This June 2017 issue will be my last as magazine Editor. Here are some of my thoughts as I prepare to return to Chile.
When Bishop Fernando Ariztia, an auxiliary bishop of Santiago, Chile, in 1974 invited the Columban Sisters to come to Chile as missionaries, he asked them not to begin any schools or hospitals and not to live in a convent. Rather he asked them to live in small homes located in recently formed squatter settlements.
As the Church was not yet established in these areas, it would be the Sisters role to live amongst their shanty-town neighbours and support them in any way they could. Gradually their efforts would help give birth to local parish communities.
After almost six years back home in Australia, I am now returning to Chile to be once again involved in this type of missionary work as described by Bishop Ariztia. I originally went to Chile after finishing my seminary studies at St Columban Seminary at Turramurra, Sydney and was ordained deacon in Chile. I then returned to my home parish, St Oliver Plunkett in Brisbane, to be ordained priest. After ordination I returned for many years to mission in Chile.
At the end of 2011, I returned to Australia to become the Editor of The Far East magazine, starting in January 2012. This June 2017 issue, however, is my last issue as Editor and from July onwards, Janette Mentha will take over. Janette has worked for many years on the editorial team. I know for sure that Janette will do a great job as Editor.
I would like to take the opportunity to thank the Columban Regional Director, Fr Gary Walker and our Columban team in Melbourne, for entrusting me with the role of Editor during these past five and a half years. The Far East magazine began in 1920 and has been published continually since then. I felt I had a great legacy to try to live up to. The magazine is important missionary work.
As well as the magazine Editor, I have been very lucky to spend two years promoting subscriptions to the magazine in the parishes of the Archdiocese of Adelaide and helping out in the Adelaide Cathedral Parish. Archbishop Philip Wilson, the clergy and laity of Adelaide warmly welcomed me in the task of promoting awareness of overseas mission through the magazine.
What am I looking forward to as I prepare to go back to Chile as a Columban missionary?
I am looking forward to once again belonging to the Columban team in Chile. It is a wonderful thing to belong to a team whose vision responds to the spiritual, pastoral and human development needs of the Chilean people.
Being a member of the Columban team means I must be ready to play my part, to pull my weight, to carry my burden, to bear the heat of the day and to make sacrifices so that Christ’s Kingdom will flourish amidst the despair, the hopelessness, the drugs and the violence experienced in the poor parish neighbourhoods of Chile.
Then Jesus declared, "No one who puts his hand to the plough and then looks back is fit for the kingdom of God." Luke 9:62
Re-joining the Columban team in Chile, means that there will be no time for boredom, no time to be spent looking around trying to find something to do. Not at all! The missionary tasks before us are gigantic. One just has to walk down the parish lanes and streets with the eyes and ears attuned to the Gospel to experience the struggle between good and evil, life and death, between justice and injustice, between service, love, community and empowerment up against exploitation, egoism, domination and greed.
“But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear.” Matthew 13:16
It will be wonderful to be once more part of the Columban story in Chile. This means awareness of standing on the shoulders of all those Columban and Diocesan priests who have served in the Chilean Mission since 1952, of all those Columban Sisters who have served since 1974 and all those Columban Lay Missionaries who have served since 1993. Since 1952, Columbans have either founded or revitalized over 30 parish communities in Chile located in poor marginalized areas. At the moment, there are five large Columban parishes in Chile, one of which has over 100,000 residents.
“The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest”… Matthew 9:36-37 and Luke 10:2.
In returning to Chile, I look forward to presiding at the Eucharist in our parish communities and reflecting on the Word of God together with the people. I look forward to working with a well formed laity, with vibrant Parish Pastoral Councils, with the many Permanent Deacons and with parish Catechists who run all the sacramental, scriptural and liturgical programmes.
I look forward to participating in parish ministries that reach out to drug addicts, alcoholics, gang members, the unemployed, the aged poor, shanty-town dwellers, undernourished children, single mothers, the sick, the imprisoned and those suffering with mental health problems.
I want to take this opportunity to thank the Columbans and all the readers of The Far East in Australia and New Zealand who have supported me during my time back here. I believe it was God’s Will for me to have spent this time back home and it has been an enriching experience for me.
Now I believe it is His Will for me to return to mission in Chile. I hope to send some future stories from Chile to the magazine. So you will hear from me again. Please remember me in your prayers as I prepare to return.
The Far East magazine thanks Fr Daniel (Dan) Harding for his time and contribution as Editor and wishes him all the best on his return to Chile.
LISTEN TO: Thoughts upon returning to mission in Chile
(Duration: 6:45mins, MP3: 3.089MB)
Related Links
- Read more from The Far East - June 2017
