In the lead up to our centenary celebrations we invited our supporters to share their ‘Columban Story’ with us. We have been overwhelmed with the response and some-what humbled reading the stories from our committed supporters.
This is just one of them.
My Columban Story
"In the early 1940s I attended a small Catholic boarding school north of Wellington, New Zealand. We did our homework under the eagle eye of one of the sisters. If she thought we had worked well she would produce “The Far East” from which she would read us extracts of the work of the Columban Missions.
It was through this that we learnt of the New Zealand missionary
Fr Frances Vernon Douglas who had lost his life at the hands of Japanese soldiers. Also each month was the adventures of a lad. I think his name was Mickey? His spelling and grammar were out of this world.
By the 1970s I had two young sons. There were times when they jibbed on the food I served to them. I tried telling them there were starving children in other lands who would appreciate the food they spurned. Then one night a program on TV featured Columban Missionary in Chile and the difficult life the children in Chile were experiencing, it hit home. How could they help them? Pocket money for a time went into a jam jar – it was called “The Chile Jar.” It soon filled up so I asked a priest friend what to do with it. He had a friend from Chile who would take care of it. This turned out to be Fr Sean O’Connor on leave from Chile. For many years after a “Chile Jar” found its way to the Columbans to be sent to Chile."
When the time came for my lads to go to secondary school once more there was a Columban influence. It was Frances Douglas Memorial College in New Plymouth, named after the Columban who lost his life at the hands of Japan during World War II."
Cath, New Zealand
Related links
- Read more stories
- Read more from the current Columban eBulletin