Book Review - by Fr Nicholas Postlethwaite CP
Columbans on Mission
Stories of Columban priests, sisters, lay missionaries and the lay men and women with whom they work.
Compiled by Columban Fr Peter Woodruff
Fr Peter Woodruff has gathered a 135 individual missionary stories. Each is told in the story teller’s own words, women and men, lay and clerical, young and old from many nationalities. All the stories evoke an enthusiasm expressed by Isaiah “...Shout aloud and sing for joy... for the Lord comforts his people and has compassion on his suffering ones.”
Fijian Lay Missionary, Sainiana Tamatawale tells of discovering the advice of St Columban: ‘A life unlike your own can be your own teacher.’” Prompted by this Sainiana leaves the security of her own culture, travels to the other side of the world, and struggles to learn a new language living in solidarity with a community threatened by violence and extreme hardship in Juarez on the Mexican/U.S.A. border.
Returning one day from a children’s confirmation class; to her horror, she has to pass two men just killed by gunfire on her own doorstep. “Now, whenever I go out I pray that God will guide and protect me…” (Page 92)
The recent Apostolic Exhortation by Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium, laments the sad faces of Christians seemingly living “like Lent without Easter”. The crucifixion is dramatically present in each story in this book. But present too is the wonder of Christ’s resurrection continually rediscovered among rejoicing people. The commitment on each page of Fr Woodruff’s book is a total antidote to all downcast Christian outlooks.
Credit is due to the creativity of the Missionary Society of St Columban sponsoring an enduring international missionary framework within which such experiences can grow. But church structures are less to the fore in the book, than day to day human encounters of anguish and hope. It’s strength lies in the stories of real people in real situations searching together for the face of God.
Fr Woodruff highlights distinct sections of Gospel challenges. In word and deed Christian are urged to link Worship and prayer by commitment to justice and the integrity of creation. Though viewing mission from Catholic perspectives, the stories display interreligious dialogue with other traditions on journeys of inculturation.
The book focuses on dialogical theology rooted in Gospel values. Helpfully, the author concludes every story with pointers to Scripture and links with wider traditions. With a minimum of “theory”, the stories speak starkly and powerfully for themselves.
Today, Christians are encouraged creatively to imagine the New Evangelisation processes. “Columbans on Mission” provides practical examples of Gospel values that reverence human dignity in mutual solidarity in the most alien of social circumstances. We glimpse the Kingdom of God in some of the world’s most hostile situations.
In his post-script, Fr Peter expresses hope that the book helps recall God’s love alive and active in all our lives.
Columban Fr Peter Woodruff resides at St Columban's, Essendon.
Fr Nicholas Postlethwaite is a priest of the Passionist order in the UK and was the Provincial from 1997 to 2007.
The book can be purchased from www.bookdepository.com
Read more from The Far East, May 2014