General Council

Fr Andrei Paz is from the province of La Union in the northern Philippines and joined the Columbans as a seminarian in 1998. In 2004, together with three other classmates, he went to Chicago to study Theology. He was assigned to China for his First Missionary Assignment (FMA), where he was involved with people with disabilities in Guangzhou, visited elderly Catholics in their homes, and taught English at a school for children of internal migrants in Wuhan.

He was ordained in 2009 and was assigned to Taiwan, where he worked with communities of aboriginal people in a remote mountainous area. He also helped occasionally in the migrant ministry for Masses on weekends. After three years, he was sent to Mainland China to work as Vocations Coordinator, accompanying young men who were trying to discover if God was calling them to missionary priesthood. Because of this work, he was able to visit many Catholic communities in various places across China, where he saw a great need in the area of ministry to children with disabilities. He realised that not only those children, but also their families, struggled greatly.

In 2015, he went to study Occupational Therapy at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska in the U.S. Occupational therapy is an area where huge needs exist in China. After finishing his studies, he returned to China where he worked in a rehabilitation center in Beijing that provides therapy to children with disabilities, educates their parents, as well as trains people working in orphanages in remote rural areas to provide similar therapy to children with disabilities.

In 2020, due to the pandemic, he had to return to the Philippines, where he served in Malate Church in Manila, a parish where Columbans have ministered since 1929.

He was looking forward to returning to Beijing where he hoped to continue his ministry to children with disabilities and their families, but during the 2024 General Assembly, he was elected as Society Leader.

Peter O’Neill, SSC is from Geelong in Australia, one hour west of Melbourne. Peter joined the Columbans in 1982. He did his OTP (now FMA) in Japan and was ordained in 1990. After his ordination, he was appointed to the Taiwan Mission Unit (TMU) where he ministered for 26 years. He first studied Mandarin for 2 years and later Taiwanese for 1 ½ years.

He began his ministry with local workers at the Columban New Life Workers Centre. He was then assigned to the Columban Hope Workers Centre (HWC) where he worked for 10 years providing social and pastoral services for migrants, trafficked peoples, and immigrants as well as being actively involved in advocacy work. He was the HWC Director for 6 years. For his last 10 years in Taiwan, he was the Diocesan Coordinator for social and pastoral services for migrants, trafficked peoples, and immigrants, and the Director of the Hsinchu Diocese Migrants and Immigrants Service Centre (HMISC). The HWC was a founding member of the Migrant Forum in Asia (MFA) in 1994. MFA is a regional network of NGOs, associations and trade unions of migrant workers, and individual advocates in 18 countries across Asia who are committed to protect and promote the rights and welfare of migrant workers. HMISC became a member of MFA when Peter became the HMISC director. He was actively involved with MFA for 22 years and on its Executive Committee for 4 years. On three occasions, he joined the MFA delegation to the United Nations Human Rights Council and the International Labour Conference in Geneva and was a part of the MFA delegation to the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) in the Philippines, Mexico, Switzerland and Bangladesh. As a member of MFA, he was a guest speaker at many International Migration Conferences.

Following the General Assembly 2000, Brendan O’Sullivan appointed him as the first Society Migrant Link Person. He held this position for about 10 years. In 2012, he represented the Society at the Federation of Asian Bishops Conference in Vietnam where the theme was on migration. While working fulltime in ministry, he was the TMU Coordinator on two occasions from 1996 to 2002 and from 2009 to 2012. By that time the General Council had approved the new TMU Structures allowing a Long-Term LM to be appointed as the TMU Coordinator. In 2012, Vida Hequilan was appointed as the first LM TMU Coordinator. Peter was the TMU LM Coordinator for 3 years, a member of the LMLT for 10 years and the FMA director for 4 years.

In July 2017, he was appointed to the ANZ Region to take up his new assignment as the Australia JPIC Coordinator. He became a member of ACRATH (Australian Catholic Religious Against Trafficking in Humans) and was a member of the ACRATH National Executive Committee for 3 years and ARCATH’s representative on the Australian Government’s Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) Scheme Agriculture Committee from 2019 to 2024. He has advocated for the protection of the human rights of seasonal workers from the Pacific and Timor-Leste. He has been a member of the Catholic Religious Australia Justice Committee for the last 6 years. Over the last 7 years he has been in leadership in the former ANZ Region and the Region of Oceania. In November 2017, he was elected as a member of the former ANZ Regional Council. In November 2019, he was elected as the Country Leader Australia and a member of the Regional Council Oceania. In November 2022, he was appointed as the Regional Director Oceania. It has been a privilege ministering in RMU leadership over 16 years and he looks forward to ministering in leadership on the General Council. In preparation for the GA, he participated in the six online Guest Speaker Events prepared by the General Assembly Preparatory Committee.

