Columban Mission Magazine - June/July 2018 by Columban Fathers

The Magazine of the Missionary Society of St. Columban

Faith and Hope

June/July 2018

Volume 101 - Number 4 - June/July 2018

Columban Mission

o n t e n t s

Issue Theme – Faith and Hope

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 New Rotuman Priest

A Columban Love Story 6 Beauty and Meaning

Symbolism Blooms in the Desert

8 Following the Footsteps

Inspiration in Prison Ministry

10 Ordination in Fiji

Much to Celebrate!

14 A Call to Serve

Inviting and Empowering

15 Losana

A Joyful Columban Missionary

16 Patrick’s Story

PUBLISHER REV. TIMOTHY MULROY, SSC DIRECTORUSA@COLUMBAN.ORG EDITOR KATE KENNY KKENNY@COLUMBAN.ORG EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS MARCI ANDERSON MANDERSON@COLUMBAN.ORG RHONDA FIRNHABER RFIRNHABER@COLUMBAN.ORG GRAPHIC DESIGNER KRISTIN ASHLEY EDITORIAL BOARD DAN EMINGER KATE KENNY ERNIE MAY REV. TIMOTHY MULROY, SSC JEFF NORTON FR. RICHARD STEINHILBER, SSC SCOTT WRIGHT

Cheerful Faces and Joyous Hearts and Eyes

18 Unanticipated Education

First Mission Assignment in Peru

20 Columban Martyrs in Korea

They Paid the Ultimate Price

Departments 3 In So Many Words 23 From the Director

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.

In So Many Words By Fr. Bobby Gilmore

Mission in Fragmentation I have come that you may have life and have it in abundance. (John 10-10) In the old world of European empires the mission of the church traveled with the expansive energy as it did previously in the age of trade routes and great migrations by land and sea. Today we live in a de-territorialized world of nation states each having its local church commissioned to be witness to the Good News of Jesus Christ. The question is: how does the Christian Church, the Christian community, the individual Christian, carry out mission in an urbanizing, migrating, and many would add fragmenting world of great wealth and great want? First, the role of the Church is to be in the witness box, not on the judge’s bench. The first stage of mission is engagement in a spirit of welcoming dialogue with those whose lives are diminished by obstacles in the external or internal landscapes of their lives. Second, witness has to be visible in relevant service to enhance the quality of life in the political, social, economic and cultural networks of people’s lives. Third, witness demands standing with people not as a spectator, but walking with them in active commitment confronting issues that are wounding their souls on their journey of hope. Migrants should be reminders that our hearts are on a journey of hope. God is present in the hope of the human faces. Agents of mission are challenged to match that hope. Fourth, authentic Christian mission activity must be asking why people are homeless, migrants, on the margins, afraid, exploited, unwanted, ignored, not respected. Anyone picking up victims on the road to Jericho has a moral obligation to ask why there are victims if the road is to be safer. Fifth, authentic Christian witness must be enabling people to be subjects of their own destiny not objects of a promoter’s gratification. Equality is indexed to respect for others. Inequality is indexed to indifference to the plight of others. Generally, mission exists wherever there is affirmation of the quality of life in all its aspects, an experience of community offering a sense of belonging, being at home giving an awareness of and celebrating transcendence. In the present world such communities will be inter-religious, people of different beliefs, ideologies, races and cultures in a common struggle to experience the fullness of life both in the material landscapes of economic, political and social networks and particularly in the spiritual landscapes of the human spirit. To be a Christian is to live dangerously, honestly, freely– to step in the name of love as if you may land on nothing, yet to keep on stepping because the something that sustains you no empire can give and no empire can take away. (Cornel West, Democracy Matters)

God is present in the hope of the human faces.

Columban Fr. Bobby Gilmore lives and works in Ireland.

WWW.COLUMBAN.ORG

June/July 2018

A New Rotuman Priest And a Pilgrimage to Rotuma By Fr. Donal McIlraith

at Visanti was born and raised a Methodist on the island of Rotuma. Rotuma is both an island and a nation. It is about 400 miles north of Fiji and, even though ethnically and linguistically different from Fiji, was made part of Fiji during the colonial period. When Pat was twelve, his mother along with Pat and his brother and sister joined their father as Catholics. Pat finished his schooling in Suva, Fiji, and then joined the bank. After several years as a successful bank worker he decided to try his vocation and, urged by Columban Fr. Pat Colgan, he joined the Columbans. He did his seminary training at the Pacific Regional Seminary in Suva, the seminary of the Bishops of the South Pacific. From 2014 to 2016 he worked as a Columban seminarian in Pakistan where he learned Urdu. The Columbans are celebrating our centennial from St. Columban’s Day 2017 to St. Columban’s Day

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2018, and so the Fiji Region opened their celebrations with the ordination of Fr. Pat. He was ordained a priest by Archbishop Peter Loy Chong at the Suva Cathedral on the Feast of St. Columban, November 23, 2017. A Rotuman celebration followed the ordination at the Hall of St. Joseph’s High School, run by the Cluny Sisters. Cluny Provincial, Sr. Allison, was present also and had been one of those who helped Pat arrive at this day. The President of Fiji, Major General (Rtd) Konrote, himself a Rotuman, attended the ordination and the festivities. These included the famous Rotuman communal dance which takes about an hour. Fr. Pat’s first Mass in Suva took place on the following evening once more at the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart which is his home parish in Suva. Months of planning went into developing these events but especially the “pilgrimage” to Rotuma which followed. The Columbans had hired a

commercial boat called the Brianna so that some 140 people could accompany Fr. Pat to his home island for his first Mass there. We charged everyone, of course, and in that way were able both to cover all expenses and enable those wishing to go to Rotuma to do so at a very reasonable rate. We left Suva on Wednesday, November 29. The sea was amazingly calm both going and coming. This was a blessing as the engine broke down half way there and when repaired the boat could only travel at four knots an hour. We spent an extra but enjoyable day on the boat. The central event each day was Mass at 11 am. We wedged ourselves in, and everyone who wished joined enthusiastically in the Eucharist with the Columban seminarians and lay missionaries leading the choir. They had fundraised to join the trip. Three other Columban priests besides Fr. Pat accompanied the “pilgrims,” Fr. David Arms, Fr. Ioane Gukibau and WWW.COLUMBAN.ORG

