Editorial - the compassion of God
Fr Gary Walker
William Cowper (1731-1800) the English poet penned the lines, "Man may dismiss compassion from his heart, but God will never." Columban missionaries try to offer God's compassion.
Mt Pinatubo in the Philippines erupted in 1991. The Aeta people who lived on its slopes were relocated into temporary camps in the lowlands. Now 16 years later these indigenous people are slowly returning to their ancestral home on the slopes of the mountain.
They are struggling to retain their way of life with the help of the Church and Government. Fr Donal O'Dea has worked with them for many years, he knows their needs, he has helped to make their plight known to the wider world.
Refugees from the earthquake in Pakistan in 2005 found their way into Lahore where Fr Liam O'Callaghan visited the injured in hospital. In his article in this issue he tells how he initiated a project to rebuild some of their villages destroyed by the earthquake.
Similarly, the victims of the earthquake in Peru are poor and in great need of assistance. A disaster is only news for a short span of time. We easily forget that the survivors are just at the beginning, not the end of establishing a normal life again. These are people in need of God's compassion: it is the hands and minds of those involved in Columban mission who are helping to bring it to them.
