Mass in Ireland for Columbans Killed in the ... - Misyon Online

2012 FIRST QUARTER
ISSUE NO 12
By Fr Jose Rembert G. Rivera
Fr Rivera is the Mission
Director in the Diocese
of Kabankalan and
parish priest of St Paul
Parish, Cauayan,
Negros Occidental.
In 1950 the Columban Fathers came to
minister to the spiritual needs of the people in
the southern part of Negros Occidental, taking
over from the Mill Hill Fathers.
Some came fresh from their formation in
Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and the USA,
others from the unfulfilled dream of being
missionaries in China, fate bringing them to
the Philippines due to the Communist takeover
of Mainland China. There’s an adage that says
that when God closes one door, He opens
another for people to enter His kingdom.
Being young and dynamic they shared
their dedication to spiritual needs by
organizing in every parish the Legion of Mary
whose members served as the eyes, arms and
ears of the priest in responding to those needs.
Aside from promoting mandated
organizations, the Columbans built churches,
convents and parochial schools in strategic
places as centers of evangelization and to
educate the youth.
The Columbans, who came to know
the situation of the poor, opted for the
herculean task of working for their total
human development. They promoted the
building of Basic Christian Communities
as a tool for helping the poor to empower
themselves. Even though some were
accused of being Communist-leaning
they continued to work for the poor and
supported the legal needs of those
see FROM COLUMBAN at page 7
By John Din,
Columban Lay Missionary
John Din, from San Miguel, Zamboanga
del Sur, is the Coordinator of Columban
Lay Missionaries – Philippines, a
position he took last year after spending
almost 18 years as a Columban Lay
Missionary in Brazil and Peru.
First there was the forest, then the
loggers came; bare lands appeared and
mining companies came. What next? This
idea was on my mind when I revisited
Midsalip in January 2011 to make a short
video on the struggle of the indigenous
Subanens and the people of Midsalip,
Zamboanga del Sur, against mining. My first
visit to Midsalip was in 1987 together with
a group from our parish during the picket
against logging companies. This visit and
Mass in Ireland for Columbans Killed in the Philippines
On Saturday 29 October Mass was
celebrated in St Columban’s, Dalgan
Park, Ireland, for the nine Columbans
who died violently in the Philippines: Fr
Francis Vernon Douglas (Paete, Rizal,
1943), Frs Peter Fallon, John Heneghan,
John Lalor, Patrick Kelly, Joseph
Monaghan (Battle of Manila 1945), Fr
John Flynn (Labrador, Pangasinan,
1950), Fr Martin Dempsey (Balabagan,
Lanao del Sur, 1970) and Fr Rufus Halley
(Malabang, Lanao del Sur, 2001).
see MASS IN IRELAND at page 4
the participation in the picket at an early
age have been the most educative
experiences about the care of environment
in my life.
I attended the court hearings in Aurora
and Pagadian City and met with all the
accused, among them the Subanen
leaders, Columban Sister Patty Adonaire
from Peru and Columban Fr Sean Martin
from Ireland. The mining company had filed
see DESTRUCTION at page 3
COLUMBAN MISSION First Quarter 2012
1

From the Desk of the Regional Director
By Fr Patrick O’Donoghue www.columbanmission.net
As I arrived in Cagayan de Oro on January 2nd, the signs of
the calamity that hit the people of Cagayan were visible from the air
as we approached the airport. But the full extent of the damage
only hits you when you stand on the river bank or visit those places
where whole neighbourhoods were simply washed away – it is
overwhelming. I saw people standing near their damaged homes
or where their homes had been. They were bewildered and not
really knowing where to start – shock, disbelief and uncertainty
about the future all pressing on them.
There is a lot of pain not only for those directly affected but also for those who heard the cries of
others for help and were unable to do anything. People awoke with water rushing into their homes and
had to swim inside their homes frantically pushing out window shutters or screen doors and scrambling
onto the roofs of their houses and pulling others up. They then had the further trauma of listening to the
desperate cries of those trapped in their homes and being powerless to respond as the water cascaded
down sweeping away people and houses, all the while terrified that they too would be swept away. Those
higher up on the banks of the river who woke to the commotion, looked out and saw people clinging
desperately to bits of their houses or other floating items as they were swept down the river ‘like jet planes’
towards the open sea. Listening to the desperate cries for help and not being able to do anything has
deeply affected many of these people. Most heartrending of all is to listen to parents who frantically tried
to gather their children to safety but were not able to hold on to all of them and then hearing their children
screaming for help and simply being pulled away out of reach and safety.
