Check the Green Book

We had our annual Family Day here at Lower Hutt recently and it was great to see so many people come together to celebrate their connections to the Columbans and to Mission.

The presence of many older faces in the group as well as the odd wheelchair and walking aid pointed to links that go back over many, many years. It was significant, then, that in his homily Tom Rouse focused on the new faces of the Columban Family. Speaking from the perspective of his work in Fiji he introduced us to some of the newer members of the family. Most of these are lay. Some are Fijian and Tongan who are now on mission in the Philippines, Peru and Chile. Others, like Fr. Jaime Recelme, a Columban from Chile who spent some months with us in Lower Hutt while he was waiting for his visa, have come to Fiji in recent years.  When I went there in 2007 to given the annual Columban Retreat there were 5 lay missionaries in the retreat group, Daniela Garabito, Julia Fuentes and Roxana Araneda from Chile, Bel Ordonio from the Philippines and the local lay missionary coordinator, Katarina Mukai who was Fijian. Some of the lay missionaries in past years worked in my home parish of Naas in Ireland where they made a big impression and raised consciousness about the role of laity in mission to a whole new level. 

Tom’s homily reminded of the oft retold story of American Columban John Largomarsino who arrived in from the Philippines to the Columban House in Rome. When he said who he was at the door he was met with the response “we have no one of that name in the Columbans”. John was quick enough to say “check the green book”. The very mention of the “green book”, which is a little directory of the Columbans worldwide, was enough to confirm that we did indeed have someone of that name. Now when we check the green book we find names that are Peruvian, Chilean, Fijian, Tongan, Korean as well as Filipino/a, all signs of the changing face of the Columban Family. 

I was also reminded of another significant place where the names of Columbans are recorded and that is in the cemetery of our base in Ireland where the names of all deceased Columbans are inscribed on a marble wall along with their place of burial. That list now includes the names of 2 lay missionaries, Lim Yean Sin from Korea who is buried in Fiji and Pilar Tilos from the Philippines who is buried in Pakistan.

So as we celebrated the connections that have been part of the story of our past we rejoiced in the new names and faces that are the story of the present and of the future.

Fr Pat O’Shea resides at St Columban's, Lower Hutt, New Zealand

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