A Benedictine theologian, activist, missionary and intellectual, Sr. Mary John Mananzan speaks of the Philippines of the past and of today. From the former dictator Ferdinando Marcos to the President now in power, Rodrigo Duterte. The Church has always offered resistance and will continue to do so, taking the side of the poor. “The Church…
Read moreBoys collect plastic bottles on the streets while others take them from the polluted waters of Manila Port. Families that live by collecting rubbish. A Priest and a Sister are trying especially to help the children to live with dignity. The bigger lads are always faster than little Charles in grabbing the best bits of…
Read moreFrom being a tiny minority, the Church in the Northeast region of India has grown exponentially since the beginning of last century. Today, it comprises about two million Catholics with 15 dioceses. The first missionaries in North-eastern India adapted themselves to the people and their culture amidst hardships and difficulties, and their words had persuasive…
Read more
Eight countries, in all, are due to go to the polls to elect presidents or just parliaments. The trade war between the United States and China will determine how the year unfolds. Uncertainty will continue in Hong Kong. All eyes are on Japan as it prepares to host the next Olympics. The year 2020 promises…
Read moreTension between Pakistan and India in the disputed region of Kashmir. Against the background of the recent suspension of the autonomy of the region by the New Delhi government. But the causes go much deeper and are imbedded in the formation of Kashmir. A glance at history. When, in August 1947, ‘British India’ was divided…
Read moreYoung people are taking to the streets defending democracy. Violence and arrest by the police. Beijing shows its military power. What future has Hong Kong? In this exclusive interview we talk with Martin Lee, founder of the Democratic Party of Hong Kong. You have founded the Democratic Party of Hong Kong. What is the aim…
Read moreOverseas 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 evangelization in the foreign countries where they work. Mary Jane Soriano, a 25-year-old college graduate Filipino domestic worker, has…
Read more
The 13 May 2019 elections in the Philippines have been correctly seen most of all as a referendum on the Duterte presidency, half way through his mandate. In this regard it was a confirmation, and not only because the opinion polls that accompanied the long-drawn-out results showed that around had 80% preferred the president. The…
Read moreThe tension between the presidency and the ecclesial hierarchy has considerably affected baptised Filipinos. The general elections that brought Rodolfo Duterte to power on 30 June 2016, and this was the choice of the majority of Catholics, have not been substantially rejected by them; on the other hand, the contemporaneous adherence to presidential policies and…
Read moreA 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;…
Read moreBut who is Rodrigo Duterte? A person with a judgemental mentality, partly due to his previous profession as a prosecutor, 74 years old and with a deserved reputation as a womaniser, despite being married with four children. For 24 years – 1998 to 2016 – Rodrigo Duterte, with firmness and almost without interruption, was mayor…
Read moreWith a Catholic population of over 80% of its 100 million inhabitants, the Philippines has a special character. With an identity that is due equally to ancient colonisation from Spain and more recent colonisation by the United States, it is, from the usual Asian viewpoint, an outpost of Westernisation in the Orient. The archipelago, in…
Read more
“We want to create a federation of international journalistic organisations that collaborate in this effort, starting from the global South,” says Filipino journalist and 2022…
Read more
Once upon a time, there was a leopard. He had a huge walnut tree that was full of nuts. Stingy as he was, however, he forbade…
Read more
Three young Comboni missionaries from three continents share their vocation stories and missionary experiences. Fr Victor Cunanan Parungao from the Philippines reflects on 15 years of…
Read more