Iligan City was also badly affected. The area called Bayug Island is like a wasteland. The ‘hanging’
bridge that connected Bayug to Purok 7 (Santiago) is gone and a concrete bridge further up the river is
very severely damaged, testament to the force of the water and logs that swept down from the mountains.
Purok 7 itself is also wiped out. Next to this is Orchids Subdivision, a low cost housing scheme of many
hundred concrete houses. Many of these were completely destroyed, many others severely damaged and
inundated with mud and debris. Vehicles were upended like discarded crumpled waste paper. This is
where Fr Rolly Aniscal’s cousin lived. She died and her two children are missing.
The parish priest of this area, San Lorenzo Ruiz Parish, Monsignor Leo Laviste (who himself had a
miraculous escape) showed me photos of the elementary school party the day before the tragedy –
children having fun, making faces at the camera, performing in the ‘program’ etc. Then he showed me a
second set of photos taken after the flood – photos of some of these same children – dead. Some you
would believe were simply asleep until you looked at their pallor. It is heartrending. Equally poignant were
the ‘posters’ with photos of those missing put on the front wall of the church asking for information as to
their whereabouts.
I’m not sure that time will heal all this, but certainly God is not deaf to this terrible anguish and
continues to be with his people. And people do believe this – the faith of many of these people is both
challenging and humbling. They identify once more with the Suffering Christ, who is with them in
their almost unbearable pain. With them we trust that God is in the midst of it all, not least in those
who spontaneously and whole-heartedly responded immediately, opening their hearts, homes
and resources to those affected. Differences were once more put aside as everyone focused
on the overwhelming need of those most in need.
Let us pray that this willingness to work together for the true good of the ‘least’ may
continue in our ‘everyday life’ and let each of us commit to do our part to make it happen.
One of the most urgent issues is that of the continuing irresponsible (and often illegal)
logging and mining, both of which contributed in large part to the seriousness of the
destruction and loss of life. There is no more time to talk. We need to demand that the
Government protects all of the people and strictly enforces the law. While we continue
to help the victims of Sendong and other tragedies, we must also (as God’s presence
to his people) work to make sure that this does not happen again.
2
COLUMBAN MISSION First Quarter 2012

Congratulations to the new LMCLT
By Marivic H. Mercene
Marivic H. Mercene is a staff member of Columban
Lay Missionaries – Philippines.
Congratulations to the new Lay Mission Central Leadership Team
(LMCLT). They are
Columba Chang, Coordinator
Lilibeth Sabado, Member
C
Serafina Vuda, Member
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They assumed office on 1 January and will serve for three
years.
Columba Chang was one of the six pioneer lay missionaries
of the Missionary Society of St Columban. She arrived in the
Philippines from Korea in June 1990 and served here until she
was re-assigned to Myanmar in 2008. Columba worked in various
ministries in the Philippines, the first being in the lakeshore
town of Jalajala, Rizal, and the last being with the HIV/AIDS
ministry of the Archdiocese of Manila.
Lilibeth Sabado came to Lay Mission in 2002 from working
as a nurse in her native Pagadian City, Zamboanga del Sur. In
July 2003 she was assigned to Taiwan and has been
passionately working since with the migrant ministry of the
Society, based at the Catholic Hope Workers’ Center (HWC).
After several years at HWC, Beth became the director until
July 2009 when she came back to the Philippines on home
leave. She conducted seminars and workshops on migration
issues to graduating college students in Mindanao before
returning to Taiwan.
Serafina Vuda, from Fiji, was the previous coordinator of
the LMCLT, based in Ireland. She worked in Chile for three
years and then Peru for six years before taking up that post.
DESTRUCTION from page 1
criminal and civil cases against them.
I spent a night in the picket area in
Guinabot, Midsalip, and interviewed
Ricardo Tolino, one of the Subanen leaders
and respondent to the case. The fruit of
this interview is the video Pagmina o
Kasiguroan sa Pagkaon ug Kaugmaon?
(Mining or Food and Future Security?).
