The Magazine of the Missionary Society of St. Columban
May 2015
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Volume 98 - Number 3-May 2015
Columban Mission
o n t e n t s
Issue Theme –Option for the Poor
Published By The Columban Fathers
On the Front Line
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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. Mailing Address: Columban Mission PO Box 10 St. Columbans, NE 68056-0010 Toll-Free Phone: 877/299-1920 Website: WWW.COLUMBAN.ORG Copyright © 2015, The Columban Fathers (Legal Title)
Evicted in the 21st Century 4
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Gertrudes, Where Have You Been?
Reflections of a Filipina Columban Lay Missionary
What Am I to Do in Pakistan? A Way of Doing Mission
10 Columban, a Man with a Dream
A Man with a Wishbone
16 Called to Serve
Thoughts from a Newly Ordained Columban
18 Worse Experience
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PUBLISHER REV. TIMOTHY MULROY, SSC DIRECTORUSA@COLUMBAN.ORG EDITOR KATE KENNY KKENNY@COLUMBAN.ORG EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS CONNIE WACHA CWACHA@COLUMBAN.ORG MARCI ANDERSON MANDERSON@COLUMBAN.ORG GRAPHIC DESIGNER KRISTIN ASHLEY EDITORIAL BOARD DAN EMINGER CHRIS HOCHSTETLER KATE KENNY REV. TIMOTHY MULROY, SSC JEFF NORTON GREG SIMON FR. RICHARD STEINHILBER, SSC CONNIE WACHA SCOTT WRIGHT
Or, Best Experience?
21 The Image and Likeness of God Departments 3 In So Many Words 23 From the Director CM MAY15 final.indd 2
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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Preferential Option for the Poor
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ome years ago, I attended the funeral of a dear friend in St. Louis. Sr. Ann Manganaro was a Sister of Loretto and a physician who worked in El Salvador during the civil war there that cost 75,000 lives and lasted twelve years. We had worked in the same region of El Salvador, a rural area known for its poverty, but also for the strength and endurance of its people. It was also a battleground. There Sr. Ann assisted the sick and the wounded in a make-shift clinic and was beloved by the people. At the funeral, a wonderful Jesuit, Fr. John Kavanaugh, offered a moving eulogy. Before moving to El Salvador, Sr. Ann had worked on the neo-natal unit of Cardinal Glennon Hospital in St. Louis and lived at the Catholic Worker House. One morning, she came to see Fr. Kavanaugh and told him this story. The previous night, a child was born, four months early. She told how she held that child in the palm of her hand through the night, until it finally gave up the struggle for life and died. Visibly moved and upset, Fr. Kavanaugh asked,“What did that child ever have?” Sr. Ann answered, “That child had the capacity to draw forth love from me.” That story has remained with me through the years, as I remember our days together in El Salvador. And when I think about what the church calls “the preferential option for the poor,” I think of Sr. Ann, and many, many inspiring people, especially the poor, who live that commitment every day. In So Many Words Sr. Ann Manganaro died of cancer in 1993. El Scott Wright Salvador Archbishop Oscar Romero was gunned down at the altar in 1980, celebrating Mass. Both loved and served the poor, and both spoke out against poverty, injustice and violence. They bear witness to the Gospel, by their love, by their service and by their prophetic voice for justice. Before he was killed at the altar, in his last homily Archbishop Romero reminded us: “Those who surrender to the service of the poor through love of Christ, will live like the grain of wheat that dies. It only apparently dies. If it were not to die, it would remain a solitary grain. The harvest comes because of the grain that dies.”
Both loved and served
the poor, and both spoke out against poverty,
injustice and violence.
Scott Wright is the director of the Columban Center for Advocacy and Outreach in Washington, D.C. Photo credit: The portrait ‘Sister Ann’ by artist Patricia Watwood serves to honor and remember Ann Manganaro at SSM-Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center in St. Louis. (Photo courtesy of Patricia Watwood: patriciawatwood.com)
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Gertrudes, Where Have you Been? Reflections of a Filipina Columban Lay Missionary
By Gertrudes C. Sampson
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n line with the many significant celebrations in my life during the month of May, I would like to share this poem which I wrote as I reflect about my life as a Columban lay missionary.
Gertrudes, Where Have You Been? Gertrudes, Oh Gertrudes, where have you been? I’ve been in England, guest what I have seen? In England, in England? What have you seen? Asylum seekers, refugees, needing help and assistance. That’s what I have seen. Sanctuary and safety, they are hoping within. Fleeing persecution and violence, from where they have been. Making them feel welcome, at peace now where they are in. As I tried to journey with them so they would be stronger within. 4
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Simple, oh simple, act of faith and love it might have been. My humble contribution, towards World Peace we are hoping to be seen. Crossing boundaries of faith, race, culture, all discrimination that we have seen. Following my savior and friend Jesus Christ, doing good and loving anyone he had seen. In England, in England, yes, I have been! Someday, I hope you would also see what I have seen. If not with your own eyes, I hope at least in your hearts within.
words on each stanza and the rhyme on each end may not be perfect, for I am not an expert poet, but I do hope that it captured the message I would like to send to those reading it. I base its rhyme on a popular nursery rhyme which originated from England and was painted on the wall of our classroom when I was in high school. The rhyme goes like this: “Pussycat, Pussycat, where have you been? I’ve been to London to visit the Queen.” That nursery rhyme is still in my head and helped me in forming this poem. In high school, I never thought that I would be in England someday, visit London, or indeed work as a lay missionary in England. Writing this poem helped me in my reflection.
Writing the Poem
May marked my anniversary as Columban lay missionary.
When I was asked at a gathering to share what I do as a lay missionary in a creative way, I attempted to write this poem, hoping that it could capture the importance of my mission here in Birmingham, England, as a Columban lay missionary. The counting of the
It was five years ago in May during my mission sending Mass when I said YES to God to work with Him on a cross-cultural mission. I decided to leave my country, my home, my father’s house, my family, my loved ones, my friends, my profession as WWW.COLUMBAN.ORG
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Ger at an interfaith prayer gathering
Ger’s first missioning Mass
an architect for a service oriented organization and the poor Filipino communities we were serving. I left everything that was familiar to me to go to the land the Lord God showed me as he said in Genesis 12:1. Yes, it surprised me to realize that it has been five years already. For how long God would ask me to do this, only God knows. I simply learn to trust Him and live each day one at a time. Of course, definitely, I am so thankful to God and the Columbans for this opportunity. In mission God made me see far more than the eyes could see things that could only be seen if you would allow God to open your mind, heart, and spirit. It is such a great blessing. Thank you God for the gift of mission! Actually, many of those I left behind in the Philippines were wondering where I have been. For those whom I had the chance to meet during my home vacation, last May, this poem talks about the usual flow of my conversation with them as we met again. For the many of those whom I failed to meet due to the very hectic schedule of my home vacation, I hope WWW.COLUMBAN.ORG
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Ger’s Mum and Dad at their wedding
this poem will give you a glimpse on where I have been and what I have been doing. I am looking forward to seeing you all next time.
