New Head for Pontifical Mission

A New Head

The Pontifical Mission Society on the Philippines has a new head. None other than Fr. Peter M. Mesiona, msp. This was announced a t the pontifical Mission Annual Meeting in Tagaytay last July.

This is part one of a three-part series from Msgr. Desmond Hartford’s Diary while he was taken captive in Mindanao. Rebel returnees, who were overdue their payment from the Government, kidnapped the intrepid priest in the hope of pressuring g the government, Fr. Hartford tells the day to day odyssey in his own words.

Monday 27 October

This morning when Fr. Rufil and myself reached the beach we were told that the rest of the group were waiting for us in a school above the town. When we  arrived we were put into a jeepney and driven for about 30 minutes into the mountains. Here Fr. Rufil was released and sent back to negotiate with government officials. I was to be kept hostage until the demands were met. We walked for about two more hours. My eight captors are heavily armed. One shot a wild bird which we ate with some rice. Then I asked them to allow me time to pray. We talked in Visayan and Mindanao. They are friendly. I feel peaceful, without fear. But numbed by the experience of betrayal.

By Katie Donovan

Father Aedan McGrath runs the Incola missionary program in Manila. Here he talks to Katie Donovan about his life of adventure: among other things he protected 1,500 women from rape and slaughter by Japanese soldiers in 1939, and spent three years in solitary confinement in a Chinese jail.

China

“Mao gave us a big compliment, he said the Church was public enemy number one.” Father Aedan McGrath, originally a Dubliner from Drumcondra, recalls being put in prison because of his missionary work as a Columban Father in China: “I was arrested on the 7th of September 1951. I was put in a tiny cell, like a dog box. It was solidarity confinement for three years. There was no table, chair or bed. I could lie on the floor. It wasn’t like Mountjoy, nor one of these prisons that like first-class hotels. I was never allowed to close my eyes, talk or sneeze. All around me people were going mad. They did not have their faith.”

By Sr. Virgie Mozo, SSC

One of thirteen

Sr. Cristeta de Leon is from Banyaga, Bugallon, Pangasinan. She comes from a big family of 13 children. Her parents taught them the Christian values in the family. Sister Cris has a beautiful voice which she inherited from her mother who was a “cantora” in her early days.