Fr Barry Cairns SSC
One little incident has influenced my pilgrim journey as a Columban missionary.
I was stationed in an offshore island of southern Japan. It was a fishing village with a church on the water’s edge. The village (and church) attracted visitors from the mainland. One such tourist saw me, a foreigner, in this very Japanese village and said to a local: “Who is this foreigner?” (The Japanese word for foreigner is literally “an outside person” - sometimes highly uncomplimentary!) The answer was reported to me before the day was out. “He is not an outsider, he is our priest.”
This reply has been pondered often. It has helped me as a missionary priest. I am not up there on a pedestal, apart from the flock. I am with them, among them. I do not forget that I come from New Zealand. I live in another culture with different ways of thinking. But baptism makes us true brothers and sisters. I have been gifted to be their priest - no big deal! Others in our community have been variously gifted too. I do try to draw out their gifts, encourage them when they use them and delegate. My calling is to unite all, especially in our Eucharist. (Now I find that this is called in theological shorthand: “subsidiarity”).
I feel at home with my people and have a sense that they feel at home with me. I do urge them every Sunday to share their gifts and to be missionaries in their milieu. I am not a foreigner, I am their priest.
Columban Fr Barry Cairns is 94 years old and has been a Columban missionary priest for 70 years. He currently lives and works in Japan.