myself. We were also accompanied by the Fijian parish priest of Rotuma, Fr. Emiliano Lasaqa, SM. A young Methodist minister who was a cousin of Pat’s also accompanied us. I discovered I had corrected his degree paper some years ago. Luckily, he had obtained a good mark, so there was no strain on our relationship! Rotuma is a dream island, small with white sandy beaches, and the 2,000 Rotumans live in beautiful villages along the sandy road that encircles the island. We arrived a day late. They had prepared a feast of fish and lobsters for us on Friday and had to eat it themselves. There is no electricity on the island apart from generators. However, when we arrived on Saturday, they had trucks ready to accompany us to the Parish of Our Lady of Victories in Sumi, the district of Pepje. There they accommodated the sixty of us who comprised the Columban party. The others were Rotuman relatives and friends of Pat’s, some returning home after many years. The first Mass in Rotuma was held at 10:00 am on Sunday, the First Sunday of Advent at the beautiful Church of St. Michael. The music and liturgical dancing was superb. Providentially, it was the Feast of our Missionary Patron, St. Francis Xavier. WWW.COLUMBAN.ORG

It was scheduled for Saturday, but our late arrival meant a quick change of plan. It was also an ecumenical event. The Methodists had planned to join us on the Saturday but with the change in schedule, they moved their Sunday services to 7:00 am enabling them to join us. The palpable joy of all Rotuma at Pat’s ordination was very moving to us. The Mass went well. Young Fr. Pat showed no signs of nervousness but then he did not have to preach. He had given me that task. After Mass we gathered outside, and the first cultural event was the bringing of gifts by the Methodist community, a mountain of food and mats. After this there was the traditional welcome to all of us who were on the island for the first time. This is called the Mamasa. We all sat on specially prepared mats and are formally welcomed. The traditional dance came next. The Catholic community had offered to drop this out of respect as generally the Methodists don’t dance on Sundays. However, the main, Methodist chief, gave an exception, and the dance went ahead. Then followed the traditional Rotuman banquet, a true feast and something we will never forget. Each

of us was served individually by a young lady. Maureen was the person who served me. She had a plaited basket which contained my food. She served the food on a large banana leaf. The food included taro, the local root crop, chicken, beef, pork and a tin of corned beef that took me back to my childhood in Macroom. I did my best but couldn’t make much inroad in the food. It was just too much. Afterwards I asked what happens, and it seems each server gets to take the leftovers home, so none of that delicious food is wasted. The evening was well on when the feast finished so we sat around then, chatting. It was truly a day to remember. After a final Mass, we all rested on Monday. In the morning there was a tour around the island which took about two hours. In the afternoon, at 5:00 pm, we reluctantly left Rotuma. The next day, we had another drift, this time for nine hours. During this time, we had the first of our two homeward Masses. This lifted our spirits. However, they fixed the engine good this time, and we were just a few hours late getting back to Suva, tired but happy. CM Fr. Donal McIlraith lives and works in Fiji.

June/July 2018

Beauty and Meaning

Symbolism Blooms in the Desert By Fr. Patrick Colgan

n mid-January 2018, I spent a few days with our Columban missionaries in the parish of Badin, Pakistan, before attending a meeting of our Columban missionaries living and working in Pakistan. Badin is in the interior Sindh Province and is served by Columban Frs. Tony Cavanagh and Dan O’Connor. The Sunday liturgy reminded me much of Masses I myself said over many years in Fiji. Although the language of Pakistan is Urdu, its words and religious music, are remarkably similar to the Hindi of Fiji, and I found myself humming, tapping and singing along to the lively music at Mass. The liturgical symbolisms were also similar, perhaps even richer than among Fiji Indian communities; for example, children taking around the book of the Gospels —and at the end of Mass an icon of Jesus—for each of us to touch and homage. Fr. Tony also toured the congregation while sprinkling holy water during the Kyrie and a number of times he blessed us with a crucifix which never left his hand during Mass. Back in the presbytery, during a meeting of parish workers, word came through of the serious accident of a nine-year-old boy. The rickshaw he was travelling in collided with a motorbike. The traffic in Pakistan is 6

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chaotic; one contends with humans, animals, drains, stalls and potholes in every direction. The Columbans immediately got in contact with a Maltese religious Sister who would the following day visit the boy and his family staying with him at hospital. The family had already sold their goat, rice and much everything else for medicines and fees. It was a case of Eucharist-in-action. That afternoon, a second Mass really blew my imagination. It was among a very isolated and poor Parkari Kholi community about 45 minutes from Badin City. In between operating the gear shift for Fr. Dan O’Connor’s driving (with the two of us up front along with the catechist, I had no choice but to “straddle!”) I was wondering why we were carrying a cricket bat and coloring pencils, until I saw that, on arrival, Mass was not the first thing on the agenda. The first item of the day was Fr. Dan out with about 20 kids playing cricket in a rice field and then proceeding to have them color pictures coinciding with the readings of that Sunday. Two thirds of the children in that area are not going to school and are functionally illiterate, hence the need for visual aids. Fr. Dan used other pictures during Mass while the catechist drilled the

kids with repetitions of the Ten Commandments, the seven corporal works of mercy and the creed. The Mass started after we had been fed, the darkness lit only by mobile phone lights and a few flashlights. The meal consisted of chapati (an unleavened flatbread), vegetables and a few tiny fish. I was able to play some music before and during Mass, which appeared to bring delight to the people, who—many of the adults being also illiterate—understood some of my Hindi due to its closeness to their Parkari language. Fr. Dan used the pictures colored by the children as part of the offertory and then again as catechesis after communion. He then distributed sweets, as well as a sapling which I was asked to plant, again under the light of a cell phone, in a barren field. The whole thing was quite moving, but our day was not finished yet as we were asked to bring an old man back to the city who hadn’t left his bed for days. We did so, ringing ahead to a Hindu doctor and the parish tuberculosis worker. I will not say that conditions in the clinic were clean, but the man and the family members—who would sleep on his floor that night—were received with respect. On Monday, Fr. Tony and I went to celebrate a Pakari Kholi wedding along with two catechists. We retraced our steps of the day before but going further into the interior where a full village awaited guests coming in buses, motorbikes, pony carts and on foot. Once again, the rich symbolism, coming ultimately from Hinduism, reminded me of Fiji Indian weddings. It is wonderful to see how all these cultures have survived, often only through the support of the church, and continue to give beauty and meaning in what would otherwise be a bleak and economically grim existence. CM Fr. Patrick Colgan lives and works in Hong Kong.

