a loving and caring father.”

“I was deeply moved and renewed in my own faith by the people of Huasahuasi as they relived and made so real Christ’s redemptive act. At the Easter Vigil the Paschal Candle was lit as a symbol of hope for everyone in the town that had experienced violence and death but looked to a day when injustice would end. Families kept their faith alive and passed it on to their children through this old and ever new ritual.”

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“In my time in Huasahuasi, I buried 28 people who had been murdered by the Shining Path guerrillas. In the beginning they shot people but later they killed with knives. The ordinary farmers and village people of course suffered from both sides. The military would go into a village and burn it down so that the Shining Path guerrillas could not hide there.”

Sister Irene McCormack (an Australian Sister of St. Joseph who worked in Huasahuasi) died with a bullet in the back of her head on May 21, 1991. Fr. Leo went on home leave in mid-1992 and knew that many of his Huasahuasi parishioners doubted he would return. Soon after he returned in early 1993 ten men were killed by Shining Path and, in the midst of the senseless killing, he found himself asking once again, “Who’s next?”

Fr. Leo wrote poetry about much of what he experienced with the poor of Peru: I believe that somewhere in this morass He is there in Spirit inspiring, encouraging, sustaining each and every individual who raises his voice in protest. (1984) Wherever he worked, Fr. Leo nurtured deep friendships with a few people. He was very faithful to keeping in touch with anyone he met through the years. Rom comments briefly on his own experience: “Fr. Leo came to Bendigo nearly forty years ago to see if I would be a suitable Columban volunteer. We were good friends since that time. Fr. Leo was a man of the heart and thus he cherished a good friendship.

He loved a yarn about other Columbans and how he might be able to help them. He helped me 6

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Fr. Leo Donnelly

believe in myself. He was to me a true friend - a man with a large, searching and loving heart. I’d say that Fr. Leo managed to reach each individual missionary as person and friend more than anyone in the history of the Peru region.”

Rom continues: “Fr. Leo was a boss with a difference. His modus operandi was not top down but rather by way of listening and explaining. When divisions amongst the men emerged Fr. Leo tried very hard to bring both parties together and solve the problems.

He was inclined to anguish over difficult decisions but never did the job appear to be too much for him.

He was a great leader from within the ranks.” Columban Fr. Chris Baker, who knew Fr. Leo for 70 years and taught him scripture in the seminary, said of his experience of Fr. Leo as the Columban superior in Lima: “A top priority for him was to have all the Columbans and associate priests living and working in harmony with one another, despite any differences about other options.”

Luke and Marion Guthrie spoke of Fr. Leo with deep gratitude: “From my very first meeting I felt that Fr. Leo and I had a real connection. Both Marion and I visited him in Lima, Peru, where we were able to fulfill one of Marion’s burning desires – to live and work (as English teachers) in a barrio on the periphery of Lima. We did this for twelve months in 2008 and again for six months in 2011. Fr. Leo was a wonderful support to us during these times.”

“He was a great host, and everyone was welcome. Wherever he was he always had visitors calling on him. A lasting memory he leaves with me – his deep faith in his God, his fellow Columbans and the Peruvian people. I am so glad that all of our children have had the privilege to meet such a man as Fr. Leo Donnelly. Fr. Leo was an inspirational servant of God. He was a humble human being who showed respect for every person he met regardless of their station in life.”

Fr. Leo was, for many years, deeply disappointed by the inadequacy of our church leaders’ response to many issues, both within the Church and in our world, but then was extremely heartened by the change of tone and approach introduced by Pope Francis. Fr. John Hegerty, a long-time friend of Fr. Leo, preached at his funeral Mass in Lima. He concluded holding up Pope Francis’ recent letter to all Catholics titled, “The Joy of the Gospel.” John said that if anyone wanted to know how Fr. Leo lived and believed, they would find it spelled out so beautifully in this letter from Pope Francis. CM Editor’s Note: Columban Fr. Leo Donnelly was a generous and regular contributor to Columban Mission magazine. Fr. Leo shared his missionary experience as munificently as he shared his life with the Peruvian people. www.columban.org

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Missionary Society of St. Columban

“Columbans on Mission” Stories Compiled by Fr. Peter Woodruff

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Since 1918, the Missionary Society of St. Columban has been sharing the Gospel in solidarity with the poor throughout the world. Today, Columbans including priests, Sisters and lay missionaries work in fifteen countries around the globe in conjunction with lay men and women within the local communities. Columban Fr. Peter Woodruff spent several years traveling around the Columban world and interviewing the men and women engaged in mission work. The stories collected here provide a rare look at a moment in time in the continuing mission work and the ongoing Columban story. Each story is unique and different, but all of them share in furthering the work of mission today. Explore their first-hand accounts of what it means to be a missionary in today’s ever changing world.

Peter Woodruff, Australian by birth, is a member of the Missionary Society of St. Columban and was ordained in 1967. He worked as a missionary priest in parishes located on the northern periphery of Lima, Peru, where much of his prior vision of life was challenged and reshaped by a radically different social reality where the quest for social change and an emerging liberation theology provoked a lengthy and rather chaotic review of many aspects of life and Christian faith. Since leaving Peru in 2009, Peter has traveled to countries where Columban missionaries work, interviewing priests, Sisters, lay missionaries and those with whom they work.

He has written and ghostwritten many stories that serve as raw material for the three English language mission magazines of the Columbans in Australia and New Zealand, U.S., Ireland and Britain. Peter currently lives in Australia.

