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 $10 per year. Sign up to receive our next issue. Read more about Columban Mission magazine.
"Na yacamu?" (What is your name?) I got used to being asked this question every time I meet people in the village. I came to the village of Navatuyaba, Toga, in Rewa province, Fiji, where I am having my exposure of the local language and culture.
Sport is always a great way to bring people together. This is especially important when you live in a barrio, an area with a high poverty rate, where there are migrants from different countries.
Language is a basic skill we need to communicate, to express our feelings and to understand others. But, we are divided by different languages used in nations or cities.
Back in 1990 a missionary priest in Taiwan was the parish priest of a small parish that had a small kindergarten attached. The kindergarten was underused and struggling.
My grandfather's name was Ireneo, but he was best known and called "Tata" by everyone in the family or Tatay Neo by everyone else who knew him.
As a tall, athletic youth, Fr. Tom Rouse was a valued player on any rugby team. He was also a diligent student, who excelled in history and math. However, when he felt God's call to become a missionary priest during his high school years, there appeared one dark cloud on the horizon.
Our hope was that he would be the one to set Israel free. (Lk. 24)
Last April 18, I boarded a plane going to France. Starting in France, I was on my way to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. It was not my intention to go as a Christian, nor even as a missionary. I just wanted to go there.
Last year I decided to go to Pakistan to visit my uncle and get a sense of the work he was doing.
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.