[Fr Cullen doesn’t name the small town he visited]
When the mayor of this seemingly clean and well-ordered town invited me during my lecture tour to a meeting with his town council in 2014 he said the town had problems and asked if I could help.
At first he discussed fair trade and how his town could do more to support the sale of Preda Fair Trade products and help ease the global exploitation of poor farmers and indigenous people he had read about in the Preda Fair Trade website (www.predafairtrade.net).
He would like to get the town certified as a “Fair Trade” town by the International Fair Trade Committee that makes the awards. “Well, Mayor,” I said, “that will depend on the amount of fair trade products that are sold here at the World Shop based on the population of the town over a given period.”
He smiled and nodded. “I know that your organization Preda Foundation is also working against unfair trade, I read in your web site, campaigning against the trade in human beings, saving the victims in a therapeutic home. Can we be a part of that too?” he asked.
“Yes,” I said, “the sales of Preda products help save and heal the trafficked and abused children sold into sex slavery.”
He then asked how we work to get mayors like him to help.
I explained that the government and a large part of the Philippine population are in denial and need to be freed from unknowing, indifference and apathy. They need to be freed from the secret silence that surrounds the hateful and sordid crime against innocent and vulnerable children.
What brought about the shameful torture, humiliation and excruciating execution, as a criminal on a Roman cross is what we need to ask and answer everyday not just during Holy Week.
Hundreds of thousands of true Christians around the world suffer persecution, torture and death these days because they are disciples of Jesus of Nazareth and put into practice his spiritual values that give meaning to life itself.
Why is there such opposition to a message, a way of life that espouses; love of the outcast, freedom, human rights and dignity, equality and the defence of children and a better life for the poor and the oppressed people of this world?
The Man who was called by some a great prophet who had come back to life, a wonder worker, a spiritual teacher, a man of compassion, a peace-maker, a defender of children and women and a social revolutionary brought these values into the world by his simplicity of life and his living out of these values.
He was welcomed into the capital Jerusalem one sunny April morning two thousand years ago by adoring crowds waving palm branches who were inspired by his teaching, healing and prophetic voice for the poor and the downtrodden. He stood with the marginalized outcasts and victims of social injustice. He was a hero and inspirational spiritual leader that day and everyday since.
It must be one of the most heinous crimes of the century, with little exaggeration and one, which went undetected by Filipino police until Dutch Internet investigators found abhorrent and revolting child pornography of Filipino children being sexually assaulted, tortured and murdered on videos on the computer of a Dutch national.
Attorney Janet Francisco, executive officer of National Bureau of’Investigation’s Anti-Human Trafficking Division (AHTRAD), said the videos were so “hateful, disgusting, and painful to watch. The babies being tortured and sexually assaulted and listening to their cries could haunt you forever,’ she told a national newspaper.
This terrible litany of crimes against children with the help of Filipino women who recruit, traffic and abduct children as young as one year old is surely just one crime of many. There are hundreds if not thousands of such crimes un-detected, un-reported and unknown.
Interior of Sacred heart Cathedral, Lahore [Wikipedia]
An update from Columban Fr Liam O’Callaghan in Pakistan
[We published a report from Fr O’Callaghan on 17 March.]
Lahore situation. The situation continues to be bad and quite tense. On Tuesday outside Township Church (which is in St Columban’s parish where we worked up until last July) there was firing on the police on duty outside the church by two men on a motorbike as they rode by. Two passersby were injured, it is not clear what the motive was but it has certainly spread fear.
In Yohannabad the situation is still very bad and many people have left their houses to stay with relatives in other areas. The lynching and burning alive of two Muslim men has come back to haunt the Christian community in a big way. The Police have arrested over 100 Christians on suspicion of being involved in it, spreading fear and resentment that the suicide bombings are almost forgotten about in comparison with the focus on this issue.