The month of May is also my birthday month. Yes, May is also my birthday! I asked myself the same question, “Gertrudes, Oh Gertrudes, where have you been?” And my answer to myself is also the same as mentioned in my poem. Then I started to count all my blessings, and I realized that God truly blessed me so much indeed. If I would add it all in the poem, it would never end. Though I am far away from home, I know in my heart that God takes good care of everything I left behind, especially my family. Challenges do come but God always sends His help and solution. In mission, God surrounded me too with many good people, co-missionaries, teammates, friends, companions in mission. Many of the people that we serve and journey with treated me as their friend too. As I recall, there have been unexpected surprises from some of
them each year when I celebrate my birthday in mission. This year was extra surprising. On my birthday, I prepared two dishes for a meal in case some friends dropped by. But my co-missionary housemates also cooked something, bought a cake, and decorated the house. Then many friends came in bringing food and dishes, so there was multiplication of food and dishes (not only fish!). I also received gifts including clothes to wear for that day. A friend also came and fixed my hair and put some makeup on me. We had a great feast and celebration. It was indeed special and memorable to me. Thank you God for the gift of life. Thank you for the gift of friendship! You know who they are and what they did, and I am sure you will reward them for it.
May is also the wedding anniversary of my parents. Yes, indeed, May is also the wedding anniversary of my parents! In fact, I was born on the third wedding anniversary of my parents. It made me also recall how blessed I am to May 2015
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have them as my parents. I am who I am, and I am where I am because of them. They worked so hard to open up various opportunities for my growth both academically and spiritually. Thank you, my dear parents! As I celebrated my birthday this year, I realized also that I have outlived the span of life of my father who passed away at a young age. He was such a loving and caring person, who made the most of every moment of his life, I never saw him idle. There were questions on my mind at that time. Why did God take my father so early? In my young mind I also asked, why him and not me instead? How could our family survive without him? It is a mystery only God knows the answer, but as I look back, all I see is the faithfulness of God. He was always there with us, He never left us. Challenges do come, but I believe and feel in my heart that God is always with us for we always find the solution or sometimes things just fall into proper place on its own. Thank you, God, for everything!
My realization about life and mission. Now, I realize that life cannot be measured by its length. It is measured by how we live it, how we do the mission God gave us, how much we love and what we do to bring God’s love into the world. For God is love! That is what God expect us to do. I believe that each role that God gives us at various points of our lives is a mission to spread God’s love. It is not only the missionaries who are in that mission. We are all part of the mission whether you are a father, a mother, single, married, a priest, a nun, a lay missionary, professional or ordained religious. Everybody is on mission under each role God has given us anywhere we are. Our roles in life might change at some points, but the mission of spreading God’s love never changes. With that, I believe my parents did well their mission too. As 6
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Ger’s birthday celebration
for my father he also lived his life to the fullest, although our family found it too short. As for my life – why did God chose to give me a longer life than my father? Why did God spare me when I asked Him to take me instead of my father? Maybe as my prayer booklet tried to tell me this month, it is because like a tree spared at the middle of a farm, God wants me to spread my arms like branches lifting it up to heaven in praise, and to spread it out also on the sides, so that others in distress under the scourging sun will find at least a little comfort in its shades.
What have I been doing in England? Yes my dear loved ones, I have been in England for a three-year term, and I am back here for another term. I have not seen the Queen yet, except in pictures and on the television. I have seen and met other equally important people in the eyes of God: the asylum seekers and refugees, the needy people in here. I have been trying to help
and assist people who are mostly from other faiths, cultures and countries. As I journey with them, I am trying to encourage them to keep going though their struggle seems so long and the end cannot be seen. I believe I am also trying to help in promoting lifegiving relationships between people of different backgrounds and religions. This is a simple act of faith and love; my humble contribution towards world peace which we are all hoping to see in its fullness someday. What I am trying to do is to follow the example of my Lord, my Savior, and my best friend, Jesus Christ. He went out doing good and showing love to needy people who came His way, regardless of their faith or religion, race, culture, gender or background. Yes, in England, I have been... Some day, I hope you would also see what I have seen... If not with your own eyes, I hope at least in your hearts within. CM Columban lay missionary Gertrudes Samson (pictured above) lives and works in England.
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“To change the world we must be good to those who cannot repay us.” – Pope Francis, October 2014
The prophetic words of Pope Francis are at the core of what Columban Missionaries strive to be. The foundation of our lives as Columbans means crossing boundaries in communion for the life of the world, living and working in solidarity with the poor and those living on the margins of our society. Columban Missionaries respond to the Holy Father’s call through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” (John 20:21) Your prayerful and financial support of Columban Missionaries can open your heart and mind to the guiding and spiritually energizing spirit of mission.
Won’t you join with us?
