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.
In late 1917, Fr. Edward Galvin landed in New York and began a long trek across the country in search of a suitable location for the U.S. headquarters of the Missionary Society of St. Columban. At the same time, another Irish priest, Fr.
The blind beggar heard the crowd passing him on the road. Feet hurrying, people talking, all moving quickly along. What was going on? "Jesus of Nazareth is passing by." It was enough. Immediately the beggar shouted, "Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!" He was making a nuisance of himself.
Since 2014, St. Joseph's Parish in Ballymun, Ireland, started to look at ways to respond to the needs of young people in the parish. Parents asked if there was a program that could help them nourish the spiritual aspect of the lives of their teenage sons and daughters.
As part of my process of priestly formation, in 2015 I was assigned to Taiwan to perform my First Missionary Assignment (FMA).
I clearly remember the first time I visited Julie Santiago. To reach her house, I had to pass by several narrow lanes in the area where I lived. It was daytime, but it was quite dark inside her house because they didn't have lights.
I went to China because we used to get The Far East magazine (the magazine of Columban missionaries published in Ireland). I was the eldest of six children: four girls and then two boys. We grew up between Roscommon and Castlerea in Ireland.
Adai is a grandmother and faithful member of the Catholic community in TianGou village in the mountains of Taiwan. Like all the residents of the mountain villages along the DaAn River, Adai is a member of the Tayal tribal group.
Audy was a bright-eyed, smiling three-month-old baby who arrived at church for her baptism in the arms of her proud father, Jason. I chatted with him for some moments at the entrance to the church while a large number of relatives and friends of the family arrived.
The Ai Jia Development Center was founded by the Hsinchu Catholic diocese in Taiwan to help and support mentally challenged adult students. Like in many other countries, mentally challenged people in Taiwan are not considered as important.
My only contact with the Columbans before going to the seminary in Suva, Fiji, was when Columban Fr. Frank Hoare visited my home in Tonga to interview me about becoming a Columban missionary priest.
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.