Order Your Copy Today!

Author Peter Woodruff

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Call 888-795-4274 ext. 7879, order online at www.xlibris.com, www.amazon.com, www.barnesandnoble.com or visit your local bookstore.

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A Life Well Lived Freed by Forgiveness

By Columban lay missionary lilibeth Sabado

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ne of the highlights of my stay in Pagadian during my home vacation in the Philippines was the regular gatherings I had with my high school batch mates. I definitely consider this group to be my second family because of the friendship that we’ve established through the years. With them, I feel comfortable enough to share both the easy and tough times and to just be myself. One day during 8

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my vacation, we agreed to visit a classmate. I was so excited to see him after 26 years. But just before the visit, some of our batch mates who regularly visit Jovito said, “his situation is really unfortunate, you might cry in front of him, heaven forbid, don’t.”

Most of us have significant dates that we remember. For ordained religious, it would be the dates of their ordination and final vows, for most people their birthdates, for married couples

their anniversaries, and so on.

These dates are well remembered and observed mostly with a special meal or a celebration. But there are also those who remember significant dates because of a misfortune, a disaster, a loss. Either way, one event in one’s life can mark a new beginning, a new unfolding, a change.

January 4, 1989, is a significant date for Jovito Ubanan, a high school classmate who used to be known as one of the tallest and gentlest people in our class. He was a famous student known for his patience, artwork and strong voice.

It was on this day that he was able to stand up and walk for the last time. Who would have imagined that at the age of 20, the dreams and hopes of this tall, soon-to-be graduating young man would crash down with him when he fell on the ground? Jovito’s world collapsed. www.COlUMBAn.ORg

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This horrible incident happened while Jovito was visiting an uncle. Jovito and his Dad went out to buy something when all of a sudden Jovito was down on the ground, bleeding. He can still recall the commotion that occurred after he was gunned down by an unknown assailant that quickly got away. He was shot with a .38 caliber injuring his spinal column that caused an irreversible paralysis to his lower extremities. Jovito is now 42 years old and has been confined in bed for 22 years.

The day we visited Jovito, we saw him lying on the bed. He still looked the same, his skin is fair, hair neatly combed, smiling, laughing, and greeting us by name. He reached out his arms and hugged each one of us. He said, “You all look older, I missed all of you.”

When I saw him, I was struck with what I saw and struggled not to cry. I saw near his bed was a table, rice cooker, bottled water.

By the wall over the headboard was a tiny mirror, a small sliding window, some books. A Bible was placed on an improvised bookshelf just above the window. Different electrical switches, a sound system, and an altar were on the right side of the wall. An innovative electric charcoal fan that he designed was located near his foot. And, all around, the room was filled with his artwork.

My sighs were covered by the laughter of our friends and the exchange of stories of our years in high school; how some of us escaped, cut classes tricked our teachers, how some classmates copied the wrong and right answers www.columban.org

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and how others kneeled and prayed the rosary especially after being caught late in the flag ceremony. It was a precious time for us recalling all our carefree moments in high school.

After our bouts of laughter ended, a deafening silence followed.

To break it, I asked how he had been. His reply was short and simple, “Life must go on.” I was amazed at how he spontaneously answered my question; his eyes expressed a genuine peace. Before we left, the group gathered in prayer then took some photos as remembrance of that sacred and

Who would have imagined that at the age of 20, the dreams and hopes of this tall, soon-to-be graduating young man would crash down with him when he fell on the ground? Jovito’s world collapsed. memorable afternoon. After a few days, I returned to Jovito’s place to bring him copies of the pictures and to ask his permission if I could write this article about him. With all humility, he said yes.

What deeply amazed me was that, despite his condition, Jovito is living on his own, independent from his family. Both his parents are aging, and are taken care of by one of his siblings. His other siblings have their own families.

He earns a living by managing a welding shop that was established

for him by his father. He manages three full-time workers. His physical condition does not hinder him from living his life to the fullest. Seeing him in this condition was overwhelming yet inspiring.

This man who is physically challenged is far more productive compared to a completely ablebodied person who easily takes his God-given strength for granted and doesn’t use it.

Jovito cannot walk nor stand, yet his inner strength makes him one of the strongest men I know.

Despite going through a lot of turmoil in his life, he has the courage and determination to face life head on. He was crushed to the ground, but his strong heart allowed him to soar high above his circumstance. Jovito has grieved the loss of the life he couldn’t have when he lost control of parts of his body, but he is determined not to let it engulf him.

There would be times when, like the apostle Thomas, Jovito doubted and questioned God. But even with all the uncertainties, he clings to his faith and hope in God. He has forgiven the man who shot him, and his forgiveness freed him. He is at peace with his past and how it has changed him. CM

Originally from the Philippines, Columban lay missionary Lilibeth Sabado is the coordinator of the Columban Lay Missionary Central Leadership Team.

Lilibeth lives in Hong Kong.

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The Art of Giving Inherited Ancestral Response

By Fr. Tom RouseBy Serafina Vuda

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ijians know what to do in response to any major event that takes place in the life of the community, whether that community is their immediate family, tribal group, parish, or society at large. Such an event may be the birth of a child or the death of someone whom they knew, either a family member or someone within their parish. Other events include welcoming a person of importance or a new member of a parish, ceremonies of farewell, marriages, and the opening of special gatherings, like a bazaar or the beginning of a parish executive meeting.

