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.
It is said that history has a habit of repeating itself. This seems to be so in one particular case at least. In June 1920 when Columban Frs.
Observing the Sacraments, particularly the Holy Eucharist, is something I look forward to celebrating. The joy comes in sharing the same space and time with people who like me desire nothing but encountering Christ.
It is difficult for us in Myanmar (Burma) to get visas so we have to leave and go to Bangkok, Thailand, frequently to renew our visas. Bangkok is very highly developed with its high rise buildings, cars and buses crawling at a snail’s pace and sidewalks crowded with people.
From our earliest days, almost a century ago, Columban missionaries have employed people to assist us in a variety of roles to support our mission. A few did housekeeping; some maintained buildings and grounds, while others assisted with office work.
On my first visit to Nagasaki’s Atomic Bomb Museum, the obscenity of the atomic bomb left me angry and disturbed. Amidst a 3,900°C heat carried by a blast equal to 21,000 tons of TNT, 80,000 human beings were obliterated in a millisecond – yes, 80,000 lives.
Founded by Columban Fr. Bernard Wade in 1939, St. Luke’s can boast of 700 graduates, of whom 417 have worked in remote areas which are often the center of political violence. Despite all these risks, many young people continue to volunteer for this ministry.
Almost six months ago, I arrived in Yangon, Myanmar, to begin my mission assignment. During these past six months, so many things have happened to me, or have happened around me, that I haven’t always been able to understand.
Lumen Gentium emphasizes the “universal call to holiness” which applies to all the “people of God”– clergy, religious and lay people, stating that “all Christians in any state or walk of life are called to the fullness of Christian life and to the perfection of love and by this holiness
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.