In July the Mining Company managed
to get a Temporary Restraining Order that
forced the picketers to abandon the
proposed mining area. The drilling has
started. The struggle now is to support the
Writ of Kalikasan for the Zamboanga
Peninsula.
The Writ of Kalikasan is defined by the
Supreme Court as a ‘remedy available to a
natural or juridical person, entity authorized
by law, people’s organization, nongovernmental
organization, or any public
interest group accredited by or registered
with any government agency, on behalf of
persons whose constitutional right to a
balanced and healthful ecology is violated,
or threatened with violation by an unlawful
act or omission of a public official or
employee, or private individual or entity,
involving environmental damage of such
magnitude as to prejudice the life, health
COLUMBAN MISSION First Quarter 2012
or property of inhabitants in two or more
cities or provinces’. (Rules of Procedure for
Environmental Cases A.M. No. 09-6-8-SC
Rule 7, Sec. 1)
I was assigned for seven years in Brazil
and eleven in Peru. Both of these countries
have gone through the same pattern of
destruction, first sending people to large
areas of virgin forest, then come the loggers,
the cattle ranchers and, finally, the mining
companies. Forests were denuded at
tremendous speed, driving the indigenous
people to death and to nowhere. After the
timber was cut, the vicious cycle
continuous; greedy corporate interest in
minerals, digging open pit mines, rerouting,
contaminating and killing rivers. A desolate
land, dried rivers, tons of poisonous
mercury and cyanide were left to replace
what were once lungs of the earth. Amidst
this destruction, human
communities continue to
produce martyrs, some
unknown, in defense of the
forest and the indigenous
people, among them Chico
Mendes, murdered in 1988,
and Sr Dorothy Mae Stang
SND in 2005.
Returning to the
Philippines after almost 18
years of being away as a
Columban Lay Missionary I
can see the Philippines
hasn’t escaped from this
pattern of ‘development’. Mining
companies have spent millions in
propaganda to present what they do
as responsible ‘clean’ mining, hiring
private security guards, bribing, it is
alleged, national and local
government
officials to
promote their
interests. The
Philippines has
produced many
martyrs too,
including
journalists, NGO
leaders, priests
and religious and
lay people.
3

Two Irish Columban priests in the
Philippines, Fr Desmond Morrison and Fr
Donal O’Dea, celebrated the Diamond Jubilee
of their ordination on 21 December.
The Columbans celebrated the occasion
at St Columban’s Singalong St, Manila, on 9
December. Fr Morrison was the main celebrant
and Fr O’Dea the preacher.
On 14 December the Diocese of Iba,
Zambales, honored Father O’Dea, on the
occasion of his Jubilee, and Fr Fintan Murtagh,
ordained in 1963, the last two Columbans in
the diocese. Both have spent all their time in
the Philippines there and will leave in June. Fr
O’Dea was the main celebrant at a Mass in St
Joseph’s Church, Olongapo City, in which
many Columban and diocesan priests
concelebrated. Bishop Florentino G. Lavarias
Fr Shaun O’Donnell RIP
2 August 1937 - 2 December 2011
Fr Shaun O’Donnell died in St
Columban’s, Dalgan Park, Ireland, on
Friday 2 December, only 19 days short
of the 49th anniversary of his
ordination to the priesthood. He was
the 12th Columban to die in 2011 and
the seventh who had worked in the
Philippines. Below is an edited version
of the obituary in the Irish Columban
website.
Fr Shaun was born in the city of Derry,
Northern Ireland, on 2 August 1937. He
entered the Columban seminary in Ireland
in 1956 and was ordained priest on 21
December 1962.
Sent to the Philippines, his early
appointments were all to parishes in
Mindanao. Over the first ten years he served
as assistant and parish priest in some
of Iba preached and thanked all
Columbans who had served in
Zambales. (Photo, left)
The people of Immaculate
Conception Parish, Barretto,
Olongapo, likewise celebrated
Father O’Dea’s Jubilee on 21
December. This is the last parish
in the Diocese of Iba where
Columbans ministered.
Fr Morrison, now living in
Manila, spent nearly all his time
in Mindanao. A Doctor of Canon Law, he was
a civil engineer before becoming a priest and
designed a number of churches, including
Immaculate Conception Cathedral, Ozamiz City.
We wish them both the old Latin blessing
‘To many years’: Ad multos annos!