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A legacy of mission… A legacy of giving…

For over 100 years, dedicated members of the Missionary Society of St. Columban have faithfully taken the Good News message of hope and salvation to the poor and oppressed in faraway places. For over 100 years, faithful Columban benefactors have made building God’s Kingdom here on earth possible through their steadfast prayers and support. When you name the Missionary Society of St. Columban as a beneficiary in your will or estate plan, you ensure that the mission of Jesus continues for the next 100 years! For information on how you can become a member, contact: donorrelations@columban.org.

“You will be enriched in every way for your great generosity.” (2 Corinthians, 9:11) COLUMBAN FATHERS LEGACY SOCIETY P.O. Box 10 St. Columbans, NE 86056 Phone: (402) 291-1920 | Fax: (402) 291-4984 Toll-free: (877) 299-1920 www.columban.org | donorrelations@columban.org

Following the Footsteps Inspiration in Prison Ministry By Columban lay missionary Haiti Muller

s we celebrate the Columban Mission Society’s centennial, Columban lay missionary Haiti Muller reflects on her journey in the prison ministry where she gets inspiration from the work of Columban Fr. Francis Chapman. Where there is heart there is love; where there is love there is joy; where there is joy there is God. Coming back home from prison visitation, I felt the beauty of nature, trees so green with a cool breeze, birds singing loudly and the heaven starts to open with its blessing of rain making my tiredness go away, hoping that my brothers in jail would feel the same experiences that I have; my heart melts, and my tears fell. I miss

Columban lay missionary Haiti with her friends at the prison

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them. My mind and heart are restless but how can I help them? What can I offer them? Or is it enough just to give them hope? I failed to find answers to my own questions so I kept quiet and said, “Lord, I need you. I can’t do this alone. Please be with me.” Then slowly some answers came to mind. Matthew 25:36 said, “I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.” This verse in the Bible touches my heart to love and give my time fully for the inmates. As I reflect on my journey into prison ministry, I remember that on my first week, I was so nervous knowing that my Visayan language is not good, but I was challenged by my coordinator to speak it. One day, we went to jail to follow up on the profiles of the inmates. My coordinator told me to interview some of them. At the thought of hearing their stories, I was excited to meet them, but at the same time I was nervous. When the first inmate came and sat beside me, I was confident enough to greet him with, “maayong buntag, kuya” (good morning, big brother). He responded, and I again said, “kumusta?” (how are you?). He started to talk in the Visayan language, but I only. I didn’t introduce myself because my Visayan language is limited. When he heard me talk, he knew that I was still struggling with my language so he started to talk to me in English. I was so happy that he

could speak English, but when my coordinator found out that we talked in English she told the inmate not to talk to me in English saying further, “speak Visaya to her so that she can practice too.” I laughed and tried to talk in Visaya again. It made my day. Day after day and week after week, I see in myself the joy every time I encountered them even with my limited language. Laughing and smiling together through the pain they face in jail makes them feel light. Some of their stories are really sad. Some are neglected and abandoned by their own families, but they still have faith in themselves. After hearing their stories, I came to realize how difficult it is to cope inside the jail which is so crowded with 2,900 inmates, and the space for them is very small. But they always find space in the chapel to rest and sleep. The chapel is a place for them to have space and have activities like Mass, spiritual workshops, counselling and also a place where I can give them my time. However, the joy I encountered since my first time in prison slowly faded away because of the heat. I respected the law of the prison not to take anything inside. When we started to talk with the inmates I could feel the heat and I started to fan myself with my hand without knowing that one of the inmates excused himself and went looking for fan. When he handed me the fan, I started to be ashamed of myself and tears started to fall from WWW.COLUMBAN.ORG

my eyes. I realized that I shouldn’t do that in front of them and realizing too that I was just there not even a month but I already started to show signs of giving up just because of the heat and here they are struggling for many years already but they still manage to smile. They taught me a lesson. Every time I come home, I always go to the chapel and offer my day of joy and pain in front of the Blessed Sacrament and pray for the inmates and also for me to be strong because this helps me to be relieved. I take as a blessing every experience. In the jail chapel, there is a painting of a priest. Every time I visit the jail, I always pass by it. So one day I asked one of the inmates who the man in the painting is and the inmate answered, “You said you are a Columban Missionary but you don’t know him? He is Fr. Chapman, a Columban priest. He loved us so much. He used to hear our confession, provided us food, and he built this chapel.” I was so amazed upon hearing Fr. Chapman’s story. His story gave me courage to give the inmates more space in my heart. From that time on, I didn’t want to live a day without visiting the jail. However there are times I have to attend to other duties so I am unable to visit them which makes me very sad. After eight months of being a jail volunteer, I started to reflect and think of what I can do to lessen the heat in the chapel. Through the WWW.COLUMBAN.ORG

help of my coordinator, we were able to come up with a renovation plan which is partly to put an insulator on the roof. So I started to save a bit of my own money although I know it’s not enough to start the work. Through our prayers and trusting God that He will do the rest, we were able to find some benefactors who helped secure materials for the renovation. Likewise, my ministry coordinator also helped financially so our dream could happen. The inmates helped with the labor, and the renovation went well. Every day, I visited the construction and I can’t help but admire the inmates for helping one another in order to complete the work. The renovation work started in September and finished in October. It is beautiful, and the heat is less. I fell silent and thank God for what He has done for the sake of the inmates through the generosity of the benefactors. On Sunday, October 29, 2017, which was prison awareness Sunday, the chapel was blessed, to God be the glory. It’s truly a blessing. Words are not enough to express my gratitude. I thank God for making things possible through the generous support of our benefactors, families and friends. I also would like to thank the life of Fr. Chapman who inspired me to give my life fully on mission. I salute my ministry coordinator for mentoring and

challenging me each day to do my best and give God the glory and put my trust in Him. To the inmates, thank you for giving me joy and helping me grow each day to be a good missionary and being patient with my limitation to speak the language. To my Columban family, especially my fellow lay missionaries in Mindanao, thank you for being with me here always especially when I feel that life is difficult. Last but not the least, I would like to thank my dad for always listening to me, to my mom who is now in heaven for praying for me, and to my siblings for always providing for me when I needed something on my mission. To my nieces and my nephews thank you for always making me smile and happy when I am down. To those who are part of my life journey and those who pray for me, thank you for everything. Without you all I know know I wouldn’t be who I am today. Let God unite us in prayer. May the good Lord bless and guide us always and again. From Matthew 25:36, “I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.” (Names of persons are deliberately not disclosed in this edited version to protect their identity.) CM Columban lay missionary Haiti Muller lives and works in the Philippines.

