Below are stories from past issues of Columban Mission magazine. The Columban Fathers publish Columban Mission magazine eight times a year. Subscriptions are available for just $15 per year. Sign up to receive our next issue. Read more about Columban Mission magazine.
Fr. Thomas Nam, second from leftIn May 2016, I went to Bangkok, Thailand, with other priests and a brother in order to visit the Korean Embassy and the Korean Catholic Community there. We were looking at how we might help North Korean refugees with the help of the embassy and Catholic community.
The Columban missionaries began their work in Peru in 1951 and continue working throughout the country today. While Peru is a beautiful country, rich in culture and history and was once the center of the Incan empire, over 44 percent of the population currently lives below the poverty line.
In the not-too-distant past it was almost impossible to get governments and institutions to discuss immigration and immigrant issues. It wasn’t as if immigration wasn’t happening.
The Columban missionaries staffed the three parishes on Amakusa Island in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan, from 1950 through 1997. The three parishes were in three different communities, each with its own history and personality.
The other day I walked out of the church after Mass. There is a group of beggars there at the gate of St. Peter’s Church. Sometimes they are hunted away by the authorities, but they tend to drift back. They have been around for years and know me quite well.
While at my age being the main celebrant at the Holy Week ceremonies can be very demanding on a worn out body, it is more than compensated by experiencing first hand the fervor and the enthusiasm of our people with special needs.
When I instructed catechumens in Japan, I spent the first year dealing with ordinary catechetical matters. After Baptism we studied St. Luke's Gospel and Acts. I chose Luke because he was a foreigner writing for foreigners, and also in Acts we have the history of the early church.
We all marvel at the deep and simple wisdom children hold in their hearts and on their lips.
Like the air we breathe, water is essential for our life and well-being. The average person here in the U.S. uses 80-100 gallons in a variety of ways throughout each day.
The snow outside is tapering off. There is a Christmas concert on public television. Surely it is time for me to reflect as Christmas approaches.
The Columbans are a society of missionaries, including priests and lay people, who minister to people of various cultures as a way of witnessing to the universal love of God.