The reason why they know what to do is that they know what to give and how to give it. From their ancestors, they inherited a set of rituals that underlie the ceremonial 10

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giving of three types of gifts, each of which could be given on its own or, depending on the significance of the occasion or the importance of the person being honored or welcomed, all three could be presented in the same ceremony.

The most important gift is the tabua or the whale’s tooth.

This is a large ivory tooth that is extracted from the whale. Now it is forbidden by law to take a tabua out of Fiji, because it is considered to be an endangered species. The presentation of a tabua can be an impressive ceremony.

Secondly, and more commonly, yaqona is presented. Yaqona is more widely known as kava. It is a shrub whose botanical name is piper methysticum. On a very formal occasion, the whole shrub would be presented and later pounded into

powder form and then, by means of a cloth, sieved into water to create that liquid some people rudely call “muddy water.” Associated with the yaqona ceremony is the presentation of what is called the wase ni yaqona or the food that has been prepared for a very formal gathering, which is usually a pig that has been cooked in an earthen oven.

Thirdly, there are the ibe or mats woven with strips of pandanus leaves and the masi or cloths made from the bark of the mulberry tree.

During a very formal presentation, it is the women who bring these in first and place them before the seated elders prior to the presentation of the tabua. On the occasion of a funeral, some of these would be used for wrapping around a coffin during the burial ceremony. www.COlUMBAn.ORg

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The significant thing about these three types of gifts is that they all refer back to the vanua, the land, the resting place of the ancestors and the source of life. The tabua or whale’s tooth is known as na bati ni vanua or “the teeth of the land.” The yaqona or kava is spoken of as na wai ni vanua or “the water of the land.”

And the mats and bark-cloth are called na iyau ni vanua or “the wealth of the land.”

Now the words that are spoken in carrying out these ceremonies normally follow a set pattern.

There are also people within any Fijian community who, because they belong to a particular tribe or are gifted speakers or have status, are responsible for or called upon to carry out such ceremonies.

While there are variations, the general pattern is as follows. First of all, the speaker or presenter of the gift would acknowledge the land (vanua), the people to whom the gift is being presented and also the people who are presenting the gift.

Secondly, the speaker would explain the purpose of the gift –

for example, to express sorrow or appreciation, to welcome or bid farewell.

Thirdly, as an expression of humility the speaker would say that this is such a small gift – and the people receiving the gift would all shout levu or, in other words, “no! it is great.”

The fourth part of the speech would be a request for forbearance on the part of the hosts or those receiving the gift, asking them to forgive anything offensive that may be unwittingly done by those who have come to present their gift.

Finally, there would be the concluding reference, once again, to the two lands or peoples that have come together in the presentation of this gift and this would lead to a familiar phrase which would end with the speaker sonorously raising his voice and calling out, “a tu-u-u-u…” And the people to whom the gift is presented respond with a deep guttural expression of appreciation.

Then there are the words of acknowledgement or thanks and

the “touching” or reception of the gifts. The speaker on behalf of those receiving the gift will go and physically touch the gift with both hands as a way of expressing their wholehearted acceptance of this gift and these people.

This is followed by the sharing or drinking of kava, emotional encounters between long-lost friends, animated conversations, and on some occasions, when appropriate, singing and dancing.

These occasions last well into the night and often even into the following day.

So when it comes to giving or expressing their feelings on any given occasion, the Fijian people have got it down to a fine art. CM

Columban Fr. Tom Rouse lives and works in Fiji.

Anita’s Plea

By Fr. Cyril lovett

Allow me the shreds of my dignity I came to your country only Because I had to flee from my own I am a refugee not an immigrant And I do not feel welcome here.

I’ve had to leave members of my family My own flesh and blood who may be alive Or dead, buried or exposed to the elements I still hope that there may be life before death And I do not feel welcome here.

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I have lived through horror and humiliation I have memories that I dare not recall I try to numb the depths of my pain I fear to relax, to sleep or to dream And I do not feel welcome here.

I know you have your own suffering: Pain, loss, trauma and grief Touch every human life in some measure But you are still among your own, in your place And I do not feel welcome here.

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CELL Experience Relearning the Forest Wisdom of Our Ancestors

By Mercy Gawason

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y Name is Mercy Gawason. My Subanen ancestors were the first humans to occupy Zamboanga peninsula in Northwestern Mindanao, the Philippines.

In the old days we survived by foraging in the forests and later by growing corn and root crops on small hillside plots next to the forest. Then settlers from other islands started making farms on the Subanen land, and we retreated deeper into the forest and mountains. Finally, logging companies began full scale operations in the forest. Now only second growth forest remains.

My parents and my siblings now survive on a small plot where we grow corn. This tiny bit of land is our last stand. We have nowhere else to go. The Columbans are helping us and other Subanens keep and develop the little land we have.

The Columbans Sisters were the first to start a ministry specifically for the Subanen people. Over the past three decades, their Subanen Ministry has helped the Subanens

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in the parish of Midsalip through programs that promote literacy, hillside agriculture, and tribal land rights.

