Philippines: Modern Day Missionaries of the World
Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) take and practice their faith fervently wherever they go, wherever they are. That is why the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines appreciates the role of OFWs as modern day apostles of evangelisation in the foreign countries where they work. Mary Jane Soriano, a 25-year-old college graduate Filipino domestic worker, has […]
Mexico: “Until dignity becomes the custom”
The Miguel Agustín Pro Juarez Human Rights Centre (Centro ProDH), founded by the Jesuits, is celebrating its 30th year. A path in defence of human rights especially in the most disadvantaged sectors in Mexico. Father Jesús Maldonado, founder of the Centre tell us its story. During these 30 years we have been accompanying many of […]
African Witnesses: Simon Mpecke
He was born in 1906 in Log Batombé, in Cameroon. In 1914, at age 8, Mpecke attended the elementary school of the Catholic mission in Édéa. It was a mission opened by the Pallottine order during the period German colonisation. At age 11, Mpecke finished elementary school. On August 14, 1918, at the age of […]
Bolivia: The ritual of potato planting
Before planting, Quechua farmers ask Pachamama (mother-earth) for permission. Pachamama is the fertility goddess who presides over planting and harvesting. Then the Ispallamama (spirits) are invoked. The sowing of the potato begins with the preparation of the land. Farmers select a fertile land, which has rested for two or three years; then they leave the […]
Africa: Millions still have no papers
According to the World Bank, 41% of the inhabitants of the continent do not exist in law. They have no identity documents issued by state civil offices. A problem affecting human rights, it fuels illegal trafficking and slows the economy. According to UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund), 95 million children born in Sub-Saharan Africa are […]
Afghanistan: A Tiny Seed
A small community in an Islamic world. Witness and service to the poorest. “The contribution which the small Christian community can make to pacification and the reconstruction of this country is limited, but the signs of its presence in this land are, in their poverty, still meaningful: the service of the poorest of the poor; […]
African Witnesses: Lucien Botovasoa
Lucien Botovasoa was born in 1908 in Vohipeno, a small village in the Diocese of Farafangana, on the south-eastern coast of Madagascar, more than one thousand kilometres from the nation’s capital. His parents were poor farmers, like many others in this region, always struggling with weather-related risks. They followed the traditional religion but were open-minded. […]
Philippines: The Tattoo Practitioner of Kalinga
In a remote village in Buscalan, Tinglayan Kalinga in northern Luzon, Whang-ud, a 90-year-old tattoo practitioner (manbatok) resides and continues to practice an age-old tradition of tattooing (batok). In the Butbut village, Whang-ud would sit quietly in her hut and would greet local and foreign visitors entering Buscalan. One could easily recognize Whang-ud with both […]
Ethiopia: A Grain of Hope
Bonga is one of the capitals of Ethiopian coffee. At the corner of every alleyway, one of those tiny coffee shops known as ‘buna bets’ is inevitably found. We start our journey to the deep heart of Ethiopia from this small town. It may be a small, plain, rural sort of town but Bonga has […]
African Witness. Blessed Cyprian Michael Tansi
Forty years ago, Father Tansi concluded his pilgrimage here on earth. The legacy of this outstanding Nigerian priest and monk challenges the Church to be ever more faithful to its identity and mission. Blessed Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi was born in 1903 in Igboezunu, southern Nigeria. His parents were Igbo farmers. At the age of […]
