Coordinator of the Lay Missionary training program in the Philippines since 2011, Din celebrated with the Bristol Columbans on April 25 while on the East Coast as a speaker for the Ecumenical Advocacy Days in Washington, D.C., from April 20-23. He got to know some of the Bristol Columbans while working in Brazil soon after he became a Columban Lay Missionary at age 23 in 1993.
“Our parish in Mindanao in the Philippines was founded by the Columbans in the 1970s,” Din said. “They built schools and colleges there. I just saw them as very different types of priests, in the sense that they were very close to people, the way they relate to people. They were very bold, particularly during that very difficult time in the Philippines with martial law.”
Din said that his own family benefited by the Columbans’ establishment of peace zones in the area. “Many times, we had to move to other places because of the violence in our town.”
Yet, he said the greatest contribution of the Columbans was the construction of schools where governments had no resources to educate their people.
“I have accompanied Columbans who helped people who were imprisoned and those who were victims of the violence, both from government forces and also from the New People’s Army,” Din said.
In his position as a lay missionary, Din began working with youth in Brazil and served as Justice and Peace coordinator for the mission there. He went on lead programs at Columban parishes in Chile and Peru, with one ministry using theater to work with at-risk youth.
“I saw myself as reaching out to people through different means,” Din said.
Though Din attended seminary for a year, he chose the lay mission path instead of the priesthood because “if I joined the priesthood, the only reason would be to say the Mass,” he said. “Especially in Latin America, for laypeople there’s an easiness in working with people because there are places that are easier for laypeople to go.”
Lay missionaries work on a contract basis. Though Din signed up for three years, he is now in his 25th year with the order. “It’s a quarter of the centenary of the Columbans,” he observed with a laugh.