About eight years ago the Subanen Ministry recommended me to another Columban ministry called Subanen Crafts. Subanen Crafts was started by Columban Fr. Vincent Busch. Subanens are expert basket weavers. The Subanen Crafts Project has adapted our traditional basket-weaving skills to produce saleable crafts such as “Creation Mandalas” and inlaid Christmas cards. With income from the project I can help feed my family especially during ting gutom or “the hunger season.” “The hunger season” is the time after we have consumed all of our harvested crops and have to survive for many months with very little to eat. Poor nutrition leads to serious illnesses, and during “hunger season” many Subanen families have had to sell their land and farm animals to pay for medicine and hospital costs.

Although I can help my family during “hunger season,” other

Subanen families are not so fortunate. All Subanen families need to find ways to make our land more productive without using expensive fertilizers. In the old days Subanens used what the forest offered. Our ancestors harvested abaca, fruit, nuts, fuel, edible leaves, and medicinal herbs from the forest. Back then, the forest was big and bountiful. Now our forest is almost gone because of the logging and burning. As I said before the Subanens have no more forest to retreat into. The little land we have is our last stand.

To learn more about how to use our land more productively, the Subanen Crafters attended a seminar at yet another Columban Project called CELL, “The Center for Ecozoic Living and Learning.”

Columban Fathers Frank Carey and Dom Nolan helped establish CELL as a center for learning practical ways to produce more and to eliminate waste in the lives of ordinary Filipinos. We brought a camera with us so we could photograph our experience. CELL

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is near Manila, and so we were a little afraid since not only was CELL far away but also we had to speak in Tagalog. Tagalog is our third language, and although we learned it in school we were not used to using it in conversation.

Thank God the seminar was handson, and the CELL staff used simple Tagalog.

Our experience at CELL was similar to our traditional agriculture in that we learned how to use the forest as part of our garden. In a sense we relearned the forest wisdom of our ancestors but on a smaller scale. We learned what trees provide food as well as keeping the hillside soil from eroding. We learned how to make fertile soil from compost and from worm tailings. We learned how to grow herbs and vegetables in

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small plots. We even learned how to make bio-gas and fertilizer from human waste. For protein we saw how we can raise chickens and rabbits by feeding them leaves from certain trees. They even had a fish pond at CELL. All that we learned at CELL will benefit more than the Subanens.

Our mountains are also the watershed area for the rivers and streams that provide irrigation for lowland rice farmers. If we can help reforest our mountains with trees, then we can also enhance a vital watershed. This watershed is now threatened by mining operations that want to strip mine our mountains. The Subanens and the low-land farmers oppose strip mining, but we are up against very powerful and rich people who can buy influence in high areas. Experts

in sustainable economies say that our watershed is much more valuable as a long term agricultural resource than it is as a short term resource for the strip mining companies.

After our CELL seminar, we returned to our workshop in Mindanao where we crafted our Christmas Cards. This year our cards celebrate Christmas throughout the story of God’s Creation. Our forest and soil are God’s gifts to us, and our care of His gift is our way of thanking Him. One of our Christmas cards shows Mary placing Jesus in the manger of our blue-green planet. We believe He abides with us now in the manger of our mountain home. CM Mercy Gawason is a Subanen crafter with the Columban craft project in the Philippines.

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My Korea: Forty Years without a Horsehair Hat The Experience of One Columban Father in Korea

By Fr. Kevin O’Rourke Hardly a day goes by that I don’t recall the Song dynasty poet’s lament

for 70 years of listening without understanding to the patter of spring rain on

the river.

I listen on, still hoping for the flash of that elusive harmonics of the heart.

“Spring Rain” explains what I’ve been doing in Korea for the last fifty years. And I’m still waiting for that elusive harmonics of the heart.

My Korea: Forty Years without a Horsehair Hat is a cultural introduction to Korea, part memoir, part miscellany, which introduces traditional and contemporary culture through a series of essays, stories, anecdotes and poems. The book seeks to tell the reader all that he or she needs to know for a full and rewarding life in Korea. Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism, relationships, everyday living, language and literature are comprehensively covered. Newcomers to Korea are provided with insights into daily life. They are told how to deal with people and the intricacies of honorific language, how to handle name cards and business dealings, how to be comfortable with social 14

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ranking, how to deal with the task of learning the language, and how to react when they bump into the cultural wall. For long term residents and the general reader the book provides an in-depth introduction to traditional and contemporary culture.

I’ve been a Columban in Korea since 1964. The Columbans traditionally worked in the parish apostolate, but for a long time there have been enough Korean priests to care for the people. In fact we now have many young Korean Columbans, students, priests and

lay missionaries, serving overseas in our various mission areas, and many diocesan priests are joining Columban mission overseas as volunteers.

The 1960s, when I arrived in Korea, were all about economic recovery from the disaster of the Korean War. The churches were poor but strong and vibrant, and there was a great spirit of helping your neighbor. We didn’t have much material wealth, but we didn’t lack for very much either.

I belonged to the first group of Columbans to get formal language training. As a consequence of our exposure to language training over a long period, I saw a need to learn as opposed to the more traditional idea of teaching, and so I found myself branching into an area of ministry that was novel in Korea but which has been an integral part of church service in East Asia since Ricci’s time in China. I took as my missionary project the introduction of Korean literature to the Englishspeaking world, a rather exotic idea in the 1960s which garnered more opposition than support.

As I enter my sixth decade of service in Korea, I find that I have largely achieved what I set out to do, namely to present one man’s vision of a nation’s literature, from the 6th century to the present day.

I’m retired now, but I spent thirty www.columban.org

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years in Kyunghee University in Seoul as professor of English poetry and translator of Korean literature.

The two disciplines combined very nicely.