Each year, Archbishop Sebastian Shaw OFM (above) and all the priests of theArchdiocese of Lahore gather for a recollection day on the Wednesday of Holy week. This year, it has been decided that it will be held in Yohannabad as a sign of solidarity with the people there and to pray for peace. A Mass will be celebrated for the victims of the recent violence. Columban Fr Joe Joyce and I will attend. So it might be an opportunity for suggesting a Columban Society-wide prayer time for peace on Wednesday in solidarity with those who have suffered here – Muslims, Christians and other minorities.
The next day the great crowd that had come to the festival heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, shouting,
“Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord—the King of Israel!”
Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it; as it is written:“Do not be afraid, daughter of Zion. Look, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt!”
His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written of him and had been done to him.
Chalice, Gilt Silver, 1450 – 1500, Unknown Hungarian Goldsmith Hungarian National Museum, Budapest [Web Gallery of Art]
Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, and all of them drank from it. He said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many” (Mark 14:23-24).
“Abba, Father, for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me; yet, not what I want, but what you want” (Mark 14:36).
As we enter Holy Week we can be overwhelmed by the sheer richness of the liturgy. I have always found it difficult to say anything about or during these days. American writer Flannery O’Connor in the quotation below touches on the inner suffering of some as they struggle to believe in Jesus, something she knew from personal experience. She also embraced the Cross in coming to terms with lupus, which had caused her father’s early death. His death was for her when she was 15, an experience of embracing the Cross.
Flannery O’Connor grew up as a devout Catholic in Georgia, in the ‘Bible Belt’ of the USA. In 1951 she was diagnosed with lupus, from which her father had died when she was 15. She said of her writings, The stories are hard but they are hard because there is nothing harder or less sentimental than Christian realism. She also wrote, Grace changes us and change is painful. The following quotation reflects this [emphasis added]:
I think there is no suffering greater than what is caused by the doubts of those who want to believe. I know what torment this is, but I can only see it, in myself anyway, as the process by which faith is deepened. A faith that just accepts is a child’s faith and all right for children, but eventually you have to grow religiously as every other way, though some never do. What people don’t realize is how much religion costs. They think faith is a big electric blanket, when of course it is the cross. It is much harder to believe than not to believe. If you feel you can’t believe, you must at least do this: keep an open mind. Keep it open toward faith, keep wanting it, keep asking for it, and leave the rest to God.
May Holy Week be a time when each of us can embrace whatever share in the Cross God has in mind for us and may it prepare us to celebrate the Joy and Hope of Easter once again.
World Youth Day 2015Young pilgrims from Rio de Janeiro, site if WYDRio2013, receiving the Cross during WYD in Madrid 21 August 2011 [Wikipedia]
In years whenWorld Youth Day is not a major international gathering it is observed in Rome on Palm Sunday. The Message of Pope Francisfor this year’s WYD has as its theme Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God (Matthew 5). One quotation from it echoes the words of Flannery O’Connor above:
The Lord’s invitation to encounter him is made to each of you, in whatever place or situation you find yourself. It suffices to have the desire for “a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ, or at least an openness to letting him encounter you; I ask all of you to do this unfailingly each day” (cf. Evangelii Gaudium, 3). We are all sinners, needing to be purified by the Lord. But it is enough to take a small step towards Jesus to realize that he awaits us always with open arms, particularly in the sacrament of Reconciliation, a privileged opportunity to encounter that divine mercy which purifies us and renews our hearts
Submitted by FatherSean on Tue, 03/24/2015 – 14:01.
Fr Colmcille McKeating
(9 July 1940 – 21 March 2015)
Fr Colmcille (‘Colm’) McKeating died in the Columban Nursing Home, Dalgan Park, Navan, Ireland, on 21 March 2015. Born in Belfast on 9 July 1940, he was educated at St Patrick’s Christian Brothers’ School, Donegall St, Belfast, and St Mary’s Christian Brothers’ School, Barrack St, Belfast. He came to St Columban’s, Navan, in September 1956 and was ordained priest on 21 December 1962. He was appointed to post-graduate studies in Science at Cambridge University and later at Queen’s University, Belfast.