June/July 2018

President and Mrs. Konrote with the ordination group

Ordination in Fiji Much to Celebrate! By Fr. Donal McIlraith

t was a personal joy for me to attend the ordination of Pat Roland Visanti in Suva on St. Columban’s Day 2017. It coincided with the opening of the Society’s Centennial Year. The ordaining Fijian Archbishop Peter Loy Chong, during his homily, was fulsome in his praise of the Society’s cutting edge work – in the Pacific and globally – in the areas of justice, ecology and interreligious dialogue. Fiji had just relinquished the chairmanship of the United Nations COP23 Climate Change Conference in Bonn, Germany, and Archbishop 10

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Fr. Pat celebrates his first Mass!

Loy said it was the Columbans who most helped him develop the Catholic contribution to it. I happened to be the Rector of Formation and also Vocations’ Director when, in 2007, Pat decided to join the formation program. I remember being impressed at this young bank officer bouncing up to do the Mass reading at a Cathedral lunch time Mass when no one else could be found. When he then started intoning the Alleluia in a confident voice, I thought “we need people like this in the Columbans” – and the rest is history!

Pat is our first Columban from the island of Rotuma which, though linguistically and culturally distinct, has been politically joined to Fiji since colonial times. During and after the ordination, we were treated to an extraordinary display of the customary feasting, dancing and singing of the large Rotuman community of Suva. We were joined by all seven major Rotuma chiefs (the majority of whom are not Catholic) and the President of the Republic of Fiji, Major General (Retired) Joji Konrote, himself a Rotuman. He, individually and on WWW.COLUMBAN.ORG

Fr. David Arms during the laying of hands

behalf of the nation and government of Fiji, spoke highly of the contribution of the Columban Fathers in Fiji since their arrival in 1952. The choir for both Pat’s ordination and first Masses was the Archdiocesan Liturgical Music Ministry. This is a valiant group of volunteers who made their way every night for two months to a hall to learn and practice hymns in English, Fijian, Rotuman, Hindi and Spanish to a perfection that made all ceremonies both joyful and often tearfully solemn. Pat spent 18 months in Pakistan, and it is to there he will return in mid-2018. Archbishop Loy expressed his joy at small Rotuma’s sending a missionary to Pakistan in the person Pat, just as the island of Rabi is “on mission” in Taiwan in the person of Columban Fr. Taaremon Matauea. Now that we have seminarians from the Kiribati and Solomons, there is every reason to hope that they too will soon be representing their island nations in Columban locations throughout Asia, South America and elsewhere. Along with the ordination of Peruvian Salustino Villalobos (already appointed to Taiwan) on the same day as Pat, the Society has indeed much to celebrate in our 100th year! CM Columban Fr. Donal McIlraith lives and works in Fiji. WWW.COLUMBAN.ORG

Fr. Pat at the post-ordination celebration

Rotuma ladies serving the banquet

Rotuma youth dance in celebration

June/July 2018

A Columban Love Story A Living Example of Love By Fr. John Boles

“When I left Peru to go to the Philippines, I wondered what I’d find there,” observed Marisol Rojas, a former Columban Lay Missionary. Perhaps the last thing she expected to find was a husband. This is a true love story, played out against the background of Columban mission, and one in which I am proud to have played a “bit” part. The Columbans not only send priests and Sisters on mission from one country to another, but also committed lay persons. The idea is to preach Christ’s Gospel and, at the same time, mutually enrich people from different cultures and backgrounds. Marisol was born into a Catholic family in a fairly humble part of Lima, the capital of Peru. From the start she was connected with the Columbans. Her parents lived in a Columban parish. She was baptized by Columban 12

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Fr. Peter Woodruff, who was originally from Australia. She made her First Holy Communion and Confirmation in my parish, and later (along with her sister) became an outstanding catechist for us. Inspired by the work of the Columbans, she decided she wanted

“It was love at ﬁrst sight,” explains Charito. “For you it was,” smiles Marisol. to take a step further, by volunteering for our overseas lay mission program. I was only too happy to recommend her, and soon she found herself on her way to the Philippines. From the outset she found herself challenged to the utmost. She was

posted to the island of Mindanao, an area racked by poverty, tropical typhoons and violence between Christian and Muslim communities. She was appointed to the parish of Agusan, where the pastor (Australian Columban Fr. Dick Pankratz) asked her to work in a center for deaf children. “I never imagined I had it in me,” recalls Marisol, “not only learning the local language but also sign language, and then getting involved in the lives of the children....their families, their homes, their communities.” “Nor did I realize how much I would be affected by all this,” she continues. “They gave so much of themselves to me, and I began to share so much of myself with them.” Her fondest memory was of the time when she taught them to perform Peruvian folk dances. “They danced with such enthusiasm, even though they couldn’t WWW.COLUMBAN.ORG

Marisol with deaf students in the Philippines

Charito and Marisol with the hospital pastoral team in the Philippines

Charito, Fr. John holding Camile and Marisol in Peru

Marsiol, Charito and Camile at home in Peru

hear the music. I cried, I was so happy.” Meanwhile, hundreds of miles away, a young Filipino man by the name of Charito Borra was testing his priestly vocation, and deciding it wasn’t for him. “The pull of wanting to have a family of my own was too much for me,” he remembers. While deciding what he was going to do with his life, he went to work with a pastoral team in a hospital in the city of Manila. Four years into her posting, the Columbans asked Marisol to go to Manila and experience pastoral work in a hospital...yes, in the same hospital and the same team as Charito! It seems God was planning things for them. “It was love at first sight,” explains Charito. “For you it was,” smiles Marisol. She was slower to fall for the soft-spoken Filipino. However, by year’s end, the dye was cast. Marisol WWW.COLUMBAN.ORG

returned to Mindanao, but they continued a “courtship by internet.” Finally, on leaving her posting in the south, she was reunited with Charito in Manila. He asked for her hand, and she agreed. She invited him to go back to Peru with her, and he agreed.