During my teaching career, I published many translations of classical and contemporary fiction and poetry including the Yi Munyol novella Our Twisted Hero (Hyperion 2001); The Book of Korean Shijo (Harvard 2002); A Hundred Love Poems from Old Korea (Global Oriental 2005), and The Book of Korean Poetry: Songs of Shilla and Kory (Iowa University Press 2006). My Korea: Forty Years without a Horsehair Hat (Renaissance Books, Global Oriental 2014) is the crowning achievement of what I have tried to do as a missionary. It stands as a correlative of my Korea experience; as such it is literature rather than history, sociology or memoir.

My book doesn’t explain Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism, or anything else in Korean culture.

It tries to illustrate what living is like in a culture where these systems dominate, using episodes in the lives of Columbans over the last eighty years to dramatize collisions with the cultural wall.

My book took 30 years to write, not because of the difficulty of the project, but because my ideas on what was happening around me constantly changed. What was true thirty years ago is not necessarily true today. There is no fixed rule for all. So as the book wrote itself over a long period of time, every line changed a hundred times. I was trying to illustrate the deeper reality of life in Korea, something that you can’t put into words.

Hyeshim’s poem “Lotus Pond” (13th century) says it all: www.columban.org

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No wind, no swell; a world so various opens before my eyes.

No need for a lot of words: to look is to see.

Poetry without words is the province of the poet. I discovered very quickly that looking and seeing are not the same thing.

But I kept looking, and I kept trying to see. The characters in my book are all partly real, partly fictional. Over the years they’ve begun to reflect aspects of me and my experience of Korea. They are masks for something that remains unspoken, the more impressive for not being spoken. My book gives the Columban experience of the cultural wall. Living the experience has been a lot of fun.

Thomas Merton tells a wonderful story about Duke Hwan and a wheelwright. The duke was reading a heavy tome of philosophy in the palace yard while the wheelwright made a wheel. Eventually, the wheelwright, overcome with curiosity, asked the duke, “What are you reading, My Lord?”

“The experts, the authorities” the duke said.

“Alive or dead?” the wheelwright asked.

“Dead, long dead,” said the duke.

“Then,” said the wheelwright, “You are reading the dirt they left behind.”

“That remark deserves death,” cried the duke. “I hope you can explain yourself.”

“Look at it from my point of view,” said the wheelwright. “When I make a wheel, if I go too easy, the wheel falls apart. If I’m too rough, the wheel won’t fit. For the wheel

to be what I want it to be, I must be neither too easy nor too rough.

You cannot put this in words. You just have to know how to do it.”

Like Merton’s wheelwright, here I am in my seventies still trying to put into words what cannot be described in words. I am aware that the men of old took all they knew with them to the grave.

So what you read in my book is only the dirt they left behind. But I’m convinced that even the dirt they left behind has a romance, a depth, a dream quality that makes telling the story worthwhile. “Dialog,”

by Cho Byunghwa, is one of my favorite poems: An old man and a boy walked

side by side.

“How far are you going?” The

old man asked the boy.

“A long way,” the boy replied.

“How far are you going, sir?”

“Over the next hill,” the old

man said.

“What have you in your

satchel, boy?”

“Dreams,” the boy replied.

“What have you in yours?”

“Nothing now,” the old man said.

“Are dreams heavy?” The old

man asked.

“Yes,” the boy murmured, “very heavy.” CM

Columban Fr. Kevin O’Rourke lives and works in Seoul, South Korea.

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“Pedaling to Live” Update Helping the Urban Poor

By Virgie Vidad

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zamiz City is relatively a small city located at the northwestern part of Mindanao and is one of three cities of the province of Misamis Occidental. It has a seaport which caters ships from the Visayas and Luzon and also has regular daily flights of commercial planes from Cebu and Manila. Within the city, tricycle sikad is not only the main mode of transportation but also the cheaper mode of going through around the city. While there are motorcabs as the other means of transportation in the city, tricycle (sikad) occupies 70% of the vehicles in the streets roaming around the city to transport passengers.

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A survey found that tricycle drivers are living in the slum areas and rent small rooms. Their living conditions are very unsafe and unhealthy. These drivers are renting the tricycle from an operator/ entrepreneur. Most of their families rely only on the income of the husband as tricycle drivers. The maximum earnings a day of the driver is only 200-250 pesos (U.S. $4.47-$5.58). Each family has four to six children which means the income is not enough for their daily needs especially if their children are studying.

It was due to this situation that the “Pedaling to Live” project came into existence. Columban

Fr. Oliver McCrossan took the initiative to look for sponsors to rent to own tricycles for qualified drivers with the end result that the drivers will eventually own the tricycles. Initially there were 40 tricycle drivers who were given the full ownership of tricycle after two years of religiously paying the amortization. Another 40 tricycles were distributed to another set of drivers who paid in full the tricycles after another two years. In only eight years, this project released 100 tricycle units!

Because other tricycle drivers in the city know the benefits of being involved in the “Pedaling to Live” project including the possibility www.columban.org

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of engaging into other livelihood activities, many drivers would want to join the project. Those who are already beneficiaries of the project want to get involved in the livelihood activities of the Pedaling to Live project.

Green Shelter Housing

Of the 100 direct sikad beneficiaries, only fourteen families became beneficiaries of the “Green Shelter Housing” project. These beneficiaries of the housing project represent only 14% of the total number of beneficiaries of the “Pedaling to Live” project.

