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The Venerable Edel Quinn 14 September 1907 - 12 May 1944 [ photo ] Solemnity of the Ascension The Ascension is celebrated on Ascension Thursday, 9 May, in England & Wales, Scotland. In the USA it is celebrated on Ascension Thursday in the Ecclesiastical Provinces of Boston, Hartford, New York, Omaha, Philadelphia. In all of these places Ascension Thursday is a Holyday of Obligation. The Ascension is observed on Sunday, 12 May, in Aotearoa-New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Ireland, Philippines, USA (apart from the jurisdictions mentioned above). Ascension, Year B   Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland) Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Gospel    Mark 16:15-20     (English Standard Version, Anglicised) Jesus said to his disciples: “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these si

  Our Lady of China With the inscription:  Mother of God, pray for us Someone sent me this photo back in April, in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic and expressing a desire that we should pray for the people of China, where the virus began in Wuhan. That city is a conglomeration of three cities: Wuchang, Hankow and Hanyang. When the first group of Columban priests, including our Co-founder Fr Edward Galvin, travelled to China in 1920 some went to Hanyang. In 1927 Fr Galvin was ordained as the first bishop of what was then the Vicariate Apostolic of Hanyang. It became a diocese in 1946. Bishop Edward Galvin and Fr John Blowick Co-founders of the Columbans  (mid-1950s) Bishop Galvin lived through wars and natural calamities, serving the people of his diocese with one desire: to do God's will. He was expelled from the People's Republic of China in 1952. In a report he wrote that year he stated the reasons the authorities gave for this. You have opposed and obstructed the establ

Columban Fr Aedan McGrath speaking about his time in solitary confinement in China, 1950-53 Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)                                   Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa) Gospel  Luke 14:1, 7-14  (Revised Standard Version – Catholic Edition) One sabbath when Jesus went to dine at the house of a ruler who belonged to the Pharisees, they were watching him.   Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he marked how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, "When you are invited by any one to a marriage feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest a more eminent man than you be invited by him; and he who invited you both will come and say to you, 'Give place to this man,' and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, s

Fr Aedan McGrath On the first Tuesday of September 1961 - the date was the 5th - I and more than 40 other young men entered St Columban's College, Dalgan Park, Navan, about 40 kms north-west of my native Dublin, hoping to be Columban priests one day and heading off to Chile, Fiji, Japan, Korea, Peru or the Philippines about seven years later. As it happened, some were to find their way to Pakistan, which became a Columban mission in 1978 along with Taiwan. I was then 18 but since I was 14 had wanted to be a missionary priest. I decided on the Columbans when I was 16 but had to wait to do my Leaving Certificate. I went to Dalgan Park in Easter Week 1961 to be interviewed and have a medical examination. I was very happy when accepted. Then I had to get a black suit, some white shirts and a black tie, not to mention a black hat, required in those days. One thing was niggling me: what would my parents think if I ever decided to leave? The term 'spoiled priest'