Celtic Park, Belfast, where the young Colm often went in the 1940s with his father on Saturday afternoons to watch Belfast Celtic play. The club pulled out of the Irish League (soccer) in 1949 because of sectarian troubles.
Appointed to the Philippines in 1967, his first eight years were spent in the parishes of Iba and Botolan, Zambales, and he later combined pastoral work with full-time teaching mathematics and chemistry at Columban College, Olongapo City, Zambales. During his second term, from 1973 to 1978, he opened the new Parish of the Blessed Trinity in New Cabalan, Olongapo City, while he continued to teach part-time at Columban College.
Cathedral of St Augustine, Iba, Zambales [Wikipedia]
From 1978 to 1984, he was assigned to the Region of Ireland where he served initially as the Justice and Peace Officer, then for three years on the Vocations Team, and later on the staff of the Columban Formation Programme at Maynooth. From 1984 to 1986 he studied Fundamental Theology at Rome’s Gregorian University.
The Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome [Wikipedia]
He returned to the Philippines in 1987 where he directed the Spiritual Year for the first group of Filipino students. In the years that followed he combined involvement in the Initial Formation Programme with the continuation of his doctoral studies in Rome. The fruits of this research later appeared in his first book, Eschatology in the Anglican Sermons of John Henry Newman (1992). In 1998 he was appointed superior of the Luzon District, and Director of the Region of the Philippines from 1999 to 2005. This was followed by a period of teaching at Maryhill School of Theology, New Manila, Quezon City.
Painting of Blessed John Henry Newman, by Jane Fortescue Seymour, circa 1876 [Wikipedia]
Father Colm was a man of many talents, a pastor, a teacher, a theologian, and an able administrator. A man of keen mind, he was also kind, compassionate, good-humoured and committed to the struggle of justice for the oppressed. Illness forced his return to Ireland in July 2013 and he showed great courage and patience as his strength gradually diminished. He worked on his last book Light Which Dims the Stars – A Theology of Creation until it was ready for publication.
May he rest in peace.
Firmly I believe and truly
Word by Blessed John Henry Newman
Firmly I believe and truly
God is Three, and God is One;
And I next acknowledge duly
Manhood taken by the Son.
And I trust and hope most fully
In that Manhood crucified;
And each thought and deed unruly
Do to death, as He has died.
Simply to His grace and wholly
Light and life and strength belong,
And I love supremely, solely,
Him the holy, Him the strong.
[And I hold in veneration,
For the love of Him alone,
Holy Church as His creation,
And her teachings are His own.
And I take with joy whatever
Now besets me, pain or fear,
And with a strong will I sever
All the ties which bind me here.]
Adoration aye be given,
With and through the angelic host,
To the God of earth and Heaven,
Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
Firmly I believe and truly
God is Three, and God is One;
And I next acknowledge duly
Manhood taken by the Son.
And I trust and hope most fully
In that Manhood crucified;
And each thought and deed unruly
Do to death, as He has died.
Simply to His grace and wholly
Light and life and strength belong,
And I love supremely, solely,
Him the holy, Him the strong.
[And I hold in veneration,
For the love of Him alone,
Holy Church as His creation,
And her teachings are His own.
And I take with joy whatever
Now besets me, pain or fear,
And with a strong will I sever
All the ties which bind me here.]
Adoration aye be given,
With and through the angelic host,
To the God of earth and Heaven,
Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
Fr Colm with four newly-arrived Korean Columban Lay Missionaries in the Philippines, 2011
L to R Noh Hyein, Kim Sunhee, Park Juri and Shin Hyun Jeong
Father Colm once told your editor that he was the youngest ever Columban to be ordained, with a special dispensation because he was only 22 years and five months. The usual minimum age is 24. And he also told your editor that when appointed Regional Director in 1999 at the age of 59 he was the oldest to begin in that position.
Among Father Colm’s many gifts was a pleasant tenor voice. His ‘party piece’, which your editor often heard him sing, was the song below. Ruby Murray was also from Belfast.