Frs Morrison and O’Dea
remote places such as Aurora, Zamboanga
del Sur, Malabang, Lanao del Sur, and San
Pablo, Zamboanga del Sur. Then he served
in Bonifacio and Jimenez, both in Misamis
Occidental, until he was appointed to
Mission Awareness/Promotion in Britain
from 1984 to 1988.
Re-appointed once more to Mindanao
in 1989, he was in charge of the Columban
house in Cagayan de Oro City and did
hospital chaplaincy work, before being
appointed as parish priest at Agusan,
Cagayan de Oro City, where he spent
almost ten years.
During those years he established a
program for children who were profoundly
deaf or with impaired hearing. This later
became an Archdiocesan program and it
still continues. In 2002, Fr Shaun was
appointed as guest-master of the
Columban house in Baguio City. His warm,
welcoming presence was much
appreciated by his many visitors, and he
served in Baguio until sickness forced his
MASS IN IRELAND from page 1
All but Fr Douglas were Irish and had
relatives at the Mass, including siblings
of Frs Dempsey and Halley. Fr Dan
O’Connor, a Columban from New Zealand
based in Pakistan and studying in Ireland
at the time, represented the family of Fr
Douglas, also from New Zealand, and the
Columbans in that country.
The main celebrant was Fr Charlie
Meagher, a former Regional Director in
the Philippines while another former
Regional Director here and currently
Regional Director in Ireland, Fr Donal
Hogan, gave the homily. Speaking about
San Lorenzo Ruiz, Fr Hogan said, ‘Truly
Filipinos evangelised us missionaries by
showing us what lay people, women and
men, can do when given a leadership role
in the church. There is a lesson here for
us in the Church in Ireland today.’
Ambassador Ariel Abadilla of the
Philippines was at the Mass and later
laid a wreath with a card that said ‘We
will never forget you’ at the foot of the
crucifix in the Columban cemetery.
Though the Mass and wreath-laying
were for nine Columbans who had died
violently in the Philippines, the occasion
wasn’t a sad one and ended with lunch
at which Fr Seán Holloway, an ‘old
Negros hand’ and now 90, cut a cake.
return to Ireland in 2009.
Fr Shaun’s friendliness, a certain
vulnerability, and his non-threatening
manner made him many friends
among the local Filipino clergy
wherever he worked. His good humor
and diplomacy enabled him to
facilitate cross-cultural dialogue
between Columbans of many
nationalities.
Over the past two years, the
courage and patience he showed in
the face of his debilitating illness
deeply impressed us all. He died in
St Columban’s Retirement Home
Dalgan on 2
December 2011 and
was buried on 5
December.
May he rest in
peace.
4 COLUMBAN MISSION First Quarter 2012

STREET CHILDREN LOCKED UP
By Fr John A. Keenan
Fr Keenan, from Ireland, has been in the Philippines
for some 40 years.
Maria dela Cruz, 15, and Lourdes
Garcia, 16, (not their real names) were
abducted one night near their homes and
taken to a detention center near Manila
City Hall because of ‘bagansa’, vagrancy,
ie, being out during curfew. Instead of being
taken home to their parents they were
dumped into an already overcrowded,
poorly ventilated detention center called
‘Reception and Action Center’ (RAC). Most
children do not know what curfew is and
anyhow they do not have watches or know
how to observe the curfew hours. The plight
of such children abducted from the streets
was highlighted a couple of years ago in
the local and international media. It is
estimated that there are up to 20,000
children behind bars in the Philippines.
In RAC some 70 children aged
between 1 and 16 years are packed into
three rooms barely big enough for 30. They
have to sleep on the bare wooden floors
side by side like sardines in stifling heat
and poor ventilation. This center is run by
the City of Manila and the Department of
Social Welfare and Development. The main
problem is overcrowding, lack of sufficient
food, of clothing, of adequate facilities, of
privacy and of staff.
In another building in the same
compound some 170 children in trouble
with the law – petty crime, stealing cellphones,
earrings, cash, and some
charged with serious bodily crimes are
held in six ‘dormitories’. This building is
called ‘Manila Youth Reception Center’ and
is run by the same authorities as the RAC.
Again the problem is overcrowding: the
lack of furniture, bedding, privacy,
ventilation, adequate recreation, reading
materials and so on. The children have to
sleep packed together like sardines. For
many it is a place without hope as their
cases may go on for months or years due
to lack of legal representation and due
process.
