Error message

  • Deprecated function: The each() function is deprecated. This message will be suppressed on further calls in _menu_load_objects() (line 579 of /home2/columban/public_html/misyon/includes/menu.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6542 of /home2/columban/public_html/misyon/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6542 of /home2/columban/public_html/misyon/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6542 of /home2/columban/public_html/misyon/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6542 of /home2/columban/public_html/misyon/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6542 of /home2/columban/public_html/misyon/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6542 of /home2/columban/public_html/misyon/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6542 of /home2/columban/public_html/misyon/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6542 of /home2/columban/public_html/misyon/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6542 of /home2/columban/public_html/misyon/includes/common.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type int in element_children() (line 6542 of /home2/columban/public_html/misyon/includes/common.inc).
  • Deprecated function: implode(): Passing glue string after array is deprecated. Swap the parameters in drupal_get_feeds() (line 394 of /home2/columban/public_html/misyon/includes/common.inc).

Korea

Partners In Mission

By Rheena Babanto 

Former Columban lay missionary Rheena Babanto now works as a college counselor at St Scholastica’s College, Manila.

We arrived in Korea in April 1997, springtime. I can still remember how bulky we looked because of our three or four layers of clothing to battle the cold Siberian wind. We spent nine months learning the language. During that period I went once a week after class to a kind of day care center in a poor area in Seoul. Children with both parents working are sent there for the day. I taught them English nursery songs. I remember the first time we met, they stared at me with amazement, telling me how big my eyes were. They often looked confused when I struggled to speak Korean. The fun the children shared with me made the stress of learning the language more bearable.

An Evening With Mrs Misho

By Father Jude Genovia SSC

Father Jude Genovia’s missionary journey has taken him to Japan as a seminarian (1995-1997) and to South Korea as a priest (1999-2003). From there he went to Chicago, USA, for studies that he is now continuing in the Philippines.

Witnessing To The Flame Within

Four Columban lay missionaries now in their third year in Korea share their reflections as they began their mission there.

Cristina B. Simpron

They say ‘You don’t have to be rich in order to give. All you have to do is to be good; the person who is good can always find something to give.’ When I remember these words, which became the inspiration of my vocation, I also remember other lay people working in the church. I have seen their dedication, the simplicity of their lives and I admire them very much. They are catechists and parish workers whom I have been privileged to help. I can say I have a passion for working with young people.  They have given me the capacity to learn many things about life and love. I believe in the capacity of young people to be agents of love, peace and transformation in society and the Church.

Farewell To The Farm

An interview with Fr Micheal Riordan

Fr Micheal Riordan grew up loving the farm life. He became a veterinarian and worked in Korea for some time. In this interview we will find out how his profession led him to become a priest.

Q: Please tell us a little bit about your background

Fr Riordan: I was born in Ballymun Avenue, Dublin, Ireland in 1954. My parents are both from County Carlow. I remember that the possibility of being a priest entered my mind a few times when I was growing up but I decided it wasn’t for me. I was afraid of making a mistake, and I probably thought that if you went then you couldn’t come out.

A Baby Cries At Night

Joseph R. Veneroso MM

Celebrating the Christmas vigil Mass for the Korean-American community in Queens, New York, I was waxing eloquent about the mystery of the Incarnation – God becoming human – when from somewhere in the congregation an infant had the audacity to cry. Loud.

What’s In Their Hearts

By Gee-Gee O. Torres

Our Assistant Editor, Gee-Gee Torres, met Sr. Anna and Sr. Angel, two of our admirable Filipino missionaries in Korea. Here she shares with us something of what was in their hearts when she met them.

 

Lord, you know what I am ready for

Sr. Angel Libron, SSPS is from Davao. Before she became a Sister, she had a very promising job in an airline. However she wanted something more, more than just having a good job, something that would give meaning to her life. She would go every Sunday to the Smokey Mountain in Tondo (which has now been totally developed into a government housing project) and spend the day with the people there. This one day in Tondo meant a lot to her. When she was in college she thought joining rallies was enough to be in solidarity with the poor, but she realized that this was not enough. From the faces of the poor people in the Smokey Mountain she knew there was something more.

The Prostitutes Will Go Into Heaven Before Us

Sr Angela Battung RGS

Sr Angela Battung, RGS has been a missionary most of her life. Now in Canada with older people, she looks back on her difficult years in Korea and the frustrating ministries she was involved in. Strangely enough it was at work with the prostitutes that grace almost became tangible and it was this work which she remembers with joy.

One of my first ministries in Korea was probably the most frustrating in my life. It was at a large American Base. I worked at the Chaplain’s office as a marriage counselor to American airmen marrying Korean women. Actually my work was to prepare the couples for the Sacrament of Matrimony. The women mostly were bar girls or prostitutes who wanted to go to the land of “unimagined wealth and luxury” or they just wanted free access to PX (imported) goods. The men were no better. Mostly they were those who never went to Mass or Services and cursed freely, hanging out at the Air Base Main Gate or the periphery. Some wanted to marry anyone they could use for black market. “We need an Asian, preferably Korean for the family whore house. Korean women are exotic spice for the flesh trade,” they would say. They had a variety of reasons for marrying. Some disgusting, others unbelievable, most were ‘business deals’. They were going to use each other. They both knew it, but who cared anyway? As long as they made money out of the union!

Age Doesn’t Really Matter

By Gee-Gee O. Torres

It’s been two years since I visited our Filipino missionaries in Korea.  But how could I forget Fr. Willy Jesena, CSsR and the long walk we had going to their Formation House?  After he said Mass for the Filipino Community, he invited Rheena, one of our Filipino Columban lay missionaries, and me to go and see their house.  We were delighted with the invitation.  We took the subway and then the bus.  When we got off the bus, we began walking.  While walking along the narrow streets, I kept asking Fr. Willy what’s this and that.  And unfortunately the colorful rice cakes caught my attention.  Fr. Willy didn’t have any choice but to buy me some to satisfy my curiosity.


Fr Willy and brothers

Restless Hearts

By Gee-Gee O. Torres, assistant editor

In the famous confession of St. Augustine, “My heart is restless until it rests in Thee”, Augustinian Fathers Arlon Vergara and Adam Lasmarias realize the restlessness of their own hearts. Here I tell you how they find peace and serenity in the mountains of Kangwha, far away from the bustling city of Seoul.

Fr. Arlon Vergara, from Bicol, arrived in Korea in 1993. He was the first Filipino Augustinian missionary to be sent there. His superior asked him what apostolate would he like to be involved in: formation or parish work? He chose parish work. “Parish work for me is the actualization of being a priest because I am able to use all the faculties I learned in sharing the Good News.” In 1999 he was given his first parish assignment in Onsuri, one of the parishes in Kangwhado Island.

Pages