To learn more or to make an online donation, contact us today: Columban Fathers P.O. Box 10 St. Columbans, NE 68056 Phone: 402/291-1920 Toll-free: 877/299-1920 Fax: 402/291-4984 www.columban.org mission@columban.org
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What Am I to Do in Pakistan? A Way of Doing Mission By Louie Ybanez, Columban Seminarian
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hen I realized that I wanted to be a priest, I had it in mind that I wanted to go on mission. As I go through formation, my interest has always been going for mission in Pakistan. Why? Well, I have been asking myself with the same question. It’s like a calling; I don’t know the logical reason, but there is that yearning voice from deep within that tells me to come to this place. It is a risk that I have to take when all I can see in the news was not so encouraging. I am hopeful to find something worth acclaiming from a place that gets so much negative publicity from the outside and to be able to do so means to have the experience to dwell with the people. I remember how my heart leapt for joy when my formator told me that I was going to Pakistan for my first missionary assignment. I knew it would be a different experience for me since I grew up in a society that is predominantly Christian and mostly Catholic. Pakistan is an Islamic country with religious minorities that only comprise about three percent of the population; and so to live within
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this context, to be in a culture so different from mine, and then the Urdu language which I have to learn makes it quite challenging. I share this first missionary adventure also with Columban students from other countries—Joachim from Korea and Pat Roland from Fiji. In one of my afternoon walks here in Murree, where I am learning Urdu, I happened to have a conversation with two Muslim men who approached
to convert Muslims to be Christians.” I looked at him, smiled and said, “I don’t think I am here to do that.” I’m quite sure of my answer, but his presumption left me pondering a very fundamental question, “What am I going to do here in Pakistan?” Prior to our language studies, we had the chance to meet some of the Catholics in a Columban mission parish in Badin, Sindh province, to have a glimpse of mission. Most of
I sense that for a people whose life is confronted with poverty, they must have a strong faith but this faith needs to be further nurtured. me, perhaps out of curiosity. I am always pleased to be talking with the locals so as I head back to the house, they walked with me and began asking me where I am from and what am I doing in Pakistan. I told them that I am a Catholic missionary, and I am currently learning their language. Then one of them in a congenial voice made a quick reply, “so you are here
whom we met are from a minority tribe called the Parkari Kohli. You would often recognize them especially the women because of their dress which is characterized by loud hues and floral prints which seems to create a contrast to an arid environment. They are at the margins of the society, most of them have been held as bonded laborers in vast farmlands WWW.COLUMBAN.ORG
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Louie with a Catholic Pakistani family
owned by landlords. It is the means by which they find a living. We went there to celebrate Mass in a village situated in the middle of an arid plain. Their houses are made of mud bricks and usually fenced by dry bush bundled up together. I was with Fr. Dan O’ Connor, a Columban priest, and with us also is a male catechist. We celebrated Mass outside the house of one of the Catholics there. The Mass is one that is celebrated in their local language and seeks to be understood by the people through Gospel reflections that are true to their lived experiences. It was in the open air with no church walls, the sky as our roof and without pews and altar, but laid mats and a small low-lying table amidst a community seated together. It was an experience of a church that elucidates so much simplicity and true sense of community. I was thinking to myself then, “this could be how the early church community does the Mass.” After Mass, a simple meal follows—a chapati, a vegetable curry, and a cup of chai or hot milk tea. The Gospel is uniquely alive here amongst people who are very much rooted to their WWW.COLUMBAN.ORG
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Louie with Muslim friends whom he met on a walk
tribal culture. A week old in Pakistan then, I could not understand the language; however I sense that for a people whose life is confronted with poverty, they must have a strong faith but this faith needs to be further nurtured. I learned that they are a tribal people which to a larger extent are being deprived of a good life having been tagged as no caste at all. But what really is a good life for them? What can I do? I ask these questions in my prayer. I am no superman. I cannot change the entirety of their world for them. I can be a presence to them and accompany them in their journey to experience life, to grow in faith and within that lived experience we come to realize that God cares. We will come to know the eyes of God that values each one of us and within that journey together, a glimpse of a good life will unfold before us. On a wider spectrum, I see that Christians here, the Catholics in particular, are a special community. Pakistanis are naturally friendly and accommodating, a consciousness that stirs up happiness within me as I move around here, not only among
Christians but among Muslims as well. As I walk around they unhesitatingly ask about me, my religion, and my impressions of their country. I find this as an opportunity to befriend the local people and create an encounter that fosters familiarity between local people of different religions. The Christian presence here is undeniably necessary because they stage a call for both Muslims and Christians to be tolerant, to respect each other, and to strive to live in harmony; something which is of immense value in view of the religious persecutions prevalent at present. As I continue to find meaning to a missionary life here in Pakistan, I feel that I am personally challenged to follow Christ and to be His loving presence in living with the Catholic minority, to understand a new culture, to embrace the diversity of life and to not be indifferent towards people of other faith. These might not be easy for me to do but something that I find as a way of doing mission. CM Originally from the Philippines, Columban seminarian Louie Ybanez lives and works in Pakistan.
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Columban, a Man with a Dream A Man with a Wishbone By Fr. Derry Healy
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n late June 2010, a group of young Columban priests from Korea, Philippines, Vietnam, Peru, Chile, Ireland, England and Australia gathered around the tomb of Saint Columban in the crypt of the Basilica dedicated to him in Bobbio, some 120 kilometers south of Milan northern Italy. They had arrived at their final destination on a pilgrimage lead by the then Superior General Father Tommy Murphy. The question on their minds throughout the pilgrimage was, who is this man Columban? Some ninety-four years earlier, he had 10
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captured the imagination and dreams of Fathers Edward Galvin and John Blowick who choose him as their patron for the new missionary society, which they cofounded to evangelize the people of China. Today the society is known as the Missionary Society of Saint Columban. Columban, also known as Columbanus, was born in Ireland in the middle of the sixth century. He was born one hundred years after Saint Patrick arrived in Ireland to evangelize the Celtic people. Columban came from a rural background and like
many of the young people of that time, he acquired the practical skills of farming, fishing, physical labor and taking responsibility within the family and local community. Jonas, his biographer, doesn’t hesitate to mention that he was very good looking and many a girl was attracted to him. Jonas also points out that he became wrapped up in wanting to know God from a very early age. Tradition tells us that he was outgoing, assertive, adventurous, charismatic and a selfstarter. There was a boyhood dream in his blood that unfolded itself and took WWW.COLUMBAN.ORG