A third section called ‘Lingap’ houses
in a large tent displaced families, the
destitute, the sick and dying, the mentally
ill, the old and abandoned. It reminds me
very much of the homes run by Blessed
Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity.
Again, they lack trained staff, privacy,
medical supplies, etc.
The children are abducted by
local officials in the local barangay
and by the police. The children, who
come mainly from poor and deprived
families, have been abducted for
simply begging, selling goods, being
alone even in broad daylight or just
sleeping. Instead of taking them
home they are impounded,
irrespective of their rights to know
why they are being abducted, the right
of their parents to know about it and
their right to know where they are
being taken by complete strangers.
For them it is a terrifying and
traumatic experience. According to
RA 9344, Section 21 regarding the
procedure for taking a child into
custody the arresting officer must,
among other things, explain to the
child a) the offence committed, b)
identify himself to the child, c) refrain
from slapping . . . or using vulgar
words, d) avoid displaying weapons
or handcuffs. Their parents or guardians
must also be informed.
To compound their trauma, they are
herded into sub-human conditions, small
children along with big teenagers in an
atmosphere of fear and trepidation. Such
crammed conditions can spawn all kinds
of abuse, introduction to vice and fights
among themselves. They are only allowed
out for half an hour’s recreation and for their
meals three times a day. The rest of the
time they are cooped up inside in the stifling
heat. They have no opportunity for study or
improving themselves. Sometimes they
may be there for over a month or longer
before being released by being sent to
Boys/Girlstown, a children’s home or to
their parents or guardians if they can be
found. The resident staff do their best to
help them and succeed admirably in many
cases, but they are hampered by numbers.
The fact is that most of them should
not be there in the first place since they
are innocents, the victims of poverty, broken
families and neglect both in the city and in
the provinces. Instead of being ‘rescued’
they are being condemned to sub-human
conditions. It has been suggested that the
barangay officials and police are being
rewarded for filling their quota of arrests.
The Center is understaffed, there are not
enough social workers to pursue their
cases and set them free. They have an
impossible job because of the lack of
financial and personnel support. RAC is
probably one of the better detention centers
as compared with similar institutions in
other cities in Metro Manila and in the
provinces. If the community became more
aware and helped poor families, paid just
wages and made genuinely free education
a reality, many of these children would not
end up in RAC.
On a positive note: I celebrate Mass in
RAC every Sunday morning, which is much
appreciated by the children and staff.
COLUMBAN MISSION First Quarter 2012 5

By Mary Joy Rile
Last June Anne Gubuan, the assistant editor, and I
went to Ozamiz City for the ordination of Fr Rodolfo
Christopher Kaamiño IV. We availed of the
opportunity to interview two siblings from there who
are also Columban Sisters. Anne interviewed Sr
Teresita E. Bernad while I interviewed Sr Regina E.
Bernad, known to all as ‘Sister Inday’. We will feature
Sr Teresita in the next issue.
I was captivated by her gentleness and
loved the simplicity of her words, which
I hope will also find their way to your
heart. Below is the account of my
privileged encounter with Sr Regina
‘Inday’ E. Bernad SSC.
How did your calling begin?
Born in what was then the town of
Misamis, now Ozamiz City, we grew up with
our parents who were really practicing
Catholics. We owe our vocation to our
parents who were very close to God.
I was teaching in their school when I
decided to join the Columban Sisters. I did
not need discernment nor pray because I
knew I was called. Discernment is more
difficult now because there are a lot of
things that attract you. How many would
want to become missionaries?
What about your ‘love story’?
I had many suitors but I did not commit
to any. I knew where God wanted me. I was
sure about it, because if you ask God, and
talk to God, God will guide you, with the
Blessed Mother.
Any incident you might consider as
your ‘last temptation’ before entering
the convent?
The last temptation . . . the x-ray result!
I was preparing to go to Boston for my
novitiate when my medical check-up
showed I had TB. I was really grieving when
my mother approached me and said, ‘Inday,
stop crying or else you will get sick and
not be able to go.’ That was also a signal
that my mother had finally accepted my
decision. Later it was discovered by another
doctor that my x-ray result was clear!
How was your work with the
Columbans?
When the Columban Sisters came to
Misamis in 1945, I was teaching with them,
helping them with enrolment. The
Columban Fathers rented our schools. They
arrived in 1941, before the bombing of Pearl
Harbor.
