Past Magazine Stories

When I arrived in Japan the Columban missionaries had almost 50 parishes scattered over four different areas. Of those most of them were in cities with the exception of…

During difficult times, we may find ourselves asking, “To what or to whom do we hang on or cling to? What keeps us moving?”

Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897 was quite close to what people think of now as the high-water mark of the British Empire.
Instead of triumph and bombast and…

The Philippines is an archipelagic country where diversity in culture, language, tradition, and customs is visibly felt and seen. Since the country is divided into almost…

The Catholic faith came first to the Philippines as part of Spain’s colonial expansion with Magellan’s circumnavigating the globe. As in that and later journeys the friars…

The year 2020 was one of the most difficult and stressful years in the history of the last hundred years of the world and the church! In Christmas 2019, I already had my…

“Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.” 1 Peter 4:10

Since last August, I have been volunteering at a community garden here in Birmingham, Britain, run by one of the ecology organizations.

Fr. Cathal Gallagher recalls the incident vividly. “It was in 1998. I was working in a poor parish in Lima. I got a call from a local clinic, run by the Mercy Sisters,…

There is an old Chinese proverb that says “a man without a smiling face must never open a shop.” This is pretty sound advice. If you can’t smile and be friendly, then it’s…

Jonathan Kunau and Hilda Vukikomoala had planned their wedding a year in advance. Since both of them were members of big families, they wanted a big celebration of their…

The marriage ceremony was almost finished. It was time for the civil wedding. The groom’s younger brother had informed me that the witness from the bride’s side would be…