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shape as he moved from boyhood to youth to become a young man with a wishbone throughout his body. He had many options open to him as a young man in a society of flourishing commerce, agriculture and chieftaincy, but he longed for something deeper of greater freedom and authenticity. Columban became familiar with the Irish monastic movement from an early age, and it captured his imagination as he searched for his dream. He would have been attracted to Glendalough, Skellig, Croagh Patrick and Mount Brandon that were places of pilgrimage and monastic living. He undoubtedly learnt of the great monastic figures and religious women of the time, such as Ciarán of Clonmacnoise, Enda of Aran, Finnian of Clonard, Brendan of Ardfert, Gobnait of Ballyvourney, Ita of Killeedy, Brigid of Kildare and Colmcille of Iona (with whom he is often confused). These were all very charismatic figures of the sixth century and put their imprint on Irish Celtic Christianity and the cultural landscape on the era. But it was to the Abbot Senell he went to on Cleenish island close to Lough Erne and later to Bangor where he lived under the Abbot Comgall for many years. Bangor, now part of County Down, was a renowned monastery that gained for Ireland the title of “the isle of Saints and Scholars.” Medieval historians comment that at one period it housed as many as three thousand monks. Columban’s monastic experience made him familiar with the Rule, the recitation of the psalms, classics of the day, Greek and Latin and old Irish and offered him an opportunity to deepen his knowledge of the Bible and the Christian teachings of the Irish Celtic Church. But, he was much more WWW.COLUMBAN.ORG
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This dream has resonated again and again throughout the centuries in the hearts and minds of many young men and women. than an academic; he was a wayfarer, a warrior, a dreamer, a man drawn to look beyond the frontiers of his native country and people. There is something about looking out at the sea, one is drawn towards her, and she invites one to venture beyond the horizon. Columban was pulled by the sea to leave the security and familiarity of his homeland. It was more than just leaving home; he was caught up in the mystery of the God for whom he spent his life searching. His was both a physical and inner voyage towards entering more fully into a journey towards his Creator. Jonas tells us that Columban set out with twelve companions, the most famous being Gall, to take up the cause of evangelization beyond the frontiers of Celtic Ireland. And his boyhood dream gradually unfolded itself. With courage, determination, trusting in the will of God and
openness to the Spirit, he left his homeland not to return. There were no certainties; he and his companions were convinced that they were doing what was correct, urgent and necessary to bring about God’s Kingdom. This dream has resonated again and again throughout the centuries in the hearts and minds of many young men and women. The group of young Columbans standing around the tomb of Father Columban some 1,400 years later could also resonate with the dream of Columban. They too had left their own homelands for the sake of the Gospel and ventured out to make their boyhood dreams come true. He became all of a sudden a living person for them and not just some figure from the ancient past. CM
Columban Fr. Derry Healy lives and works in Ireland.
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On the Front Line Finding Inspiration as Well as Violence in Brazil By Fr. John Boles
“Three more lifted the other night,” commented Fr. Colin as he read the local paper over breakfast. “Two released, one not heard of since. Poor guy’s probably dead by now.” If he said this without a hint of surprise, it is because in sixteen years as pastor of “Fazenda Coutos” parish, he’s read it all before. Read about it, heard about it and seen it, along with most of his parishioners. The truth is that poverty, crime and violence are endemic in this sprawling slum on the edge of Salvador, Brazil’s third largest city. The current wave of killings has come as the mainly black population finds itself caught in a war between drugs, gangs and the police. For years, the gangs held sway over much of the area. Then, as part of a “clean-up
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campaign” ahead of the 2014 World Cup, the military police was sent in and set up shop next to the market. “Trouble is,” reflects Fr. Colin, “I don’t know if the police are the solution, or just another part of the problem.” He explains that, when a shooting occurs, the police often don’t know who’s responsible. People are too scared to speak up. “So, the cops just round up a whole pile of suspects. Some they let go. Some they knock around a bit. Some just disappear. Usually, they turn up sooner or later… dead.” Many members of Fr. Colin’s congregation have sad tales to tell.
Senora Valdelice, a Eucharistic minister, has lost two sons in the drugs wars. One Good Friday, she offered to take the part of Our Lady in the passion play. “When she took Jesus in her arms,” Fr. Colin recalls, “it was like a Pieta for her murdered children.” Another parishioner, Senora Luci Vera couldn’t find her son for a good while, until finally his body was discovered on the local refuse tip. Even Fr. Colin himself has courted disaster. At one point he heard a commotion next door, and ran round to find his neighbor shot dead. Later, he had to run for his life as five armed men arrived. “Presumably, they’d come to bump off any witnesses,” he adds. So, why does he stay? “Believe it or not,” he explains, “there are a lot of good things going on here.” Good
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things that he himself has often had a hand in. There is a vibrant Afro-Brazilian cultural scene in Salvador, which Fr. Colin and his coworkers try to tap into. Dance and song come naturally to this exuberant people, providing a counter-weight to gangland violence. So, Fr. Colin encourages presentations of capoeira among the young folk. Capoeira is a frenetic cross between dance and martial arts (reputedly perfected amongst slaves as a form of defense against cruel masters). He’s set up a theater group which specializes in stories of slavery and liberation. The group has performed widely in Brazil and abroad. He and other like-minded Catholics have reached out to members of the Candomblé community. Candomblé is a fusion of Christianity and African religions. Long frowned upon by the Church authorities, contact with the movement is now encouraged, as the qualities of its spirituality become increasingly evident. One day I followed Fr. Colin round his parish. We dropped in on a fund-raising party, run by two of his most inspirational catechists – WWW.COLUMBAN.ORG
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What are the “Favelas?”
Marcelo, an all-singing, all-dancing, guitar-playing Permanent Deacon and his Whitney Houston look-alike wife Lennie. Later, we wandered down to the quayside for evening refreshments with the crews of some of the local fishing boats. “This is what I reckon it was really like for Jesus and His disciples,” grins Fr. Colin, “sipping their equivalent of a cold beer on the edge of Lake Galilee after a hard day’s fishing.” Fazenda Coutos and Lake Galilee? Maybe not so different all in all, when you think about it. CM Columban Fr. Colin McClean (pictured on opposite page, top, in yellow shirt) is from Australia and has been living and working in Brazil since 1985. Columban Fr. John Boles (pictured on opposite page, top, in the middle next to Fr. Colin) is English and has worked in South America since 1994.
Under the Portuguese and a newly-independent Brazil, some 3.6 million Africans were shipped to Brazil as slaves. Many entered through Salvador, the Portuguese colonial capital. They were put to work on the sugar, tobacco and coffee plantations and in the mines. Emancipation came late in 1888 (over twenty years after the abolition of slavery in the USA). Even then, they received little apart from their liberty, and in their thousands drifted towards the big cities in search of work. They settled in shanty towns, or “favelas”, on the urban fringes, where they remain to this day. Conditions radically improved in the 1990s with an economic boom and a change in government, but the difference between the “haves and have nots” in Brazil remains a disgrace. Recently, tensions boiled over in the pre-World Cup riots of 2014.
