PHILIPPINES - Sinnott describes his ‘Easter’ experience

Published Date: April 7, 2010

Churchgoers welcome Father Michael Sinnott after his release

Ucanews.com carried this story yesterday. It is also featured in today's CathNews Philippines.

PAGADIAN CITY, Philippines (UCAN) — Irish Columban Father Michael Sinnott considers his freedom from kidnappers last year an “Easter” experience.

“Certainly the feeling of being free again was like Resurrection for me,” the 80-year-old missioner told UCA News in this southern Philippine diocese of Pagadian where he has served for decades.

Armed men snatched the priest from the Missionary Society of Saint Columban community house here last Oct. 11, and held him for 31 days while demanding US$2 million for ransom.

“I couldn’t believe them [kidnappers] when they told me that I was getting my freedom until I was finally home,” Father Sinnott recalled.

Kidnappers set him free reportedly without any ransom paid after Moro Islamic Liberation Front officials intervened.

Father Sinnott was kept in primitive conditions and frequently moved from place to place with arduous hiking through rugged mountain terrain.

When he heard about the kidnapping of Filipino-Swiss businessman Charlie Reith, 72, on Easter Sunday, he was saddened.

“I sympathize with him,” Father Sinnott told UCA News on April 7.

“He is also elderly, so I expect it will be just as hard” for Reith as it was for the priest.

The kidnappers “tried to make things easier for me, thank God, even washing my clothes,” he laughed. But walking uphill for days on rugged terrain was no joke.

Because of those difficulties, he does not think kidnappers would want to take him again. “They have seen they would have to help me walk,” the priest said.

Having just celebrated Holy Week, he said he would not compare his suffering in captivity to Christ’s Calvary.

Captivity ‘can’t be compared with Calvary’

“That was against my will. I stayed there because armed men were guarding me, so there was nothing heroic or anything like the Calvary of Jesus,” Father Sinnott said.

After five weeks in Ireland, he has returned to welcoming locals. He recalls telling his family he could not retire as they hoped he would do.

“I still have a few more years to continue my work,” especially with handicapped children, he said.

Father Sinnott was born in County Wexford in southeastern Ireland. He was ordained in 1954 and assigned to Mindanao, southern Philippines, in 1957, where he stayed until 1966. He returned to the Philippines in 1976.

In 1998, he established Hangop Kabataan (care for youth), a diocese-based rehabilitation program for children with special physical and other needs.

“I joined the missionary society to work overseas,” said Father Sinnott, explaining his return to the Philippines.

“In a life with risks, we take normal common sense precautions, but we can’t let threats stop us from what we’re doing,” the missioner said.

Local Catholics appreciate his return.

San Jose parishioner Kyrene Tigoy was among those who cued up for confessions during Holy Week. He told UCA News, “Many parishioners are grateful and happy” to see Father Sinnott back.