Michael from Napier, New Zealand wrote:
Sheila Cassidy, an attractive doctor working in Chile and seized and tortured by the military dictatorship in the 1970s for treating an opponent of the regime, became a magnetic Catholic heroine for me while studying for the priesthood in NZ.
I had forgotten though just how close Sheila had been to Columban priests there until reading The Far East article (June 2017). Her small house had by coincidence been on the same street in Santiago as the Columban Fathers headquarters. She became friends with Fr Jan who took her out to a shanty town and into an astonishing lifestyle of radical Christianity with the very poor of Chile, which Sheila in time embraced.
Sheila was seized by gunmen of the (Pinochet led) regime in Fr Jan’s headquarters house after treating a bullet wound of a man on the run from the secret police and underwent terrible suffering before eventual deportation back to England.
Sr Margaret from Port Fairy, Australia wrote:
Early 1940s at St Patrick’s, Jackie-mite box sat on Sister’s table. Into it went our pennies and half-pennies. These monies went for “black babies” in our time!
We enjoyed reading Mickey Daly’s Diary throughout and after school days. I sold 60 Columban Calendars for 2/- each to the people of Port Fairy during the 40s. My brother-in-law, Henk, a zealous parishioner and Columban benefactor, stood at the church door on Sundays and would sell 60 calendars and packs of cards.
If you would like to share your Columban story with us, in 100 words or less, send your Columban story and photo (optional) to:
Columban Mission Centre
P.O. Box 752
Niddrie VIC 3042 OR
E: tfe@columban.org.au
Related links
- Read more from The Far East, July 2018
- Read more from Your Columban Stories
