In February 1937, the 33rd International Eucharistic Congress was held in Manila and brought a renewed religious fervour within the country. Bishop Madriaga of Lingayen-Dagupan wrote to Mother Mary Patrick, Superior General of the Columban Sisters, inviting the Sisters to open two new foundations in his diocese. One, in the town of Lingayen, was to administer a dormitory for high school girls, give religion classes in the schools, and run a training centre for catechists. The second was in the town of Malasiqui where he felt there was a need for a Catholic school and for a catechetical ministry.
This request was a new missionary venture for the Congregation. The call was not to China, but to a land and people where Christianity has been practiced since the 16th century. It called for a different way of listening and responding. Five Sisters from the Hanyang and Nancheng missions in China arrived in the Philippines on the 24th May 1939 against the backdrop of the Chinese-Japanese war which had been raging for two years.
These courageous pioneering women were Srs. Bernadette Connolly, Teresa Devins, Aloysius Lenihan, Colmcille McCormick and Monica Finn. They established the first Columban Sisters community in Malasiqui, and by August, the second community was opened in the coastal town of Lingayen. Two years later on the 20th April 1941, three Sisters arrived in Ozamis City at the invitation of Bishop James Hayes. The Sisters took over the administration of the Immaculate Conception School. They were Srs. Francis de Sales Hogan, Mary Campion McCarthy and Mary Teresa Devins. With these three foundations in Luzon and Mindanao, the Columban Sisters took their first steps in the educational apostolates.
When Japan attacked Pearl Harbour and subsequently occupied our country, all schools were closed and the Sisters left their communities for safety and stayed with the people in the barrios. This was an opportunity for a deep encounter with the people, where through their life of witness they taught the Gospel values, not in classrooms but in their neighbours’ homes. When the war was over more schools were assigned to the Sisters to administer in Olongapo City, Malate Manila, Pangasinan, Zamboanga Sur and Misamis Occidental.
The Sisters’ way of life inspired some young Filipino women to join the Congregation. The first to enter was Sr. Consuelo Mercado in 1949. She and other Filipina Sisters who followed in those early years went to the novitiate in Boston, USA for their initial formation. In 1974, as more Filipina young women accepted the call to religious life as Columban Sisters, the Philippine novitiate was opened.
When the country was placed under martial law in the early 70s, there was a massive number of arrests, as well as torture and executions of those who denounced these injustices. Some Sisters became active in ministries to prisoners and detainees, putting themselves at risk of being detained. Other Sisters worked with the urban poor and became more active in the field of human rights and justice and peace groups. Some Sisters opted to live and work in solidarity with the people in the slums.
Due to changes in the government’s education policies, we began to hand over the formal education apostolates to the dioceses. We then worked in the formation of the laity, seminarians, religious, and future formators as mentors, counsellors and spiritual guides.
In 1983, a group of four Sisters started to work with the tribal peoples, in particular with the Subanen people in Midsalip, Zamboanga del Sur. The focus was to walk with the people, respecting their ways, culture and beliefs, to help them regain their dignity and place in society and assist them in protecting their ancestral lands.
Differences in beliefs, religion, and ideologies brought constant tensions and conflicts between Muslims and Christians living in the south of the country. Believing that lasting peace can only be achieved through genuine dialogue, a couple of Sisters joined this ministry in the prelature of Marawi, where they lived and worked with both Muslims and Christians.
In the mid 80s a ministry to people with special needs was started by a Sister, who, having trained in speech therapy, visited children with speech problems, encouraging them and their parents out of their isolation in order to integrate within society. As we entered the new millennium, the number of Sisters in the area had become smaller. Today, the Philippine area is host to our international novitiate where we have novices from Myanmar and Filipina postulants.
In 2011 we were invited to work in the parish of Pasay. While being involved in various parish programmes, the Sisters came to know an unlikely section of the parish – the cemetery where hundreds of homeless families live. The Sisters started a feeding programme for school children living there and later a scholarship scheme was offered to deserving students. Responding to Pope Francis’ encyclical ‘Laudato Si’ and exhortation ‘Laudate Deum’ a Sister and some lay associates started an ecology program in Pangasinan.
This year, as we celebrate the centenary of our foundation, we look with gratitude to all the Sisters who came and brought GOD’s message of JOY to the Filipino people. We celebrate all whose names are now written not only in the congregation’s annals and in our nation’s history, but in the hearts of generations of Filipinos.
