Misyon Online - September-October 2010
COVER STORY PHOTO
The photo was taken during the mini-pilgrimage of seven young Columban priests to Paete, Laguna, a place that is very significant for us because of a Columban martyr, Fr Francis Vernon Douglas from New Zealand, 'who died there at the hands of the Japanese on 27 July 1943 during World War II.' We walked from Pililla, Rizal, where Fr Douglas was pastor when the Japanese brought him to Paete where he was tortured and died.
It was a good two days' walk. We visited different churches along the way. When we arrived in Paete we met two eyewitnesses who gave us an account of what really happened. The martyrdom of Fr Douglas is a living example for us. We can be martyrs, not because we want it but because it is the most fitting and loving response at a particular moment.
After that pilgrimage we set off on a month-long pilgrimage in Europe,
starting in Ireland and ending in Italy, following in the footsteps of St
Columban, the patron of our Society. We were joined by 33 other young Columban
priests who are working in 14 different countries. (Fr Rolly Aniscal).
Mommy Paz: Modern-day Florence Nightingale Dies
By Fr Brian Gore
Last Sunday (8 August), “Mommy Paz Torres,” as she was affectionately known to many, died peacefully here in Bacolod City. She was 90 years old.
She died unrecognized by her city and province, which she served so well as chief nurse of the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital for many years right up until her retirement.
She was a modern day Florence Nightingale. Even in retirement she continued to help hundreds of poor patients coming mostly from remote areas of southern Negros.
A Woman for Her Time
By Stan and Moya Mac Eoin
After a six week boat journey, the 18-year-old postulant never expected to see her family or native country again. But like many others before her, and others with her on that journey, she accepted it as God’s will for her. She would fulfil her vocation as a Loreto Sister teaching the daughters of professionals and civil servants, army officers and high ranking policemen in India, and also engage in some charitable work to help alleviate the suffering of the myriads of poverty-stricken people in the teeming cities.
Dealing Positively With Life Despite Uncertainties
by Ric Vincent M. Dumaog
(Introduction by Fr Oliver McCrossan)
I was trying to look back at my past . . . I come from a very poor family. My father was a carpenter-painter-tricycle driver rolled into one. He tried to work in all kinds of jobs, even went fishing, just to help us survive. No one could ever have imagined how I would graduate from college and how we would survive. If not for my determination to finish college, I know I would be a beggar.
Poverty
By Andy Gregorio
I have experienced deep poverty in relationship. Due to poverty and my great desire to become a professional, I was separated from my parents at the age of six. My father was a simple fisherman and my mother a housewife taking care of us their eight children. Life was so difficult for us, trying to make both ends meet daily. Even more difficult was our schooling. With this situation I decided to go with my uncle who offered to help me in my schooling in faraway Palawan.
TANVIR
By Gloria Canama
Tanvir was born on 17 October 1945 in Tarbert, County Kerry, Ireland where he grew up and had his initial formation in life with the loving nurturance, guidance and support of his family and the earth community in the area. ‘I was born in rural Ireland so my relationship with nature was very good. I loved to stroll through the fields, mountain bogs and to listen to running water. It was very therapeutic and I learnt so much from nature and her wisdom’, he reflected.
‘His first love . . . and his real love’
By Rowena D. Cuanico
Big heart. These are two words that I feel best describe Fr Pat McCaffrey, the man, his life, faith and vocation. His heart was big, so big that it had a sacred space for everyone. In his heart, everyone mattered.I first heard the name Pat McCaffrey when we – six Filipino Columban lay missionaries on our first mission assignment in Fiji - were doing our orientation on Columban Mission in Fiji. But it wasn’t until Beth Briones and I arrived at Holy Family Parish, Labasa, a few months later that I started to come to know more about Father Pat and his work with the people of Labasa.
The Saint Who Failed Math
By Richelle H. Verdeprado
This was my first time to hear of the name Chiara Luce Badano. This was also my first time to write an article about a teenager who will soon be beatified.
I didn’t know Chiara – ‘Chiara’ is the Italian form of ‘Claire’ and means ‘clear’ - Luce personally and there’s no way for me to meet her now. Luce died a year before I was born. But a well-lived life is a life that is never meant to die. It is a life worthy of being shared with people of all ages from all walks of life. Just as I longed for and tried hard to know about the lives of heroes and heroines who were generations ahead of me, I felt stirred in learning about Luce, a fine-looking, creative and sports-loving Italian who died even before she reached 19. With all interest, I thoroughly searched for facts about her. I wanted to know the events in her life that have led to her beatification on 25 September this year.
Vocation Story: A Chapter In My Life
By Jason Antiquera
Stories we read in books are often broken into chapters not only so that readers can have a good stopping point in reading but also to indicate movement and shifts in time, situations and, in some case, places in the story. My period of regency, which is a time of discernment while being out of seminary formation, was a particular and important chapter in the story of my life. Such a period indicated a serious time of reflection on the movement of the Spirit in my life as it unfolded in and through my daily experience.