I started working with Fr Don Kill in
Mission Awareness in 1997 and continued
until the last printed issue of Misyon in 2008.
We did vocation campaigning, helping
young people understand their own mission
in the family and in the community. We
were also distributing Misyon in different
areas. We started with the parishes and
Catholic schools in the Dioceses of Ozamiz
and Pagadian, later adding Dipolog. Other
private and even some public schools
invited us. We slept in the parishes and
schools, wherever we could spend the
night.
When Misyon started, I was in Labrador,
Pangasinan. Later I found myself promoting
it. And before I knew it, it was finished as a
printed magazine! We ended quietly in
2008. Misyon was instrumental in the
awakening of the call of many young
persons! [Editor’s note: Misyon continues
as a bi-monthly online magazine, with new
material added almost daily:
www.misyononline.com].
How is it to be in a community?
In a community, you live with different
people. There are those who are easy to
live with, others not; at least I did not have
friction with anybody.
If all are centered in God, you pray
together, you eat together, those are
binding. If there are differences, you can
make allowances. We meet together, talk
about it and then we decide.
When we come we share, we go
together. When you know what the other
is doing, when you need help, you ask for
help. And you also give help. You support
each other. Then we forget the differences.
Shared prayers are like faith-sharing. Prayer
is really very good.
When one is having a problem, we try
to help, like the Sisters having a problem
with the situation in Midsalip, we pray and
come together and help one another. We
know their problems, we know what’s going
on because we share. We are like one!
Have you experienced certain spiritual
dryness like what St John of the Cross
and Sta Teresa de Avila had? And how
did you deal with it?
Just continue praying. Even if you think
there is no God, your faith will tell you He
is there. Just continue. God will bail you
out.
St John of the Cross and Sta Teresa
de Avila, they experienced it for quite a long
time. It was painful but they continued. That
was what they did also – they continued
praying.
What has been your most challenging
experience as a Sister?
Shortly after profession, I was assigned
to start St Columban College in Lingayen,
Pangasinan. Very challenging to start a
college from scratch without any
experience. We were just doing and
praying.
It was very difficult but very gratifying.
We were working with poor people, helping
especially the students. There was a strong
6
COLUMBAN MISSION First Quarter 2012

ond between us. The first
batch were very bright students. We
needed to process papers, permits and
many more things. But see how the
students responded. It was all hard work!
When things become difficult, then you go
to God and pray and He will help.
What about your happiest moment?
If you want to be happy then you
become happy. At the end of the day you
can thank God for the day. Right now, I do
as much as I can. If you know, you
understand your body, your sickness, how
much you can do. There are people who
will criticize or affirm you, but if you listen to
all, you will go crazy. But if you listen to your
body, you just know. Sometimes it’s so
difficult that you contradict people, but it’s
you yourself who know what you can do.
At the age of 91?
Sometimes I wish to go to Europe and
other places but I know that I cannot.
Sometimes I would run to the doctor to tell
me what’s wrong, then done!
It’s not that life is not easy, but how
you cope with things, how you cope with
your sickness. If somebody contradicts
you, you talk it out together. We try to be
at peace, because that’s God’s plan.
‘Peace be with you,’ and to let God do the
work.
Sometimes when you see things are
not in order, in your mind you start to
complain, blame, and God wills you to stop!
If you scold, you make others unhappy. So
you don’t scold anymore because it’s done
anyway. You choose to be patient. If the
memory keeps coming back, you have to
drive it away or else you lose your peace.
The community understands your
predicament, that God wants you to try to
help the other for her or him to develop and
grow.
Any piece of advice for searchers like
me?
Just listen to the call, if you feel you
are called. Really pray for a good decision.
It’s listening first and then prayer. And if
you decide, accept all the consequences
Sr Inday and Joy
. . . because it’s God’s call.
When people try to tell you things, are
you not happy, etc, that’s when the devil
will try to pull you. If a mother makes a
mistake, it’s because she loves you. You
don’t run away . . . My brother, a Jesuit
priest [noted historian, the late Fr Miguel
E. Bernad SJ], once told me, ‘Inday, if God
wants you, He will really have you.’
A line of a message that you would
want me to bring home?
Keep happy, keep free!
