By Rosemary Taker

Rosemary Taker, from Merseyside, the region in North West England that includes Liverpool, the home of the Beatles, recently returned there after three years as a Columban lay missionary working in Sinacaban, Misamis Occidental, in the Archdiocese of Ozamiz. Here she shares her reflections before leaving Mindanao.

I worked with children and families in Britain as a social worker before becoming a Columban lay missionary. After three years in the Philippines I look at things from a different perspective. I feel privileged to have journeyed with the people who, despite their struggles, pain and hardships, always find the time to smile. Being here has not been without difficulties and challenges, but becoming vulnerable and powerless has brought me closer to God and strengthened my prayer life.

FR NIALL O’BRIEN, 1939-2004

By Fr Seán Coyle

By Sean McDonagh SSC

Patents give an exclusive right to an inventor to make or sell an invention for about 20 years. To be patentable an invention must be novel, inventive and serve some useful purpose. Patents have been around since the fifteenth century but until 22 years ago these criteria excluded living organisms. These were always regarded as discoveries of nature, and therefore unpatentable.

By Sister Angelica Cruz ICM

How does one define the meaning of being a missionary? Not in the number of ‘converts’ made or the baptisms performed. Certainly not in the amount of money spent on projects, nor the size of the buildings constructed. For me it is from the stories they tell.

I’ve heard some of these stories from Sr Marieke, a fellow ICM sister. She is a native of Belgium and has been a missionary to the Philippines since the 1960s, with years in between out of the country for temporary assignments to Rome and Belguim. She has been involved in several ministries. Currently she is involved in Tahanang Walang Hagdan. Sr Marieke is a quiet person in the community. But with a little prodding, she comes alive when she talks of the people who have touched her life.

To be free like a bird

She told me of a little boy in Tahanang Walang Hagdan who, at the age of 8, was abandoned by his parents. One day, while they were sitting in the balcony, the boy remarked, ‘I wish I were a bird like that big bird over there. He’s not stuck in a chair like me.’ The boy has muscular dystrophy, a genetic disease characterized by progressive weakness and degeneration of the skeletal or voluntary muscles which control movement. She quietly carried him up from his wheelchair and placed him on her lap. Together they sat in silence.