Fr. Shay’s Articles
Racial Discrimination on the Supermarket Shelf
November 17, 2010 · By Fr. Shay Cullen
Shirley, 16, hid in her bedroom lying on her face and crying. She refused to go to school. Her mother, Maria, with gentle persuasion, got her to sit up and take her hands away from covering her face. Maria gasped, her child’s face was a blotch of angry red blotches. “What happened, what caused this?”, […]
Read More...The Good News We Were Waiting For
November 12, 2010 · By Fr. Shay Cullen
Last week, there was good news when the Philippine Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) from Angeles city linked up with their Olongapo counterpart and raided a cyber-sex den in a private house just five minutes away from the City Hall. There they found five children, 14 years-old to 16, working as “show girls”. The […]
Read More...Children are hurt Most by Lack of Justice
November 4, 2010 · By Fr. Shay Cullen
The report a while ago about the Philippines being one of the lowest ranking countries on the index of Transparency International and tagged as “highly corrupt” should be no great surprise. Outspoken Bishop Joel Baylon of Legazpi and the diocesan clergy said in a strongly worded Pastoral Letter that “there has been an erosion of […]
Read More...The Struggle against Corruption
October 29, 2010 · By Fr. Shay Cullen
No wonder that the new Philippine “Aquino administration” made anti-corruption its main drive against poverty. “If there is no corruption, there will be no poverty”, says President Noynoy Aquino. This was the slogan that won him the election. It’s so true and yet the solutions are still so hard to find and reform is seemingly […]
Read More...Those Who Choose to Go on Mission
October 20, 2010 · By Fr. Shay Cullen
In October, Mission Sunday is a day to remember the thousands of courageous dedicated people who have chosen to do something to help others, less fortunate than them. They are people who appreciate all they have in life and go out beyond their insular lives and family, to share with others and to give back […]
Read More...Child Protection is Still a Low Priority
October 15, 2010 · By Fr. Shay Cullen
Trafficking of street children for sexual exploitation is a heinous crime in most countries but flourishes nevertheless and it is difficult to get accurate figures since most of it is done in secret. However, estimates say that over 2 million are trafficked in Asia every year. Police and social services are inadequately trained, have low […]
Read More...Religious Faith without Action is Dead
October 7, 2010 · By Fr. Shay Cullen
A coalition of child rights advocates rallied at the Hall of Justice, Olongapo city last 5 October to demand a swift and honest investigation by prosecutors into the alleged trafficking and rape of a 12-year-old girl by Jose Rodriguez, the mayor of San Marcelino, Zambales.
Read More...The Millennium Development Goals to Reduce Poverty
September 29, 2010 · By Fr. Shay Cullen
In the year 2000, the United Nations set eight goals to reduce by half the number of people living in dire poverty worldwide. The achievements and failures in the past ten years were reviewed a few weeks ago by world leaders meeting in The UN headquarters in New York.
Read More...Fair-Trade Fights for Justice and Freedom
September 22, 2010 · By Fr. Shay Cullen
Before I became a missionary priest I thought about my life during a spiritual retreat and asked how could I best live usefully and worthwhile since human life is so short. Would I reach eternal life? No one can know the answer, we have to die first. So I realized that since I was not […]
Read More...Youth Are Prime Target of Killer Cigarettes
August 18, 2010 · By Fr. Shay Cullen
It’s when the frightening desperate gasping for breath fills the house and the fifty-five year Pedro Galmanan, father of five, struggles to suck oxygen into his lungs to stay alive and his children realize the terrible effects cigarette smoking has on their father. His addiction to cigarettes cost him his job, drove the family into […]
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