The Mission Expands and Grows
The Far East magazine proclaimed with a large headline in its December issue, 1933, that St Columban's Missionary Society was appointed by the Holy See to a new mission field - Korea, the land of Morning Calm. The southern part of the peninsula was to be their destination for missionary activity. The article mentioned that Korea was the third country entrusted to Columban missionaries by the Holy See.
The second country selected, had been the Philippines where the Columbans were assigned in 1929. The magazine did not give much attention initially to this new mission almost mentioning by the way that a new mission had opened. The Columban Fathers moved into Malate, Manila, and are still running the parish there in 2008.
In 1936 the June issue of The Far East, sprang another surprise. The Holy See had requested St Columban's Mission to undertake missionary work in Burma. Therefore, a fourth mission country had been added to the list of countries in which Columban missionaries worked.
As a result The Far East began to show a wide range of stories from the Philippines, Korea and Burma; stories were more exotic - elephants looked good in the pages of the magazine. The major portion of the magazine still concentrated on Bishop Galvin's vicariate in Han Yang where the mission continued in relative calm and with great success.
The magazine also carried notices of the deaths of young Columban priests in China from illness. Fr Peter Gabriel (right) died on July 14, 1938. He was the first Australian Columban priest to die, having been ordained in 1929. He returned ill from China to Adelaide where he passed away. He is buried in Carlton, Melbourne.
But the mission carried on; Australia and New Zealand were beginning to send their own Columban priests to the missions.