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Evicted in the Twenty-First Century Poor Women and Children Have No Voice By Fr. Bobby Gilmore
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mages of evictions in Irish history stick in one’s memory like jam on a new shirt. Seeing poor men, women and children, with their few belongings on the side of the road while their cabin is wrecked behind them by a bunch of thugs unfortunately is not a nineteenth century phenomenon. It was prevalent in the last century and is common in this one. Elena, a woman in her late twenties arrived at the church door carrying a few bags of her bits and pieces. Her older two children aged seven and eight carried their clothes in plastic bags. The baby she carried in her arms while the four-year-old clung on to her skirts. They looked deprived, desolate and were destitute. She and her husband migrated from the central Philippines to Mindanao with their families as teenagers. There was land opened by logging companies and when they moved out, their families moved in 14
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cleared a few acres of the land, built shacks, cultivated the land and planted food crops needed for their survival. Other families moved into the area and over time a village emerged. They built a little chapel and hoped in the not-too-distant future to have their own school. As children grew into adulthood, married and set up their own humble homes, they too took over vacant scrub land, cleared, cleaned and cultivated it. Their energies were exhausted in their struggle to survive. But there was a strong community and family spirit among the new settlers. Elena and her husband Lucio was one such couple. After marrying in their early twenties they too took over a piece of vacant land and did as their parents did. After consulting their parents and the village elders about their plans as in the past, they were assured that this was government land open for occupation and cultivation. Having cleared a few acres, they
planted the usual food crops for their immediate needs. Looking ahead they put down coffee plants and assorted fruit trees that would supplement their meagre incomes as time went on. They would need the money for the children’s schooling–one of which was expected in a few months. As the years came and went they prospered and extended their holding by a few more acres where they grazed a cow, a pig and a few goats. The family increased to four. All were healthy and delighted in visiting their grandparents who lived nearby. Then disaster struck with the arrival of a man in a jeep from the nearby town. He parked his jeep on the edge of the road and approached their house. He had a wad of papers that he wished Lucio and Elena to see. These papers, according to him, were titles to the property that Lucio and Elena had been living on and cultivating. He was here to claim his property and was ordering them to leave. Lucio WWW.COLUMBAN.ORG
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and Elena told the man that they were the owners of the property as they were the first settlers after the loggers left. They had ascertained that there was no owner other than the government when they settled on it. As the stranger departed he warned them that they should pack up and leave within a week. This was a regular ploy used by people of influence to grab property after it was cleared and developed. The following week he returned and threatened them using his gun. A fight ensued as Lucio stood up to the man protecting his property and family. Elena pleaded with Lucio to desist but in the heat of the moment he didn’t hear her. At the end of the affray the land grabber took off in his jeep but died a few days later from his injuries. The police arrived, arrested Lucio, detained him, beat a confession out of him, and charged him with murder. Elena and their families did not have the wherewithal to hire a lawyer. She could not use the untitled property as collateral to borrow money for a lawyer. Lucio was convicted and went to prison for life. After the sentencing the landgrabber’s son arrived with the police, sequestered the property and evicted Elena and the children. She had no option but to leave. Neither Elena nor her family had the necessary political influence to confront the police, the land registration office or the courts. She just packed what she had and left for the nearest city. Here she and her children were destitute looking for help, reduced to beggars, desperate, exposed to all kinds of exploitation. She ended her story by saying that she could do seamstress work and if she had a little money she would sell and buy vegetables in the market. But the heart-wrenching part of the story was that she was offering the two older children to me to care for. I suggested that the situation was not that desperate that they would be parted from their mother. Together we looked WWW.COLUMBAN.ORG
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at what options she had-seamstress needing a sewing machine-sell and buy needing start-up financing. She also needed accommodation. I called the Sister at the school and related the story and inquired about possible accommodation space. They responded positively and after talking with Elena recognised a person with personal and skills resources. Next step was getting the older children to school. With a small interest free loan Elena rented a stall in the market and bought and sold vegetables in the early part of the morning leaving her free to get the children to school and mind the others. The Sisters through their
She stared painful truth of injustice in the face and persevered without pessimism or cynicism. In doing so she was unwittingly but effectively nurturing her resources to do the best for herself and the children. casual networks found her seamstress jobs. Both she and the family thrived. She made regular heart-breaking visits to the hovel that was the provincial jail with the children to visit Lucio. They had no recourse to justice other than bear his incarceration and their separation. She stared painful truth of injustice in the face and persevered without pessimism or cynicism. In doing so she was unwittingly but effectively nurturing her resources to do the best for herself and the children. The sacrifices, the violence, the struggle, the separation, the destitution, the loneliness, the anguish, the fear experienced by Elena is an everyday experience of poor people, particularly women, in the developing world. If she was not
aware of the presence, in this case, of the church network, what would be Elena’s options? I dread to think of her and the children ending up in forced slavery which is the lot of millions of her counterparts in the developing world. Slavery in its modern variations steals people’s selfhood as it did in days of Atlantic slave trade. Even in the developed world, access to justice for the poor is being curtailed by recent cut-backs in legal aid. Aid agencies, however wellintentioned in their efforts to alleviate poverty and debt, seldom avert the violence that poor people experience without the protection of policing, the administration of justice and property registration. If processing land registration and obtaining a title were easily available to Elena and Lucio they would have access to the banking system and be effective members of the formal economy with all its protections. Without those protections, the poor are unsafe on a daily basis. Then we wonder here in Ireland and Europe, the U.S., Australia and Canada why poor destitute people are ending up in our shores as asylum seekers and economic migrants. Globally, poor people regard their government’s police forces, the administration of justice and property, as on the side of rich and powerful. As a result poor people, particularly women and children, feel unsafe. Aid agencies, both government and nongovernment, should make police, justice and property administration reform conditional to a country receiving aid. Violence anywhere is violence everywhere. CM Columban Fr. Bobby Gilmore lives and works in Ireland.