Life is happy for Marisol and Charito, a happiness that would never have occurred without the Columbans. It was at this point that I reentered the story. Marisol and Charito returned to her parents’ area of Lima. They asked me to celebrate their wedding, which I was only too pleased to do. Settled in the neighborhood, they both obtained jobs as teachers

and began helping in the parish. So popular did they become with our congregation that we made them Eucharistic ministers. People said they were a living example of love. This image was strengthened by the birth of their first child, a delightful little girl named Camile, whom I had the privilege of baptizing. At the time of writing, they are expecting a second baby. Life is happy for Marisol and Charito, a happiness that would never have occurred without the Columbans. “The Columbans taught me how to love,” says Marisol. “It doesn’t matter what your color is, or where you come from.” In truth, this has been a Columban love story. CM Fr. John Boles is a Columban priest from England who has worked in South America for over twenty years. Photos taken by Eduardo Salas, Communications Director for the Columban Fathers in Peru.

June/July 2018

A Call to Serve Inviting and Empowering By Joan Yaps

od calls us in unique and different ways. Before I became a Columban lay missionary, I was happy working in my diocese for nine years. But somehow, I had this feeling that God was calling me for something more. Through prayer, God lead me to where I am now, a Columban lay missionary, living in Taiwan, and working in the migrant ministry to witness and experience God’s love. I meet a lot of people working in the migrant ministry. My job requires me to work together with the Filipino volunteers. What I find challenging is inviting and empowering lay people to be active in the church. I want to share a story of one of the volunteers that I’ve met in the parish. Her name is Ivy Chiu, a Filipina married to a Filipino Chinese. I noticed her every Sunday with her son. They usually sit outside the church. One day, she approached me and asked me about wanting her son to receive communion. That struck me and I realized that there are people who are thirsty and hungry for God but that they just don’t know where to go. I introduced her to one of the Sisters who is helping in the children’s catechism to prepare them for the Sacraments. I also introduced her to the Chungli Association for Immigrant Families (CAIF), a group of Filipinos married to Taiwanese. As a loving mother, Ivy wanted to share her Catholic faith with her son. She wanted to become a good role model to her son, and I encouraged her to be part of the lectors and commentators group for the English Mass. This

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Joan with the CAIF team

will also help encourage her son to be active in children’s ministry of the church. Ivy was soon chosen to be the president of the CAIF. She was hesitant at first, because she was scared of the responsibility. She said that it was too much for her, because she didn’t know what to do. We asked her to do three months as a trial, and that if she still finds it difficult, she may resign. By the grace of God, she was able to finish the first three months and served CAIF for a year. Whenever I saw Ivy, I am always reminded of God’s calling and invitation to all of us. God uses people and situations to be closer to Him. I am proud of Ivy’s courage to say “Yes” to God’s invitation. She had fears, but held on to her faith and love of God. She was able to finish her term for one year, and for her, it was very fulfilling, that she was able to share herself with the community. It deepened her relationship with God. I was amazed how she had grown spiritually. In the past, she was

just attending Mass, and now she is already one of the leaders in the church community. At the end of her term, she asked me to join their CAIF meeting for the election of their new president. I told the new incoming President the same thing that I said to Ivy, to try it for three months and discover how God unfolds His Love for her. And Ivy just laughed at me upon hearing those same words. I told Ivy that I was able to say those same words because I saw it working in her. Just like Ivy, I also had fears when I said yes to God’s invitation to be a missionary. I don’t know what lies ahead and if I am worthy of the call. Yet despite of it, I believe that we are all called by God to a deeper trust in His Love. The road may not be easy, but the challenges along the way help me become a better person. This is my story, and I can share it with the people. CM Columban lay missionary Joan Yap lives and works in Taiwan.

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Losana A Joyful Columban Missionary By Fr. Donal McIlraith

osana Ve’ehala of Tonga passed away unexpectedly at the Columban lay missionary house in Suva, Fiji, on Sunday, December 10, 2017. Tongan Fr. Taukei, in his homily at the house, asked us “Why did she die in Suva, why did she die with the Columbans?” Losana left the Columban program about 10 years ago and returned to Tonga to care for her father who is still alive. Though she left the program, she never left the Columbans. She was our volunteer worker in Tonga and did Trojan work for us there, especially preparing candidates for the Columban seminary and lay mission program. Born on January 27, 1967, Losana is the third of the nine Ve’ehala children to pass away. Their father is now in his nineties. Losana grew up on Tongatapu, the main island of Tonga and after primary schooling in Niutoa, her village, attended St. John’s College, the oldest Catholic secondary school in Tonga. She worked for some years after school in the Ministry of Finance in Nuku’alofa, the capitol. She then thought she would try a religious vocation but finally settled on the lay