Obviously, there are more sikad drivers in the city that still aspire to own their tricycle units and be freed from renting oneroom housing units in the poorest section of the city. They want their children to be transferred to a healthy environment with fresh air to breathe and a place where they can grow their own vegetables.

Livelihood Activities

These fourteen drivers and their families in the housing project

are engaging in other livelihood activities. They started a livestockraising operation out of their own contributed capital. Their wives are engaged in backyard gardening and doormat making which will give them more income for the family.

Family Involvement

The wives of the drivers are assisting their husbands in supporting their families. They help in cleaning the piggery and feeding the pigs. On top of that, they personally do the gardening where potable vegetables are not only sold to neighbors but also used for family consumption.

The women also make doormats which are sold to their neighbors.

Slowly the wives are becoming more aware that they need to be actively involved in the support of their families.

The women decided to expand their livelihood projects to include rice trading. Additionally, the women have started to bag their rice production using recycled materials (“titra-pack”). This is one

way of helping and promoting the clean and green program of the city and at the same time they can earn income out of the waste materials.

These projects follow the principle that, “if a man gives a kilo of fish to the poor, he feeds him for a day; but if a man teaches the poor how to do fishing, he feeds the poor their whole life.” The goal of the project is not to give a handout, but a hand up to the urban poor in Ozamis City.

First, the driver purchases his own tricycle effectively becoming a small business owner. Then, the driver has the opportunity to become a homeowner with the Green Shelter Housing project.

Completing the circle, the entire family engages in livelihood projects, animal husbandry and income-generating projects.

These changes will not come overnight, but they will endure, literally a road out of poverty for future generations. CM Virgie Vidad works with Columban Fr. Oliver McCrossan on the “Pedaling to Live” project in the Philippines.

New drivers and their families with their pedicabs www.columban.org

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When Human Values Are Forgotten…

Power and Corruption Flourish

By Fr. Maurice Foley

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he world was shocked after World War II when the news of the sterilization of Jews and Gypsies by Nazi Germany was reported. Horrible indeed as was that inhuman episode, it didn’t seem to have made a difference in Peru in 1995 to the population planners who set about sterilizing all the Indian and rural women of the Peruvian highlands. A figure of 400,000 women sterilized is

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probably exaggerated, but the number is in excess of a quarter of a million.

When the human person is taken for just another commodity, human values are forgotten, power takes over and the law is compromised. This in terms of a civilized society is hard to understand, yet the intimate details of how a modern human being is subjected to a betrayal of her human dignity can only be explained in terms of what happened. Michaela Flores received three calls from the local health center in Curabamba, Anta, Cusco.

On the third call she answered with

her husband and went to what they were led to believe was a health campaign. On arrival there were about 50 women waiting in the arrival area. They were obliged to board an ambulance which brought them to a medical center. She was then obliged to lie down on a stretcher and was promptly tied hands and feet. While pleading to be let go, someone applied an injection which put her to sleep. Later, she woke up with a distinct sensation of being drugged and a burning pain in her lower abdomen. As she looked around she discovered she was not alone. There were several women groaning and calling for their husbands. In the midst of this suffering, the voice of a doctor told the women “You have to thank President Fujimori now because you will never more have any children.” From that time Michaela confesses that she had a tumor, pains in her legs and is in continual pain. She cannot work in the fields anymore and neither can her friends and neighbors who have been through the same ordeal. For some of her friends and neighbors, the result has been a break-up of their families.

The intimate details of their operations caused shame, so they remained silent for years, but now that the full story of what happened is out, they are glad to speak out and demand justice. In 1995 in Beijing, China, at an international women’s meeting, poverty was set forth as the greatest threat to humanity. A deputy of the Peruvian Parliament, Hilaria Supa, was the only Peruvian Deputy from the www.COlUMBAn.ORg

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Andes region and in a plenary meeting with Fujimori, then President of Peru, he wanted ideas.

Hilaria protested that this could only be done with a survey to find out what the people thought and would consent to. Later she was to discover that there was a project already elaborated to prevent the birth of babies to women in the poorer areas. This was called “the green plan.” Page nine of this green plan had as its object to stop as soon as possible the demographic growth among those who were culturally backward, and the area of Apurimac and other areas were targeted in a process known as AQV= Anticoncepcion Quirurguica Voluntaria in Spanish. In English, the plan would translate to Voluntary Contraceptive Surgery.

For this AQV program, quotas were established for the respective health centers, and prizes were also accorded to professionals who exceeded their quotas. A review of the records kept in those days give us the following figures for AQV— 1993=19,261; 1994=28,251; 1995=32,283 and on. In the year 1997 the minister for health reported to Fujimori that for the first seven months of that year 64,831 AQV had been accomplished which was 43% of the quota of 150,000 for the year.

This all happened in the years of Fujimori ably assisted by Vladimiro Montesinos. There were three ministers for health involved in this inhuman and anti-cultural, national insult. Mothers engaged in the daily combat with poverty were not in a position to challenge the government ministry for health. www.columban.org

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Organizing the other victims of a similar experience took time, but their insistence has finally paid off with the formation of the group A Woman’s Association of All Those Affected by Forced Sterilizations. Their first initiative was to present before the court a recourse of annulment of a case presented by the court official, the Fiscal, to exonerate those who were involved in the forced sterilization campaign of President Fujimori. In Peruvian law the Fiscal approves or rejects cases that are presented to the court. In the case of the Green

When the human person is taken for just another commodity, human values are forgotten, power takes over and the law is compromised.