Fr Young-in Kim, Gregorio is a Columban from Korea. Holy Spirit inspired him in 1999 to pursue a Columban vocation through his sister, who heard a homily at a Benefactor Mass by a Columban priest. With the gentle guidance of the vocation director, he finally joined the Columbans in 2000, the year of the Great Jubilee. He studied theology in Chicago, USA, after completing a year of philosophy and a Spiritual Year in Korea until 2002. He was ordained to the priesthood in 2011 after completing two years of FMA in Peru during his theology studies.

From 2012 to 2014, he worked in an urban poor parish in Lima, Peru, and from 2014 to July 2020, he served in an indigenous parish in the Andean region of Yanaoca, Cusco, for six years. From August 2020 onwards, he was trained and appointed as a formator to the students in the Columban Formation House in Korea. This continued until before the new General Council was elected in June 2024.

Fr Salustino Villalobos Mondragón is from Peru and is the 7th of 11 brothers and sisters. In his hometown, there is no official presence of the church. Until now, they do not even have a chapel. His family celebrates its faith through devotion to patron saints, especially Saint Antony of Padua, Our Lady of Fatima and a local celebration called the Cross of Motupe, which is centred on an image of the crucified Jesus. The first time he met a priest and attended Mass was during his last year of elementary school - that was the first time a priest arrived in his village since his birth. He received his First Communion and Confirmation at Christmas in one of the main towns of his district, and that was when he started to think about becoming a priest.

In October 2006, he was admitted as a Columban seminarian, when he was 19 years old. He was sent to Chile for his formation. He was ordained as a priest on November 25, 2017.

He was assigned to Taiwan. After studying Chinese Mandarin for some time, his first pastoral assignment was as an assistant parish priest at Immaculate Heart of Mary parish, in Taoyuan City. He also helped with pastoral care for Aboriginals living in the area. The parish was a mix of local people, Filipinos, Vietnamese and aboriginals.

His next pastoral ministry was in Taiwan’s mountains – Tai’An area – a place where the Atayal aboriginal tribe live. He served there for around 8 months until the 2024 GA when he was elected as a member of the General Council.

Sherryl Lou Capili is from Silang, Cavite in the Philippines. She learned about the Columbans through Malate Parish when she and her brothers were living nearby. Before joining the Columban Lay Missionaries (CLM), she worked as an events and communications officer in a non-government organization that produces and distributes educational television program materials to public elementary schools. She joined the CLM orientation program in 2010 and was assigned to the Taiwan Mission Unit (TMU) in 2011.

She served at two migrant centres in Hsinchu Diocese with other Columbans and LMs. Sherryl worked as a female shelter supervisor, an immigrant children’s catechist, and a pastoral coordinator. She became part of the TMU Coordinating Committee since her 2nd term Agreement and was elected as TMU Coordinator in 2018. She fulfilled this role while serving full-time at the migrant ministry. Sherryl finished her 6-year appointment as TMU Coordinator when she was elected by the CLM as CLMCLT Coordinator during the CLM International Meeting (CLMIM) in Manila last February 2024.

SunHee ‘Sunny’ Kim got to know the Columban lay missionaries in Korea, while she was looking for a way to share her gifts she received from God with others. She joined the Orientation in 2010 and was assigned to the Philippines in 2011. She worked in the Immaculate Conception Parish, Barretto, Olongapo City and the Ina ng Lupang Pangako Parish, Payatas, Quezon City. In both parishes, she was involved in Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) for people with special needs and their families.

She visited the members’ houses and assisted with the learning program and physical therapy. In the last two years, she ran the meal program for them. After that, she moved to the Malate Parish. This was her first time working with ordained Columbans, and this experience enriched the mission journey. She worked in the social service development ministry, mainly running the feeding program known as the Soup Kitchen for the vulnerable in the area, until February this year.