Sunday 17th October - Mission Appeal

Yesterday Fr John Collins SSC, an Irish missionary priest from the Society of St Columban, came to St. Joseph's to make an appeal on behalf of his society. Fr John had actually visited St Joseph's before, to see Fr Brendan Fahey, the parish priest for ten years before I arrived, who is a fellow-Columban.

I had intended concelebrating the two Sunday Masses here with Fr John but as things turned out I got called away at short notice to another parish, because the priest who was due to supply Masses there on Saturday evening and Sunday morning had come down with a stinking cold and had to pull out.

Unfortunately with all the extra running about involved I didn't manage to get any photographs of Fr John during his stay: I've had to pilfer the one not very clear photo I found on the Columbans' website, where he is pictured with the rest of the British Mission Awareness Team (he's at the back, fifth from left).


But I did join Fr John for the 4.30pm Mass here, during which he told us about the origins of the Society of St Columban, the early missionary work in China (until the Communist revolution in 1949, when they were expelled) and the Society's more recent endeavours in "cross-cultural mission" and in the field of inter-faith dialogue, especially between Christians and Muslims, in places like Pakistan, the Philippines and elsewhere.

The Columbans' website gives the following description of their work:

"Cross-cultural mission is a way of life that involves leaving your own culture and entering with respect and humility into another. It means learning a new language, living alongside the poor and marginalised, sharing your experience of God, and searching with them for a greater fullness of Life.

"Columbans work in many diverse ways, trying to witness to the God of Love, to understand and embrace the hopes and aspirations of the communities where they live, and to follow where the Spirit leads.

Columbans are involved in women’s groups, with refugees, in protecting the environment, with small Christian communities, with disabled people, in inter-faith dialogue, with Tribal people."

These were the subjects - some of them, anyway - that Fr John addressed in his sermon during Mass. We took up a second collection, many people seemed interested in subscribing to the Columban magazine Far East, and in the late afternoon Fr John headed off back to his headquarters in Solihull.

Here are some Columban links:

Columban Fathers (general)

Columban Sisters

Columban Missionaries Ireland and Britain

Far East magazine.