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Called to Serve Thoughts from a Newly Ordained Columban In Interview with Fr. JeHoon Augustine Lee by Fr. Tim Mulroy
After nine years of preparation in Seoul, South Korea, Chicago, Illinois, and the Philippines, JeHoon Augustine Lee was ordained a Columban missionary priest on November 1, 2014, in Seoul. From June 1, 2015, he will become a member of a new team of Columbans, which includes priests and lay missionaries, going on mission to Myanmar. The following are extracts from a recent interview with Fr. Lee by Fr. Tim Mulroy. Q. As a newly ordained Columban missionary priest, what are you really grateful for? A. I am really grateful for the many people with whom I made relationships during my journey to become a Columban missionary. By interacting with people I come in contact with every day, I am constantly reminded that I have
support, and that others can teach me to know myself and God in a deeper way. I am particularly proud to be a member of the Columban Missionary Society. I feel a deep sense of belonging within the Society and find joy in being around like-minded companions. Q. Who was the person that influenced you most on your journey to becoming a Columban missionary priest? A. When I was a student in high school I met Fr. Michael Riordon who was the vocations director for the Columbans. Then, when I entered the seminary he became my spiritual director. Needless to say, Fr. Michael influenced me greatly by teaching me all about the life of a Columban missionary. Besides, he helped me to get to know myself, and taught me
many creative ways to approach God and interact with people. His advice about learning to live with other people and enter into their situation was a big influence on my vocation and desire to work with others. Q. What aspect of your preparation for priesthood did you find most helpful for your vocation? A. It is very hard to pick one aspect because most parts of my training program were very helpful. It seems that all the parts – spiritual exercises, counseling, academic studies in Korea, English language and theology studies in Chicago, two years on mission in the Philippines, and engagement in a variety of ministries – were interconnected. My seminary program helped me greatly to know myself, and discover who I really wanted to be, and and what I truly wanted to do with my life. During my seminary training, I realized that I wanted to be happy and content in my life. The more I learned about myself, the more confidently I engaged all aspects of the seminary program. I tried to benefit from everything. All the parts of my seminary training seem to combine in helping me become a happy and content Columban missionary priest today. Q. What has been the most challenging part of your preparation for priesthood? A. To be honest, I am an only child, and it was quite hard for me to learn to live with other people. I did not understand well how to live with different people. Being around others in a close community, I acted at times as if I was better than others, or knew more than them. I had difficulties coping with day-to-day issues involved in daily life within a large group. The thought of sharing a living space with others made me anxious and somewhat unsure of myself. Anyway, thanks to the guidance of my
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supervisors in the seminary, and the support of my friends and community members, I learned the value of sharing, being honest, and having good, open communication in my relationships with others. Q. Columban missionaries from other countries, including the U.S., have been in Korea for more than 80 years. How do Korean people view missionaries? A. In Korea, there is a well-developed hierarchical system that is part of our culture, which has affected even the way religion is understood. I have heard many Koreans say that they found it very hard initially to make a relationship with a Catholic priest. People used to think that religious people – priests, brothers and Sisters – were totally different from themselves. Perhaps some of the early missionaries may have spoken and acted in a way that made it difficult for people to make a relationship with them. However, since foreign missionaries first came to Korea, they have consistently worked very hard to meet people at the level of the people themselves; not coming from the topdown, but meeting them in whatever place they find them. This has been my own experience of meeting missionaries. Despite the language and cultural obstacles that they face, I am thankful for their ability to approach people in a way that is respectful of a different way of life and each person’s unique situation. Q. Soon you will go on mission to Myanmar (formerly Burma); what excites you about being a missionary there? A. Columban missionary priests went on mission in Myanmar (specifically to Myitkyina Diocese) for the first time in the 1930s. During those years they worked very hard to initiate and strengthen the Myanmar Catholic Church, but they were forced to WWW.COLUMBAN.ORG
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leave in 1979. Now, the Columbans have decided to assign a new team of missionaries to Myanmar. I was not surprised by this initiative: the Columban Society has been discussing and hoping for an opportunity to “remission” in Myanmar for several years, and I’m very happy that we are now in a position to be able to respond to the missionary needs of the Church in Myanmar. I am proud of the openness and the passion, particularly among the younger members of the Columban Society, in taking up this initative. Q. What are some of the major challenges you expect to meet in Myanmar? A. I know there are always many different kinds of challenges no matter where we are in the world, and we are called to “face the music” wherever we find ourselves. In Myanmar, for example, each region has its own culture, language, food, and religious traditions. However, I believe that all challenges ultimately come from within myself, and that my negative emotions – anxiety, isolation, indifference, ignorance – come not from the place I live in, but from my own reactions to that place. I think that looking into my own heart ... and constantly being aware of my own feelings and monitoring them ... this will be a major challenge when faced with different experiences in various places in Myanmar. I hope that I can keep in mind what I learned and experienced during my seminary training with regard to monitoring the movements of my own heart. I know that that this will be a challenge for my missionary life. Q. How do you recreate? A. I’m most happy when I am around others, so any activity where I can spend time with friends is enjoyable. Having good friends to chat with and express my feelings gives me a sense
of joy. I also find that playing music is a helpful way to chill out and relax. Moreover, I really enjoy cooking, and so I like to invite people to share a meal and enjoy fellowship with one another. Q. If you could, what advice would you give to your twenty-year old self, or to a young person looking for direction in their life? A. Never forget the importance of prayer and finding time to be quiet and reflect. I think it is a big credit to my mentors and other people that were around me that they taught me to reflect on my path in life while I was still a young man. Each of us has to take time out each day to consider our calling and the best possible life for ourselves. Also it is important to be open to learning from other people who come from different places and cultures. There are many ways to look at any situation, so the best way to make a difficult decision is to consult with others, pay attention to their way of life as well as their advice, and then make one’s own path in light of what one has seen and heard. Q. What message would you like to give to the people who support you and other Columban missionaries? A. I would like to thank our benefactors for their heartfelt generosity and for accompanying Columban missionaries in doing God’s work. I frequently pray in gratitude for their generosity, as well as for their willingness to walk with God and help bring the Good News to people around the world. Today, the world often seems to turn its back on God, not walking with God’s people, but working instead against the plan God has called us to carry out on earth. Our benefactors are a reminder that there are many people who have their hearts aligned with the work that God is calling all of us, not just Columban missionaries, to do in His world. CM May 2015