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missionary vocation which she joined in 1996. Fr. Charles Duster, a Columban from the United States was then in charge of the lay mission program, and Losana spent a year under his tutelage as she prepared herself for mission. On Mission Sunday 1996 she was missioned to the Philippines by then Archbishop Petero Mataca of Suva. There she had to go back to school again to learn the Tagalog language and become familiar with Philippine culture. For the next seven years she worked with the poor and downtrodden while being based in historic Malate, the great Columban parish of Manila. In 2004, she returned to Fiji and ran the lay mission program herself in Suva, first with Vosita and then by herself. After three years of this, she decided it was time to return home and look after her father. She got a job in the Diocesan Office ministering to children. The Columbans have a small house in Tonga, and she stayed there during the week and looked after Columban interests in Tonga. We will sorely miss her. We invited her to Suva for the opening of the Columban centennial celebrations and for Fr. Pat Visanti’s ordination. A person bubbling over with joy, she brought light and laughter with her everywhere. Little did we know that Losana had come home to die. She was scheduled to travel to Rotuma, Fr. Pat’s island, for his First Mass there. She felt unwell and stayed in Suva. She collapsed, and they took her unconscious to hospital. After four days she was discharged with a diagnosis of asthma. In the following days there

was a lot of banter. She said, “You will take my body to Tonga!” Vitalina Lubi, her classmate under Fr. Duster joked, “Are you ready to go?” “Yes, I am,” she replied. It was an asthma attack that took her so suddenly on December 10. The answer, Fr. Taukei, is this: She died in the Columban lay mission house in Suva because she was still a Columban at heart. Accompanying her remains to Tonga for the funeral, together with her sister Maletina who had come to Fiji to help, it became clear how much she was appreciated. Her diocesan colleagues, priests and lay co-workers, were at the airport to greet her. Crowds, Catholic and Methodist, came to her home to pray and visit. Finally, on Tuesday, December 19, Cardinal Mafi celebrated her funeral Mass. Losana, may He who told you to “go and make disciples,” now welcome you into His Father’s kingdom. CM Columban Fr. Donal McIlraith lives and works in Fiji.

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Patrick’s Story Cheerful Faces and Joyous Hearts and Eyes By Fr. Neil Magill

f you are from a very poor family living in a remote village with no electricity, no running water and poor transportation, you might feel depressed and feel the world is unfair. You would be right to think this way. If you and your family are living in IDP [Internally Displaced People] camps because your home was destroyed by the military and your small piece of land where you used to grow rice and vegetables was confiscated by the government, you would feel anger and frustration. You would be right to feel this way. Here at my Higher Education Center we have 120 young people aged 18-21 who come from these places. They are on a three year residential course to train as teachers and development workers for the good of the church and their country Myanmar (formerly Burma). I am amazed and humbled that despite the cruelty, discrimination and harshness they have suffered, they have cheerful faces and joyous hearts and eyes. Patrick, his Christian name, is one of these young people. He is from the war torn Kachin State in the northern part of the country. While the Kachin State is rich in natural resources, it has been exploited by the military and Chinese with no benefits to the people. Patrick and his family are among the many thousands of victims. Patrick, his parents and four siblings were forced to flee to a refugee camp when their simple home was burned down, and their small piece of land was confiscated by the military. The few pigs they were rearing to generate some income for the family were 16

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killed and eaten by the military as they ravaged their village. Patrick’s mother leaves the refugee camp early in the morning to work outside doing the 3 Ds work [dirty, dangerous and difficult] and returns in the late evening. She earns $75 for a month’s work. How can she feed her family on this? Patrick’s father suffered from poor health for many years and was unable to work. In August 2017, Patrick, his mother and siblings suffered another blow. Their father went out one morning walking to visit a friend. He didn’t have a motorbike or even a bicycle. He did not return to the refugee camp that afternoon. When the mother returned from work at dark she raised the alarm. The children and others in the camp went searching for him but could not find him. At sunrise the next morning

they found him dead among bushes and shrubs. He had been shot by the military. He was an innocent man. As Patrick, a first year student, told me this sad story he shed many tears. He felt bad that his mother could not make the small contribution we ask to the Higher Education Center. I assured him that he had enough problems and difficulties in his life, and I would look for a scholarship for him as I do for many of our students. In classes or during recreation he is like all the other students, who have their own sad family stories, wearing a cheerful smile and joyous heart and eyes. “My faith and God’s love supports me,” he says. As missionaries we receive more from the poor than we give. CM Columban Fr. Neil Magill lives and works in Myanmar, formerly Burma.

Fr. Neil Magill in an IDP camp

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Unanticipated Education First Mission Assignment in Peru by Aminiasi (Mini) Ravuwai

t started out like any other normal evening meal in the formation house in Fiji when we were informed we will be going to Peru for our FMA (First Mission Assignment). Two days after our arrival in Lima, Tex and I were called to a meeting with our FMA Director where he outlined the program. He mentioned there was a possibility of doing pastoral work in a school. Having the experience of being a teacher before the seminary, I told myself “I got this one in the bag.” It’s either math or basic English. I did not even bother to ask what school it was or what was involved in the pastoral work. After language school, I was settling into my appointed parish of “All Saints” in the township of Huandoy, when I was informed of pastoral placement in the school. Indeed, it was the school next door but not the one I had anticipated. There were two schools beside the Columban Central House, one a Diocesan secondary school and the other a special needs school. So, it was welcome to Manuel Duato, a school catering to the needs of special students. Without any formal training prior to this, I had a bit of confusion, feelings of helplessness and a surge of anxiety. The first day came, and it was like reliving my first day in elementary school where it literally took me seconds to exit through the other door. My fears became a reality as 18

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there were screams, parents chasing their kids around, a kid chewing on some crayons and another throwing stuff at other students. The class was chaotic and in a mess, but as I would later find out, there was a certain beauty and fulfilling joy hidden within that mess. One simply needs time to adjust to unfamiliar situations and adapt. Somehow I always find myself back inside a classroom but this was different. The assigned class comprised of ten severely mentally challenged students, a teacher, and myself as assistant. As weeks turned into months the unfamiliar gradually became familiar. Each student had a different way of being approached and assisted in class. Activities involved some simple art work in class and physical exercises outside. At other times it would involve feeding some of the students during lunch. Language was a challenge for me, and luckily it was of minimal use since the students also had speech impairments. Communication was kept at one-word commands accompanied by simple hand gestures; anything more would confuse both the students and myself. Regular or traditional classrooms gauge students’ progress generally through exam results and are most rewarding to any teacher who puts in effort sees the results. In our class at Manuel Duato, the completion of art work or physical activity, however small, is an achievement in itself.