Fr Colm McKeating with four newly-arrived Korean Columban Lay Missionaries in the Philippines, 2011
L to R Noh Hyein, Kim Sunhee, Park Juri and Shin Hyun Jeong
Fr Colm McKeating died at 5:30pm, local time, in Ireland on Saturday 21 March. His death was not unexpected and he had suffered much since the beginning of the year.
Father Colm, ordained in 1962, spent most of his missionary life in the Philippines, in the Diocese of Iba, Zambales, and later teaching in Maryhill School of Theology, Quezon City, for many years. He was Regional Director of the Columbans in the Philippines for six years.
Father Colm’s funeral will take place at St Columban’s, Dalgan Park, Ireland, on Tuesday or Wednesday. Please remember him in your prayers.
The most recent discovery of a human fossil, a jawbone with four teeth in Ethiopia has amazed anthropologists because of its age. It strengthens the theory that the migration of the first humans out of Africa occurred about 1.5 million years ago.
Some of them moved through Asia and across land bridges into South East Asia and the Philippines.
Their descendants could well be the Filipino indigenous people, the real survivors of an ancient past and the true owners of the Philippine ancestral lands. Marginalized as they are now-a-days their valid claims to ancestral land rights has been largely ignored by the dominating elite families that claim ownership and control 70 percent of the wealth of the country.
The goal of the Preda Fair Trade is to help these indigenous people and the small mango and coconut growers. We call on all who respect human rights to support them in their lawful and rightful claims to their ancestral land. They need help to resist the incursions of mining companies and land grabbers into the last remaining lands that they have occupied and for hundreds for thousands of years. The rich corrupt politicians have cut down the once magnificent rain forests. Fighting for social justice for the poor, the oppressed people is an important part of Fair Trade.
Fr Frederick (‘Fred’) Hanson was born on 8 September 1916 in Belfast. Educated at St Brigid’s National School, Holy Family National School and St Mary’s Christian Brothers’ School, Belfast, he came to the Old Dalgan, the original St Columban’s seminary, in Shrule, County Galway, in 1933. He was a member of the last class to be ordained in Shrule in December 1939, before the seminary relocated to St Columban’s, Navan.
Donegall Square, Belfast, in the early 1900s [Wikipedia]
The Second World War prevented his being assigned overseas, so he was assigned to parish work in the Diocese of Down and Connor for three years. He joined the Royal Air Force as a chaplain in 1943 and served until 1950. This appointment clearly suited Fred’s talents. The RAF Chaplain-in-Chief pleaded that he be allowed serve a further three years, ‘Fr Hanson is a most zealous priest and has done heroic work in looking after young Irishmen in several RAF stations . . . I cannot conceive of anybody doing greater work for the glory of God than he is doing in his present position.’
The Spitfire, above, is a symbol of the RAF’s victory in the Battle of Britain in 1940. The song and the singer, Dame Vera Lynn, born seven months after Father Fred and still happily with us, are symbols of the World War II period for older people in Britain.
He was assigned briefly to Korea, but the outbreak of war in that country resulted in a change of assignment to Japan. From 1953 until 1958 he served as Editor of Tosei News (an English news service for missionaries) and NCWC correspondent for Korea and Japan.
Chuncheon Cathedral and Cemetery
Columban Bishop Thomas Quinlan was the first Bishop of Chuncheon and is buried there with some other Columbans.
From 1958-1964 he was assigned once again to Korea where he served as secretary to Bishop Quinlan of Chuncheon, Korea. There followed two years doing pastoral work on a temporary basis in parishes in England. Then he was assigned to the Parish of St Teresa, Glen Road, Belfast and later to Holy Family Parish where he served until the year 2000.
Father Fred was a big man, big in stature and with a voice to match. He was generous and kind, devoted to his sister Mary, and managed his long illness with patience and occasional outbursts of exasperation.
May he rest in peace.