FROM COLUMBAN from page 1
oppressed by the rich
and the landlords in
southern Negros
Occidental.
It was really hard to
fill their shoes, to follow
their work, their
ministry to the poor,
their living witness to
the evangelical counsels
of obedience, chastity
Fr Rembert Rivera and poverty.
In 1987 the
Diocese of Kabankalan
was born out of the need
to continue the work of evangelization and the care of souls in
southern Negros Occidental. Bishop Vicente M. Navarra, its first
bishop, asked the Columbans to help in the promotion of total
human liberation. They became a sign of hope by their generosity:
chapels, scholarships, support for seminarians and livelihood
projects such as the distribution of carabaos to poor farmers.
In 2003 the Most Rev. Patricio A. Buzon SDB became the
second bishop of Kabankalan. He has given direction by way of
the First and Second Diocesan Pastoral Assemblies. By this time
the Columbans were celebrating their ‘happy old age’ in the service
of the local church. They celebrated their Golden Jubilee in 2000.
In 2006 two of the pioneering Columbans, Frs Patrick Hurley
and Michael Doohan, were given Papal Awards for service to the
COLUMBAN MISSION First Quarter 2012
local church. They accepted these awards on behalf of all the
Columbans who had worked in the diocese.
In 2006, to my surprise, Fr Michael Doohan, the last
Columban parish priest in the diocese, decided to leave the parish
of Cauayan where he had worked for 20 years, so that a Filipino
priest could take over. Out of nowhere I was chosen to lead the
people there, to continue the ministry of the Columbans and be a
living witness of service to the poor.
Three things I realized during these years
1. Have a deep faith in God. Everything is uncertain to me
because I cannot fill the shoes of the Columbans in the service
of the poor. Due to my great faith I have survived and am ready
now to hand over the baton to a new parish priest. With all my
limitations, I can say my work has begun to continue to spread
the Good News.
2. Create a circle of friends. In order to survive one must
have a spirit of hope, peace and joy. Only true friends can help in
the attainment of real peace and happiness.
3. Continue to grow in your ministry. Yes, the work is great
and awesome but as long as you are happy, contented and willing
to grow God will provide you with the necessary grace in life.
I’m here to continue to grow with the Columban spirit of service
above self, to glow in the spirit of unity and solidarity, to be a
good seed that will bear fruit a hundred-fold.
To all our Columban mentors - the show must go on! We
accept the challenge to be a sign of hope in southern Negros
Occidental. May St Columban guide us on our journey to the
Father!
7

Installation of Archbishop Tagle
in Manila
Most Rev Luis Antonio G. Tagle, former Bishop of Imus, Cavite,
was installed in the Cathedral-Basilica of the Immaculate
Conception on 12 December, the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe,
as 32nd Archbishop of Manila. Among the many present was Fr Pat
O’Donoghue, Regional Director of the Columbans in the Philippines.
It was the 27th Archbishop of Manila, Irishman Michael O’Doherty,
who invited the Columbans to come to the Philippines and asked us to
take care of Our Lady of Remedies Parish, Malate. We have been there
since 1929.
The 26th Archbishop of Manila and first non-Spaniard to hold the office,
American-Irish Jeremiah James Harty, by then Bishop of Omaha, USA, in
1921 invited the very young Society of St Columban, formally established in
1918 in Ireland, to set up its US headquarters in Omaha.
As we thank Gaudencio B. Cardinal Rosales for his friendship and support
as Archbishop of Manila and wish him a happy retirement in Lipa City in his
native Batangas, we pray that God will give Archbishop ‘Chito’ Tagle a long and
fruitful term in his new position.
PUBLISHER:
Fr Patrick O’Donoghue
Regional Director
Editor:
Fr Seán Coyle
Assistant Editor:
Anabelle Gubuan
Editorial Assistant:
Mary Joy Rile
Operations Administrator:
Fr Hector Suano
Financial Administrator:
Fr Dominic Nolan
SECOND CLASS MAIL MATTER, UNDER PERMIT NO. 185
Dated August 10, 1985 at Ermita Post Office
Owned and published by Columban Mission Society, Inc.
1857 Singalong St., Malate, Manila
Postal Address: PO Box EA 443, Ermita, 1045 Manila, Philippines
Tel./Fax No. (02) 523-7232 / 532-6238
Read Misyon at
www.misyononline.com