The means of getting there may be difficult, but it is worthwhile when one sees the joy expressed on these students faces upon completion of a simple task. There might be aspects of the love and care missing in their lives, and hopefully I have done enough to fill in these gaps for them. These students are occasionally misunderstood by society and looked at differently, but for me to be able to understand and to “feel-with” them offers another perspective. As a Columban seminarian I am also reminded of the possibility of working for and alongside special needs people in the future. Truly there have been areas of growth in my own person, such as gaining a great deal of patience, accepting others for whom they are and having tolerance for special needs students. One could easily define these areas of growth, but to live them out is a different ball game. Spending time with these students made me realize my own shortcomings and provided the opportunity to identify them, acknowledge, adjust and to improve upon them. I may never really know the extent to which I have assisted them in class, but on the other hand, they have imparted life lessons that I would draw from as I continue my vocation journey. The experience reminded me of a Columban priest’s sharing in the formation house in Fiji in which he said “The formation years are about going around with your WWW.COLUMBAN.ORG

Enjoying recess with my students (L-R: Sabastian, Jose, Mini, Valentina and Juan)

Students re-enacting the Last Supper during Holy Week.

Sharing a laugh with Juan.

Freddy, a teacher, in class after some artwork.

tool-box and collecting tools for the journey ahead.” The FMA program has thus far provided me tools, some new while the old ones need a bit of oiling. A Scripture passage I can relate to this experience would have to be the “Woman at the Well” (John 4:5-42). The Samaritan woman may have thought she had it figured out by travelling far to get water from Jacob’s well. She arrives at the well and encounters Jesus. The exchange leads her to admit her past, to be fully present there with the Lord and a renewed faith for the future. There is a sort of spiritual displacement that has taken place within the woman that she leaves behind her empty jar and goes off to proclaim the Good News. WWW.COLUMBAN.ORG

The other aspect of this passage that I find intriguing is the image of water, how it takes the form of any enclosed object and how freely it flows when released. Before the commencement of pastoral work, I honestly thought I had it all figured out. The classes with the students revealed how far I have come, the need to be fully present, and the necessary adjustments that I will need to make heading into the future. I may have entered their lives with preconceived notions of the experience, but I was so wrong. As I continue with pastoral work, I see the

beauty and the joy that accompanies it when one is of service to the community of special needs students. What a blessing! Finally I wish to convey my sincere gratitude to all benefactors of the Society. It is through your prayers and support that such institutions and projects undertaken by the Society manifests itself in the lives of these children, their families and your seminarians. God Bless. CM Aminiasi Ruvawi is a Fijian Columban seminarian.

June/July 2018

Columban Martyrs in Korea They Paid the Ultimate Price By Fr. Donal Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Keefe

June/July 2018

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Father Francis J. Canavan

Father John O’Brien

anjeong Dong in Mokpo was both a parish and also the headquarters of the Columban mission in the southwest province of Chollanamdo in Korea in the 1940s. The pastor was Columban Fr. Tom Cusack and his assistant Columban Fr. John O’Brien. Monsignor Patrick Brennan was the superior, a big humorous man and a natural leader. Born in Chicago in 1901, he had originally been a Chicago diocesan priest until he joined the Columbans and came to Korea in 1937. Fr. Tom born in Liscannor, Ireland, in 1910, was ordained a Columban in 1934 and assigned to Korea. Both Brennan and Cusack had endured house arrest during the Japanese occupation and both were appointed to Mokpo in 1949. Fr. John O’Brien from Dunamon, Ireland, was born in 1917 and ordained a Columban in 1942. Unable to go to Korea due to the war, he volunteered as a military chaplain and saw service in Egypt and North Africa. He arrived in Korea in 1949. His brother Vincent was also a Columban assigned to the Philippines. On July 17, 1950, an official from the American Consulate in Daegu had called at the Mokpo parish to warn Monsignor Brennan to leave with all his personnel because the United Nations (U.N.) forces would not be able to defend Mokpo. At a meeting of the priests that evening Monsignor Brennan stated that he was staying since, “It goes with the job.” Later WWW.COLUMBAN.ORG

Father Thomas Cusack

Harold Henry, a young priest present at that meeting, was to write that “there was silence in the room” after Brennan had spoken! Fr. Tom Cusack also stated he would stay. “I would not be able to live with myself if I left and the Catholics were killed,” he said in a message sent to his mother through fellow Columban Fr. Michael O’Connor. Fr. John O’Brien stated he would stay also. Monsignor Brennan then instructed all the younger men in nearby parishes and those doing language studies to take refuge in the city of Busan. On July 24 the North Korean forces entered Mokpo. The three priests were arrested and transferred to jail in Kwangju City. An American soldier, Alexander Makarounis, who shared the same cell as the Columbans, gave an account published in the Columban magazine, The Far East, September 1951. He told how the priests shared their blankets, lifted the spirits of the other prisoners, and often sang “Far Away Places,” the 1948 Bing Crosby hit. On August 26, all were ordered to travel to Seoul. However the convoy was attacked near the city of Daejeon and the three Columbans were jailed in Daejeon along with thousands of others. The “valuable prisoners,” i.e. missionaries and high officials, were billeted in the Franciscan monastery in Daejeon. The North Korean forces made this monastery their temporary headquarters and each time there was

Monsignor Pat Brennan

an air raid by U.N. forces the Western prisoners were ordered to the roof to be used as human shields. A woman, who was in a neighboring cell at that time, later testified that when they heard a prisoner being interrogated about Catholics in Daejeon “the three foreign priests went down on their knees and prayed throughout the night for that prisoner.” Towards the latter half of September the North Koreans had to abandon Daejeon due to the advancing U.N. forces. They executed all the prisoners during the period of September 24-26. The bodies of those in the monastery were dumped into a deep well in the grounds. In 1952 the well was emptied, the bodies cremated and the remaining ashes and bones were buried in a large grave on a nearby hill. In 1996 Daejeon city decided to develop the whole area. Family members of the dead were notified, and in their presence the grave was opened, the bones exhumed and each family took some of the bones to bury privately. A local Catholic historian, who knew that three missionaries had been among those massacred, also attended the ceremony and took some of the bones in memory of the priests who died. Placing the remains into an urn, he erected a little shrine in his own garden to their memory. In 2006 the urn was transferred to a new memorial erected by Daejeon diocese in honor of the martyrs at the Catholic graveyard. June/July 2018

Today the names of Columban priests Patrick Brennan, Thomas Cusack and John O’Brien’ are on the list of the 81 modern day martyrs in Korea, and the Church is promoting their beatification. In the face of death they elected to stay with their people and paid the ultimate price.