Last December Father Fred and his classmate Fr Daniel Fitzgerald celebrated the 75th Anniversary of their ordination, the first Columbans to do so. Father Dan attended the funeral Mass of his friend of more than 80 years.
Homily for the Funeral of Fred Hanson
Columban Fr Neil Collins gave this homily at the funeral Mass on 17 February.
‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God still, and trust in me’ (John 14:1).
First Assignment
Fred Hanson read these words many times during his wonderfully long life. I’m sure there were moments when he heard them addressed to him personally. He was ordained on 21 December 1939 and appointed to Hanyang, China, but the outbreak of WWII prevented him from going to the missions.
In 1942, after helping in several parishes in Down & Connor, he got permission to apply to be a chaplain in the RAF. There were postings in the Midlands and the north of England, and in 1945 he even had three months in France. After the War he asked to be demobbed, but the Principal Chaplain, Mgr H. Beauchamp, wrote to the Superior General on 11 Feb 1948:
‘Father Hanson is a most zealous priest and has done heroic work for me in looking after young Irish boys in several RAF stations in the vicinity of where he lives. Were it not for him they would be assigned to the care of English Priests who really would not understand them, neither would they understand them. I would, therefore, ask you if you would be so kind to allow Father Hanson to remain with me for another three years. I cannot conceive anybody doing greater work for the glory of God than he is doing in his present position.’
Dr Jeremiah Dennehy (Superior General), who had been a chaplain himself, sympathized with the Monsignor but refused, citing the needs of the missions, and arguing that Fred needed to go East as soon as possible while still young enough to learn a language and make the necessary adjustments. On 1 February 1949 he appointed him to the Prefecture of Kwoshu, Korea. Unfortunately the North Koreans invaded on 25 June 1950, and we have a photo of Fred on a boat for Pusan, with a caption, ‘the climax to a hectic twenty four hours evacuating from Mokpo’.
Appointment to Japan
Fred, with some other Columbans, was transferred to Japan where the superior used them to open new parishes. After language school he became ‘the first priest Hashimoto has ever seen’, conspicuous by his height and his dreadful Japanese. He wrote several informed articles for the Far East resulting in an invitation to become editor of Tosei News and NCWC correspondent. His accreditation as a war correspondent enabled him to travel freely between Japan and Korea and in 1955 the society assigned him to Seoul. A term as Bishop Quinlan’s secretary followed.
Assignment to Ireland
St Peter’s Catholic Cathedral, in the Falls Road area of Belfast. [Wikipedia]
In the mid-1960s, with minimal Japanese and no Korean, Fred was shocked when he was re-assigned to Ireland. From October 1966 to March 1988 he worked in St Teresa’s on the Glen Rd, Belfast, and then in Holy Family. In 1968 the RUC attacked a civil rights march in Derry and in 1969 loyalists burned the nationalist Bombay St in Belfast. Fred was on the Glen Rd. For those who don’t know Belfast the Glen Rd is the upper part of the Falls Rd. There were many funerals, many times when the priest had to read today’s gospel, searching for words that would comfort grief-stricken families. How could you say, ‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God still, and trust in me?’
Retirement to Dalgan
By the year 2000 an 84-year-old Fred decided that his active ministry was over. He moved to Dalgan (St Columban’s Retirement Home). I remember him saying, ‘Neil, don’t grow old. There’s no pleasure in it.’ Among the crosses he had to bear was the death of his sister Eileen in December 2000. When Mary showed increasing signs of Alzheimer’s Fred brought her to Dalgan to let her see our retirement home, and then the Kilbrew Nursing Home, where he visited her until she died in 2008.
I go to prepare a place for you
In today’s gospel, (John 14:1-6) on that first Holy Thursday, Christ said simply, ‘I go to prepare a place for you’. It was a remarkably undramatic way to describe what was about to happen – the Agony, the Scourging, the Crucifixion. Fred shared in that suffering. Now he has heard the rest of Christ’s words, ‘After I have gone and prepared you a place, I shall return to take you with me, so that where I am you may be too’.