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o dults hing dren, d nd
Worst Experience Or, Best Experience? By Fr. Bobby Gilmore
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arrived at St. Michael’s Parish, Illigan City, the Philippines, in September 1965. There were three of us responsible for the pastoral care of about 100,000 people in the city and scattered around the hinterland. People from around the Philippines migrated to Illigan because heavy industries were developing at a rapid pace due to the nearby installation of a power generating station on the Agus River at Maria Cristina water falls. As most migrants are between the ages of 16-30, Illigan’s population was young. People were scrambling for a place to live. Make-shift, temporary housing sprouted wherever there was a vacant space. Many people just put up a temporary structure and hoped for the best. The city administration struggled to keep pace with basic services of 18
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health, education, water, power and sanitation. Schools were as temporary as housing. The parish struggled to keep up with basic pastoral services for a young population. High school students were the religious educators in the elementary schools. It was inadequate but only such was affordable. A certain time each year was set aside to concentrate on each elementary school for pastoral care, first confession and communion. The first school we entered had 2,000 students from grade one to grade six ranging in age from 6 to 12. With such poor religious education facilities the children knew little about the Sacrament. It wasn’t the children’s or their parent’s fault that they knew little about the faith. It was an extremely
frustrating experience as the child struggled with an exercise that she/ he knew little about. The heat of the day under a tin roof was not a help. After completing instruction for the first batch of children I left the room, went outside and sat down. I was angry, annoyed and agitated that this situation could be allowed, accepted as normal in any church. Children were being put through an extremely tension-filled experience that to me was nothing short of cruelty. I was angry; the child was humiliated. The poor parents struggling to maintain the basics of life were blameless. So, what to do? I concluded that a whole new outlook had to be developed regarding first, adult religious education and second, children’s education in the basics of WWW.COLUMBAN.ORG
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the faith. My antennas went up and from then on I decided that there had to be some way to imagine a better approach to this dimension of pastoral care. How to reach adults with an adult Jesus that they could relate to in love not in fear? What we were doing was upside down. We were preaching to children and blessing adults when we should be teaching adults and blessing children, enabling parents to hand on the faith in family and community units. Also, new methods of administering the Sacrament of reconciliation had to be imagined. Here was situation beyond our pastoral control, yet, we were using pastoral structures and practices as if we were in an Irish or European parish where there was one priest to about 500 people. This was an emergency situation comparable to wartime where one chaplain had to minister to large numbers in an ad hoc environment. General absolution was permissible in such situations, why not here for the poor? Over and above all that there existed an unequal balance of priest to people. The prevailing message was that there could not be any alteration in pastoral practice. Really, the question was, are the Sacraments for people or are people for the Sacraments? This sacramental famine would not be allowed to exist in Europe. Yet, it was acceptable for poor people in an ecclesiastical colony like the Philippines and elsewhere outside of Europe. A European Catholic colonial-minded aristocracy saw nothing wrong with that imbalance. So, was there a possibility of a different process of pastoral care? Was it possible to reach adults indifferent about a faith they admitted adherence to but knew little about other than attendance at their patron’s fiesta? Was there an event or movement that aroused people’s interest that could be used or modified as a medium for the Christian message WWW.COLUMBAN.ORG
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that interested people and which they felt would enhance the quality of their political, social, economic and cultural lives in the here and now? Too frequently Christianity emphasised the importance of an after-life ignoring what was wounding the human spirit in daily life. And we wondered why people are indifferent to religion! For some unknown reason, the Cursillo Movement caught the imagination of Filipinos. It had a process and a Spanish musical ambiance that touched a nerve in the Filipino soul. It attracted adults. It was participatory, and its content stayed within the tensions of their cultural experience. The task of a facilitator was to collate, clarify and apply gospel and church teaching. Importantly, it treated adults as adults in that it was not the traditional banking system of education. It recognized the worth of a person’s input. While the Cursillo movement was directed at a third-level educated English speaking constituency the question in my mind was, could this format be modified and in the local dialect reach ordinary people? The challenge was to move from orthodoxy to orthopraxis. European Christianity was obsessed with doctrine, dogma and docility. Another Columban, Des Hartford, was also on a similar quest. We heard that a Redemptorist priest, Jack Goode, was also on a similar searching safari. Fr. Jack had already put in place a format managed by a team of trained lay personnel to run live-in weekend training courses in the faith. The venue was the local village elementary school. The parish would fund the first venture. After that the graduating group would host, fund and manage the next venture and so on. Jack sent his team to run an initial course, as well as train a team Fr. Des and I organized. It was an unprecedented success. The enthusiasm was remarkable. We confined the
participants of the first course to forty men and women. The course became so popular that we had to turn people away. Eventually, we had to allow up to sixty entrants. Each village or barrio on hearing about it requested a course. However, the new problem facing us was how to develop and direct this new-found energy? Since it was village-based it became obvious that a pastoral core group of leaders be selected to develop the faith-life of the village with the local chapel as the focus point. The people proposed that there would be a representative whose task was physical maintenance of the chapel, another responsible for religious adult and child education, another responsible for health/family life and another to monitor justice, peace and community tension. Then the question was, how to resource these core groups so that each group could carry out its responsibilities? At a general parish meeting the core groups decided that a monthly meeting was the best solution during which reports were made, needs highlighted, the theme of the Christian message for the next month debated and discussed. Essentially, the faithful were taking responsibility for the development of their communities. They empowered themselves to be agents of their future rather than be dependents. Really, we were fulfilling the words of Pope Paul VI’s Encyclical, The Progress of Peoples, in which he stated, “The aspirations of modern men and women were participation and decision-making.” So, a bad experience turned into a creative, life-defining positive one. This was an experience of evangelization. It was a dialogical process challenging cultural values that underpinned oppressive, life-limiting, economic, political and social systems. People were given the opportunity of being subjects of their own destinies. CM Columban Fr. Bobby Gilmore lives and works in Ireland.