Plan Sterilization, the Fiscal Marco Guzman, rejected the case made against those implementing the Green Plan. However, for the death of Mamerta Chavez who died in the sterilization campaign, two doctors were accused, Segundo Cerna and Carlos Rueda, and as well indicated some blame in the case of Enrique Marroquin and Edina Zavaleta.

With respect to the rejection of the case presented by the Women’s Association another approach to

the courts has been recommended

by Christian Salas, a lawyer for the anti-corruption courts. This approach has been backed up by the Ministry for Women.

Dr. Luis Figari, minister for health in the government of Dr. Toledo, ordered an investigation to the whole program carried out by Fujimori which also adds substance to the evidence brought by the Women’s Association to overturn Fiscal Marco Guzman’s decision not to admit the case brought against the sterilizations in the Green Plan of Fujimori and proceed with the prosecution of all those who were involved in the implementation of the forced sterilizations under the Green Plan.

The Women’s Association has only recently introduced their case and will have to fight a legal battle to vindicate the monstrous ordeal to which they have been subjected.

They are simple poor campesinas and are taking on the smartest legal experts in the country. However, their success goes far beyond the confines of medical practice. When power goes unchecked in the modern state, the savage instinct in man is unleashed, and civilization is reduced to a dominant social fashion. In such a situation there are no guarantees for anybody. CM Columban Fr. Maurice Foley lives and works in Peru.

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Enjoy Peace of Mind with a Mass Trust with the Columban Fathers “The faithful who make an offering so that Mass can be celebrated for their intention(s) contribute to the good of the Church and by that offering they share in the Church’s concern for the support of its ministers and its activities.” ~ Canon 946 of the Code of Canon Law What is a Mass Trust?

A Mass Trust is a sum of money that you entrust to the Columban Fathers for Masses to be celebrated for you after your death.

The Columbans are obligated to arrange for these Masses to be celebrated immediately upon notification of death.

How many Masses are included in a Mass Trust?

The number of Masses is determined by the usual and customary stipend for Masses at the time of decedents passing.

Example: If the customary stipend for a Mass is $20 and the value of a Mass Trust is $200 – 10 Masses will be celebrated upon your death.

What does a Mass Trust cost and who can have one?

The minimum amount to establish a Mass Trust is $200. When a Mass Trust is established, a certificate will be sent to you. This certificate should be kept with your important papers with the instructions that it be returned to us with notification of your death. You can establish a Mass Trust for a person other than yourself.

What are the advantages of a Mass Trust?

A Mass Trust provides for the immediate offering of Masses for the repose of your soul upon the notification of your death.

This avoids the delays encountered in the process of probating a Last Will and Testament. Having this assurance will give you peace of mind in this important matter. A Mass Trust does not become part of your estate, and it relieves your family or your executor from the responsibility of seeing that Masses are offered.

Return form to: Columban Fathers • P.O. Box 10 • St. Columbans, NE 68056-0010 Toll Free: 1-877-299-1920 • Email: mission@columban.org • www.columban.org Please Print Clearly and Completely q Enclosed please find $

for a Mass Trust ($200 or more).

Your Name Address City State

Zip

Phone

Zip

Phone

q I would like a Mass Trust for myself q I would like a Mass Trust for Please send a certificate to: Name Address City State

Columban Mission June July14 final.indd 20

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The Last Supper Experiencing His Presence

By Fr. Shay Cullen

B

efore we leave on a journey, move or migrate abroad many of us like to gather with family and friends. We give them a parting gift, something symbolic so our love and friendship will be remembered and our life will be recalled and cherished. It can be a photograph or favorite book, a recorded video or audio message.

Jesus left no such mementoes by which to be remembered. He left something greater; He left Himself present to all. The meal of bread and wine, The Last Supper, or the Eucharist, is much more than a farewell party, more than a religious rite and more than a religious obligation. It’s a unique spiritual event through which Christians experience His presence and during which the redemption of humankind that He brought about

by His life, death and resurrection is re-enacted and renewed.

During the Eucharist we are called to be true and faithful disciples–to be another Christ. We are called to serve others as Jesus did–helping the poor, lifting up the downtrodden, releasing captives, healing the sick, challenging the causes of poverty and oppression, helping orphans and widows. This is the way to extend His presence and love in the world–through unselfish service.

It was not by chance that Jesus shocked His disciples during the Last Supper when He began to wash their feet. This was the work of a domestic servant, and Peter refused until Jesus told him he could not be a disciple unless he www.columban.org

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accepted. He gave them and us this example of discipleship. This is an important part of the Eucharist; it bonds us to Jesus and to each other in a commitment without asking for rewards.

A true disciple must take an active stand for the truth, justice and dignity of every person. The Eucharist not only gives us the spiritual power to embrace such principles but the courage to act for and on behalf of the abused, exploited, sick and the hungry.

When this meaning is lost and the Eucharist becomes more of a church ritual than a dynamic call for commitment to community service then we will have empty pews and fewer Christians.

The preaching of Jesus and His compassion for the poor and the outcasts was at the heart of the Kingdom of God. He uplifted their human dignity, restored them in the “image and likeness of God.” All were to be treated equally as children of God. That’s the basis of our declarations on human rights as we know them today. When we defend them we are taking a stand as Jesus did. We take the risks He did.