The Life of Frank Canavan Columban Fr. Frank Canavan was born in 1915 in Headford, Galway Ireland, the eighth child in a family of nine. His older brother Liam was a priest in Sydney Archdiocese until his death in 1968. Frank joined the Columbans in 1934, and his parish priest Fr. Andy Moran in a letter of recommendation to the Columbans noted that Frank was “not of the robust kind or very strong…. is quiet, and conducts himself well, steadfast I should say very tenacious and persevering.” He ended the letter with the rather prophetic words “his piety and character will pull him through where strong men would fail.” Ordained in 1940, but unable to go overseas due to World War II, he worked at Kinvara parish in the diocese of Galway until July 1948 when he was appointed to Jungrim Dong parish in Chuncheon City, Korea. His immediate task was to learn the language, get to know the culture and parish life. In letters to home he described visiting families and taking off one’s shoes, sitting on the floor, etc. In one letter to his mother in June 1949 he made reference to the danger of a Russian invasion writing “it has been decided that the priests in Korea will remain in their posts, if anything happens and that is the only course to adopt.” In that same letter he jokes with his mother about becoming a martyr and suggests that she could profit by cutting up his old coat and selling the strips as relics!! He seemed to have been very conscious of that possibility because in another letter 22

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to his sister Margaret he made a pun on his Korean name, Fr. Sohn, saying “Now that I am Sohn (sown) in Korea, I hope I will bear good fruit.” On Sunday, June 25, 1950, in Chuncheon the sound of gunfire was heard. There were regular skirmishes in the border area between the two parts of Korea but this time it seemed to be more serious. That afternoon Columban Fr. Philip Crosbie arrived from his parish at Hongchon to discuss the situation. That same evening the American adviser to the South Korean forces in the province of Kangwondo, came to advise the priests to flee. Fr. Tom Quinlan, the superior, stated he was staying but suggested to Frank that he leave,

pointing out that that Frank was still a language student with no official pastoral responsibility. Frank said, “I want to stay.” Fr. Phil Crosbie later wrote how Fr. Frank called him aside to talk. He had decided to stay – his reason for consulting Fr. Phil had been to confirm his decision. Fr. Phil wrote “And so he stayed. As I trudged back to Hongchon that day the image that had flickered in and out of my mind of a small man, with a smile in his eyes and peace in his heart, turning his face to a gathering storm.” Over the next week as their church was destroyed by shells, Frs. Tom and Frank spent their time

trying to put our fires. On July 2 both were arrested by North Korean soldiers, transferred to Seoul and then to an internment camp in the north of the country. On October 31, 700 prisoners were ordered to march out and so began the infamous “Death March” over mountains in freezing weather where prisoners had to sleep in the open with no adequate dress or food. They marched 100 miles in nine days during which some 98 people died. Fr. Frank had contacted pneumonia during the march, and on December 4 and he told his colleague Fr. Tom that, “I will be having my Christmas dinner in Heaven.” He died on December 6, 1950, the Feast Day of St. Nicholas, patron saint of Galway Diocese to whom he had a great devotion, and was buried where he died. Monsignor Quinlan later wrote “Frank Canavan could not be called a robust man, but in Chuncheon under fire he displayed heroic courage and on the long march helped the sick and the old who could not keep up with others. No words of mine could sufficiently extol his priestly virtues.” (The Far East, August 1953). The words of the parish priest of Headford in 1934, “his piety and character will pull him through where strong men would fail” were so true! Today a granite Celtic Cross with his name stands over an empty grave in the burial plot behind the cathedral in Chuncheon. Revered as a martyr because he choose to stay with the people and lost his life, that empty grave lies beside the graves of his three Columban martyr confreres Tony Collier, Patrick Reilly and Jim Maginn. Every Sunday throughout the diocese at the beginning of Mass the people offer a prayer for the beatification of the Columban Martyrs. CM Columban Fr. Donal O’Keefe lives and works in South Korea.

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A New Path

ife begins at forty! That’s what Fr. Tony Coney was about to discover as his plane touched down in Lima. As a newly ordained Columban priest he had said goodbye to his family and friends in Ireland and had traveled to Peru to begin his mission there on his fortieth birthday. As a dedicated altar boy, this was a way of life Tony might have imagined for himself when he was ten years old, but by the time he had turned twenty, it no longer seemed even a remote possibility. By then, he had given up all religious practice, had no regular employment due to his failure to complete his high school education, and was drinking heavily. During the next several years his life continued on a downward spiral and he felt increasingly powerless to apply the brakes. Then, one night Tony had a mysterious

FROM THE DIRECTOR By Fr. Tim Mulroy

dream in which he was given a taste of a life that was peaceful and hopeful. Soon afterwards, he went along to a rehabilitation center to seek help to overcome his alcohol addiction. This meant cutting ties with many of his friends and avoiding the places where they used to hang out together. It also meant searching for a new purpose and direction, so he returned to the

There he found God waiting for him with open and forgiving arms. classroom in order to complete his high school education. During the following three years, step by step, and with the help and support of others, Tony regained control over his life. One day he happened to pass by the church where he had been baptized and served as an altar boy. Even though he had not been to church for more than a decade, he was suddenly seized by a strong urge to go inside. There he found God waiting for him with open and forgiving arms. During the following months as he grew in awareness of God’s incredible love for him, he also felt a desire to surrender everything to Him in return. A short time later he applied to enter the seminary to become a Columban missionary priest. To his astonishment, he was accepted. Eight years later, after his ordination Fr. Tony was sent on mission to Peru. There, he has spent more than twenty years as a Columban priest ministering among the poor. For Fr. Tony, “Life is a series of new beginnings. One can set out on a new path at twenty or forty or eighty years...but why not set out today?”

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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

“Lord, you know everything, You know I love you…then feed my lambs.” — John 21:17 Perhaps you are someone whose love of God is leading you to want to serve His hungry people. We are waiting to listen to your story and answer your questions about mission life.

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… Sr. Carmen Maldonado National Vocation Director Columban Sisters 2546 Lake Road Silver Creek, NY 14136 716-934-4515 Email: sscusvocations@yahoo.com Websites: www.columbansisters.org www.columbansistersusa.com

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