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What is Poverty? In November 1967 the photo and question above appeared in the Columban magazine. Much has changed since then. We use better binding techniques, clearer high resolution pictures and computer graphics. The one thing that hasn’t changed much at all is the poverty in the world. The World Food Program reports that 805 million people worldwide, or one in nine, do not have enough food to eat, one of every six children in developing countries is underweight. The World Bank estimates that one billion people on earth live in “extreme poverty.” So, while some things change, others are slow to improve. Columban missionaries live and work with the poorest of the poor. In the words shared in the 1967 article, “Each of these poor suffering ones is Christ, for He has chosen to identify Himself with them. You can relieve His poverty – and theirs, you can soothe His suffering and ease His pain…For he has told us: As long as you did it to one of these My least ones, you did it to Me.” To make a donation to help Columban missionaries continue to stand with the poor and marginalized, please use the envelope in this magazine. As always, we remain deeply grateful to you and will remember you and yours in our Masses and prayers. For information regarding gift annuities, membership in our Legacy Society, obtaining our legal title or for a handy booklet on how to prepare a will, contact 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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The Image and Likeness of God The image and likeness of God is reflected in us all This we know from long ago and this knowledge does enthrall The Prophets and the Patriarchs respected this divine image Beleaguered, enslaved and persecuted they gave us the transmitted message. God’s own people waiting in hope for a Messiah grew tired of his arrival. A young Jewish lady, Mary, was interrupted by an Angel Gabriel You will give the Messiah to your people Israel, do not be afraid. “This mystery is so great I will place myself in your hands,” she prayed. This mystery grew in me and you and challenged all we ever knew God’s only son had just begun to change our world anew The sacrifice of Calvary had God the Father’s own permission This was His divine strategy to bring us into submission Thus grows the mystery of our God in Jesus Christ his Son To help us down the way of life – a mystery that’s no fun To face the strife of modern life inviting us all astray The risen Christ is the only light that will help us on our way The broken bread and the poured out wine brings us all together We know that the Son of God abides with us whenever We take and eat and drink our fill of His holy will And the mystery will defend us from now ‘til ETERNITY. Columban Fr. Maurice Foley lives in Navan, Ireland.
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The Red Lacquered Gate The early days of the Columban Fathers and the courage and faith of its founder, Fr. Edward Galvin
Fr. Edward “Ned� Galvin was born in Ireland in 1882, the oldest in a family of seven children. After he was ordained to the Catholic priesthood, he realized that there were more priests in his native land then parishes. So Ned Galvin immigrated to the United States and turned a struggling church in Brooklyn into a thriving parish. But Father Galvin had a secret desire to do missionary work. He was especially attracted to China and had read all the books on the subject his local library could provide. Finally, his wish was granted, and he set out with a group of dedicated helpers on a mission to the Far East.
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William E. Barrett created this colorful, dramatic portrait of an unusual man whose strong Catholic faith helped him survive the horrors and heartbreak of his demanding mission to China.
Order your copy today! Call 888-795-4274, visit your local bookstore or order online at Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com and Xlibris.com in paperback, hardback and eBook formats.
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Finding a Family
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nagaki Yoshiko San used to sit on the doorstep of her one-bedroom apartment late on summer afternoons and watch the world go by. Since she lived alone and had slowed down considerably due to her advanced years, this daily encounter with the world gave her great pleasure. However, the fact that her apartment was situated at a distance from the street and at the back of the church compound meant that there was very little to observe or engage her attention. Indeed, frequently the highlight of those afternoons was a visit by a mangy, stray cat. Inagaki San used to feel pity for this poor creature, spoke softly to her and gave her scraps of food. “The reason I feel compassion for this lonesome figure is that I see myself in her,” Inagaki San explained to me as I stood chatting with her one afternoon. Then, after a long pause, she continued, “After the Second World War, while still a young woman, I
FROM THE DIRECTOR By Fr. Tim Mulroy entered the convent. I had expected to spend the rest of my life there, but a few years later, without receiving any explanation, I was asked to leave. Since I was too ashamed to return to my family, I had nowhere to go. I was destitute and feared greatly for my future. I visited a Catholic Church, where I was fortunate to meet a Columban priest, Fr. Arthur Friel. After telling him my pitiful story, he offered me the job as a cook at the church. I accepted it at once and have been with the Columban Fathers ever since. I moved from church to church with them because they had become my family.”
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Knowing the pain of feeling abandoned on her own life’s journey, she understood that missionaries often feel as lonely and insecure as stray cats. Inagaki San worked as a housekeeper for Columban priests in Japan for many decades. Knowing the pain of feeling abandoned on her own life’s journey, she understood that missionaries often feel as lonely and insecure as stray cats. Not having the support of her own family, she devoted herself to caring for missionaries who were far from their families, and strove to make a home for them. Toward the end of her life, while Inagaki San was sitting on her doorstep one afternoon, a stray cat came by, proudly leading her litter of three kittens. It was as if she wanted to share her newfound joy with Inagaki San as a token of appreciation for her many deeds of compassion. Inagaki San was overcome with delight; the cat was no longer a lonesome figure, but rather the proud mother of a family. A year ago, just a few months short of her hundredth birthday, Inagaki San knocked on heaven’s door. I imagine her now sitting on the doorstep there, watching this world go by, and still eager to take pity on any “stray cat” that catches her eye.
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Columban Fathers PO Box 10 St. Columbans, NE 68056
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Transform the Lives of Others…Enrich the World…Give Hope Columban Mission magazine is published eight times each year and tells the stories of our missionaries and the people they are called to serve. Columban missionaries live in solidarity with their people and, together, they move forward to improve their social, economic and spiritual lives, always with Our Savior as their guide and their eyes on God’s Kingdom. For a $10 donation or more, you or a friend or loved one can share in our baptismal call to mission and the Columban Father’s mission work around the world through Columban Mission magazine. To begin receiving your Columban Mission magazine or to provide a gift to a loved one, simply visit our website at www.columban.org, call our toll-free number 877-299-1920 or write to us at: Columban Mission Magazine Subscription Missionary Society of St. Columban P.O. Box 10 St. Columbans, NE 68056
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“If you knew the gift of God and who it is who is saying to you ‘give me a drink,’ you would have asked and he would have given you living water.” — John 4:10
If you feel a thirst to spread the word of Jesus, we would love to discuss missionary life with you.
We invite you to join this new generation by becoming a Columban Father or Columban Sister. If you are interested in the missionary priesthood, write or call… Fr. Bill Morton National Vocation Director Columban Fathers St. Columbans, NE 68056 877-299-1920 Email: vocations@columban.org Website: www.columban.org
If you are interested in becoming a Columban Sister, write or call… Sister Virginia Mozo National Vocation Director Columban Sisters 2546 Lake Road Silver Creek, NY 14136 626-458-1869 Email: virginiamozo@yahoo.com Websites: www.columbansisters.org www.columbansistersusa.com
Japan + Korea + Peru + Hong Kong + Philippines + Pakistan + Chile + Fiji + Taiwan + North America
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