He paid the ultimate price for His unwavering faithfulness to the Father – death by crucifixion. The rulers of the day saw Jesus as a threat to their power and authority.

Before He was falsely accused, arrested, tortured and executed, He left us the Eucharist.

Food and drink are the essentials of life, both spiritual and physical.

The symbolism and the reality became one when He and His

disciples celebrated the Jewish Passover meal. This recalled the historical deliverance of the Jewish people from the slavery of Egypt when Moses led them into the desert, into a covenant with God. During the supper, Jesus broke the bread and gave it to His disciples and said “This is my body which is given for you, do this in memory of me.” In the same way, He gave them the cup after the supper saying, ‘”This cup is a new covenant sealed in my blood, poured out for all.”

When Jesus told His disciples and believers to “Do this in memory of me,” it wasn’t just a sentimental ritual He left, but a memorial of His life, death and resurrection. That is why reading and reflecting on the Gospel account of His life is so important. We are called to imitate Him, “to put on Christ” as St. Paul says and be doers of the Word and not just listeners.

The Eucharist is the moment when Jesus is present among us, inspiring us to go out and preach His Word and fulfill His mission.

We can’t be true to Him if we don’t bend down and “wash a foot.”

Through faith in Jesus Christ we are one with God. When we break the bread and share the cup we celebrate this and commit ourselves to imitate Him and continue His mission to transform the world.

Above all, the Eucharist is the living presence of Christ who is always with us. CM Columban Fr. Shay Cullen has been a missionary in the Philippines since 1969.

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“I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.”

In the same way that Christ called the disciples to unity when He shared these very words with them at the Last Supper, Columban missionaries around the world live in unity with the poor, the downtrodden, the marginalized, those that pray with them and for them, and those that give their support through their kindness and generosity.

We are deeply grateful for your prayerful support and want you to know that the unity of support can continue after you are called into our Savior’s loving embrace. By becoming a member of the Columban Fathers’ Legacy Society, you will ensure that the Call to Communion continues to ring out around the world, offering others the opportunity to share in the unity of Christ’s Table.

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~ John 17:20-21

Please remember the Columban Fathers in your estate plans.

For more information regarding membership in our Legacy Society, obtaining our legal title or for a handy booklet on how to prepare a will, contract Chris Hochstetler at: Columban Fathers P.O. Box 10 St. Columbans, NE 68056 Phone: 402/291-1920 fax: 402/291-4984 toll-free 877/299-1920 www.columban.org plannedgiving@columban.org

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God’s Great Garden

O

ne aspect of Jesus that has always attracted me to Him has literally been His “down to earth” manner. He frequently spoke about sowing seeds, caring for crops, watching plants grow mysteriously, and gathering the harvest into barns. He understood that the size of the harvest depends not on the seed itself but on the quality of the soil, and He valued high yields.

Jesus was also keenly aware that people, as creatures of the earth, need to nourish their bodies.

This led Him to rebuke those who complained about His disciples eating ears of corn as they walked through cornfields on the Sabbath, as well as to show compassion to His hungry followers by feeding them with loaves and fishes on a number of occasions. He understood the “fruit of the earth” as a blessing to be shared with others and an important building block of community life.

Furthermore, nature provided Jesus with insights into His own vocation, destiny and

FROM THE DIRECTOR

By Fr. Tim Mulroy mission. Among the more striking images that He used to convey to His followers the meaning of His suffering, death and resurrection, is that of a grain of wheat that must die in the earth in order to yield a rich harvest.

Recently, the experience of starting a community garden here on the grounds of St. Columbans, Nebraska, awoke in me a fresh appreciation of my own and other’s relationship with the natural world.

The twenty gardeners who lovingly tend their plots of vegetables and herbs are deepening their bond not only with the earth, but also with one another, and with their Creator. They are growing in their

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We are noticing that God’s magnificent tapestry of creation has become faded and worn in places, and that parts of God’s Great Garden have become dilapidated and despoiled.

appreciation of the web of life that embraces everything and everyone.

However, as we come to a greater understanding of the complexity of the web of life, we are also becoming aware that some of its strands are either damaged or broken. We are noticing that God’s magnificent tapestry of creation has become faded and worn in places, and that parts of God’s Great Garden have become dilapidated and despoiled.

Among the many parables of Jesus is one about a vineyard that the owner had tended to with diligence and devotion, but, because of the gardeners’ indifference and ingratitude, became dilapidated and despoiled. This gave rise to the necessity of finding new gardeners. But, who will they be? Perhaps, the answer is to be found in the gospel story about Mary Magdalene, who, on first meeting the risen Christ, perceived Him to be a gardener. This story seems to indicate that, even after the resurrection, Jesus maintained His “down to earth” manner, which He wished to pass on to us, His followers and fellow stewards of God’s Great Garden.

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Columban fathers po box 10 st. Columbans, ne 68056

NON PROFIT ORG U.S. POSTAGE PAID COLUMBAN FATHERS

Visit our Columban Website

“If I your Lord and Teacher

We encourage you to visit us online at www.columban.org.

have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s

Through our website, you can join in our mission as together we help those who need it most.

feet.” — John 13:14 All of us are called to Christian service. But some are called to a lifetime of service to the poor. If you feel attracted to such a life, we are waiting to hear from you.

Learn more about: • making a donation to the Society or a specific project • our Mission Education programs • our gift annuity program

iPad

• current projects and programs.

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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