by the editor, Fr. Niall O'Brien

There are various ways to do mission – some true and tried, some original and creative. The following article tells of a missionary who is truly creative and indeed successful in his approach to mission. Read on.

The recent World Cup soccer finals in Korea and Japan have turned all minds in Asia to sport.  The Philippines unfortunately was not represented as football is not our thing but athletics are and that gets me to thinking of a certain person.  You probably have not heard his name.  When it comes to sport he is one of the most successful sports coaches in Negros and maybe the Philippines.  A couple of years ago his little group of athletes won 6 golds, 5 silvers and broke 2 national records at the National Open Track and Field Championship in Manila.  Many top class Asian athletes competed at these games.  So that made the victory all the sweeter.  It was a fitting climax to a string of successes over many years.

Fr. O'Halpin with young athletes during the Centennial Palarong Pambansa in Bacolod City

How many people actually live in China?  The usual answer is that the country is home to about one-sixth of the population of the world.  The census carried out recently, the first in ten years, may provide a more exact answer to the question.

Officially the population of the mainland is 1.25 billion people.  But some experts estimate that as many as 200 million people may not figure in the population statistics.  The main reason for this unknown segment of the population is related to the one-child policy that the government has enforced on couples for several years.  Failure to comply with this could bring a heavy fine or even confiscation of property.  A recent South China Morning Post article reports on one small farmer who was fined the equivalent of four months wages for breaching the regulations.

By: Eldred Willey

The Philippines has vast mineral wealth.  Western mining companies want to exploit it and in return offer money that is badly needed. But what is the cost to the people and the environment?  An aid worker went to find out.

Mindoro is one of the most beautiful islands of the Philippines.  And it looks as if it may stay that way.  Its people are currently celebrating an important victory against a mining company which was bidding to turn their ocean jewel into an open-cast pit.

By Fr David Buenaventura SDB

For seven years, Fr. David Buenaventura was a missionary priest in the highlands of Papua New Guinea. Then the time came for him to serve his fellow Pinoys struggling to live in a country that is rich in everything except Christianity – Japan.

I was appointed parish priest for Filipinos living in the Catholic Diocese of Oita in January 1997. The appointment was the first of its kind in Japan. We have a good number of Filipino priests working in Japan, but no one had been appointed parish priest. My appointment was based on Canon 518, which talks about the Personal Parish. I didn’t have a convent or a parish church. When asked by my parishioners, “How come the other parish priests in the diocese have their own convents and churches while you, Father, don’t have?” I would tell them with pride: “This is so because your homes are my convents and each Filipino community is my church.”

By Sr. Marvie Misolas MM

Sr. Marvie

The number of homeless people all over the world is growing and Taiwan is no exception.  Shelters are being set up for these people as a temporary solution.  Maryknoll Sister Marvie Misolas, a native of Marikina, shares with us about a friendship she had with Ka-Li, one of the residents she met when she visited Taichung City Homeless Shelter established by the Taiwan government.

By Bryan Appleyard

Stephen Hawking, the world-renowned scientist, has become famous for his non-belief in God.  He is considered to be one of the most intelligent people in the scientific world.  Added to that he is severely disabled and heroic in his struggle against illness.  We publish here a surprising answer to his stand by one of his fellow scientists.  This article will not be of interest to all, but to a small number it may be a godsend.

The year I met Stephen Hawking was 1988.  I was to write a profile for a magazine to appear at the time his book, A Brief History of Time, was published.  That book was to make him globally famous.  But then he was not well-known outside scientific circles.  The big story was, of course, that here was this brilliant physicist and cosmologist whose motor neuron disease confined him to a wheelchair and forced him to speak through a computer.  His wrecked body contrasted poignantly with his star-traveling imagination.