Fr. Shay’s Articles
THE LIVING AND THE DEAD
November 4, 2013 ·
By Fr. Shay Cullen In the Philippines, death is accepted as a part of living, to be coped with as inevitable, postponed if possible; grief is short lived but memories are for life. The cemetery on All Saints’ Day is a thriving celebration of life and family. On November 1st, there are gatherings around the […]
Read More...INDIGENOUS PEOPLE STRUGGLE FOR THEIR RIGHTS
October 22, 2013 ·
by Fr. Shay Cullen The leader of the community of the Aeta indigenous people proudly led me around the hillside resettlement community where the 200 or so families were establishing a new village community. Their ancestral village and lands were wiped out in a torrential typhoon and gigantic floods. My mission, helped by the German Church agency Misereor, […]
Read More...THE GREATEST MISSION
October 14, 2013 ·
By Fr. Shay Cullen Malala Yousafzai, the 16 year-old Pakistani girl who defied the Taliban’s ban on girls’ education and was shot in the head but survived, has been granted the European Human Rights Award. Many thought she would be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Instead, it went to the Organization for the Prohibition of […]
Read More...THE GREATEST STORM
October 9, 2013 ·
By Fr. Shay Cullen The rains would not stop even after the winds had died down. Rachel was terrified for her children and herself. Juanito, her husband had gone looking for food. The typhoon blew wild and wickedly across the Philippines leaving behind rising flood waters, mangled huts and shacks, and toppled mango trees. Even […]
Read More...A Mission in Life
October 4, 2013 ·
Fr. Shay Cullen We have to have a mission in life, to make it meaningful,with purpose and to live more fully.The mission can be to accomplish any good work,motivated by a spiritual value of compassion, love of justice, care of others,empathy and solidarity with the sick, the oppressed and lonely. These inner convictions and commitments […]
Read More...FAIR TRADE DRIED MANGOS, A TASTE OF JUSTICE
September 27, 2013 ·
By Fr. Shay Cullen I was visiting villages where a new group of small farmers had become members of the ever growing Preda Fair Trade partnership. They lived off mixed farming and mango trees. They proudly showed me some of the benefits of the fair trade payments and dividend bonuses they received for their mango […]
Read More...POPE FRANCIS WORKING FOR PEACE IN SYRIA
September 18, 2013 ·
By Fr. Shay Cullen When Pope Francis called for a peaceful and prayerful response and a negotiated conclusion for the Syrian savage civil and sectarian religious war, he was speaking with deep concern, wisdom, and spiritual insight. Working for a non-violent solution is the greatest good. It seems his words have been heeded. Prayer works. A missile […]
Read More...A STORY OF ONE GIRL’S FIGHT FOR JUSTICE
September 16, 2013 ·
By Fr. Shay Cullen Here is a story that will gladden the hearts of all who care about children, abhor child abuse and are willing to speak out for human rights. It’s a story of a child’s courageous struggle against all odds. People of good conscience who shun evil and wrongdoing will hunger and […]
Read More...SYRIA – CHOOSING THE LESSER EVIL
September 6, 2013 ·
by Fr. Shay Cullen The attention of the international news media is focused on what the United States will do to prevent the Assad regime from using abhorrent chemical weapons again. The US Senate has given the go signal to President Obama. The alleged war crime and crimes against humanity that Assad and his followers […]
Read More...SUPPORTING THE GOOD, HONEST NGOs
August 30, 2013 ·
by FR.SHAY CULLEN These days the good name of non-government organizations (NGOs), church charities and people’s organizations in the Philippines have been dragged into the mud and disrepute by the corrupt acts of politicians who used fake NGOs and charities and even government agencies to launder stolen public funds entrusted to them for poverty alleviation […]
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