Fr Michael Sinnott interviewed on Irish radio

Fr Michael Sinnott after his release

Popular Irish broadcaster Marian Finucane interviewed Columban Father Michael Sinnott on her programme on Saturday 5 December (Programme 95). The interview begins seven minutes into the broadcast and lasts 40 minutes.

RTÉ broadcaster Marian Finucane

HAPPY 80TH BIRTHDAY, Fr MICHAEL SINNOTT!

Fr Michael Sinnott after arriving at Dublin Airport on 3 December

I would like to wish my Columban confrere, who recently spent a month in captivity after being kindapped in Pagadian City, Mindanao, in the southern Philippines, a

Very Happy 80th Birthday!

I congratulate him too on the 55th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood, which he will celebrate on the 21st.

He was our rector in St Columban's College, Dalgan Park, Navan, Ireland, when my classmates and I were ordained on 20 December 1967. I thank him for his example, his integrity, his prayerfulness and his total dedication as a priest. I see in him a man who is truly 'configured to Christ', the term Pope John Paul II highlighted in Pastores Dabo Vobis.

He is a light in these dark times for the Church in Ireland.

Ad multos annos!

Fr Michael Sinnott welcomed home in Ireland

Fr Michael Sinnott with his sisters, Mrs Aine Kenny, left, and Mrs Kathleen O'Neill, right, at Dublin Airport, 3 December 2009

Today's Irish Times has a report by its Foreign Affairs Correspondent, Mary Fitzgerald, on the homecoming yesterday of Fr Michael Sinnott, who had been kidnapped on 11 October in the Philippines: Released priest hopes he can 'fade back into obscurity now'.

'Fr Michael Sinnott (79) was greeted by his family, fellow priests from the Columban Missionaries and Department of Foreign Affairs officials. “Apart from the weather, it’s always good to be back in Ireland,” he joked.'

The Columban priest arrived home exactly a week after the publication of the Dublin Report on child abuse by priests in the Archdiocese of Dublin, which has caused much anger and dismay at the way archbishops and bishops in the archdiocese dealt with or failed to deal with grave crimes by priests. The Irish Times says that Father Sinnott was aware of the report. It quotes him:

'I’m working myself with a very vulnerable section of the community, including people who have suffered from abuse. It is a heinous crime for anyone in authority to abuse children, especially priests,' he said. 'It’s difficult also because the morale of the good priests, the men who are doing their work day by day, is affected by all this.'

It further quotes him about his plans and hope for the future:

'I hope to go back to Pagadian to continue the work I have been doing for the last few years,' he said. 'Why wouldn’t I want to go back? I’ve been working all my life in the Philippines, and I’ll continue to do so for as long as I can.'

The full report is here.

The Irish Examiner also carries a story on Father Sinnott's return to his native country: Priest home after kidnap ordeal.

Elderly priest Fr Michael Sinnott made an emotional return to Ireland today for the first time since his month in captivity at the hands of Philippine rebels.

And the 79-year-old, who has a serious heart problem, vowed to go back to his work as a Columban missionary in Pagadian City on the island of Mindanao in the new year.

Fr Sinnott was embraced by family members as he arrived at Dublin airport.
“It was more or less tearful and hugging, rather than talking,” he said afterwards.

Full story here.

RTÉ, Ireland's national radio and TV service, carries the story Fr Sinnott arrives back in Ireland. The page carries links to the report on the Six One News and on the Nine News. The body of the report has a link to an interview with Father Sinnott by Joe O'Brien at Dublin Airport.

The Irish priest who was held captive in the Philippines for 31 days has arrived home to spend Christmas in his native Wexford.

Father Michael Sinnott, who was freed three weeks ago, intends to go back to the missions in the New year.

There were emotional scenes when he was met on arrival at Dublin airport this afternoon by his family. He was also greeted by fellow priests from the Columban Order and staff from the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Looking remarkably better that he did on his release on 11 November, Fr Sinnott said he was amazed by the publicity his kidnap generated both in the Philippines and here in Ireland. He thanked everyone for their prayers and good wishes.

Fr Sinnott said he never felt in any danger from his captives and they had told him they'd never kill a priest. His only fear was that he might be hurt if the military had tried to release him by force.

He said he has a return ticket to the Philippines for mid January, when he hopes to resume the work he has been undertaking for 50 years.

Fr Sinnott said he hopes there are not too many parties planned for him during his holiday.

Asked about the controversy over the handling of clerical child abuse here, Fr Sinnott said it is a very difficult time for good priests who are doing their work day by day.

Watch full interview

Father Sinnott flies home

The Catholic Church in Ireland is going through a very dark period at the moment. I hope and pray that the people there will see the true face of the priesthood in Fr Michael Sinnott who has lived his vocation with integrity and courage for the last 55 years. The Irish media, which is rightly highly critical of the lack of leadership - and worse - by Irish bishops, as shown in the Dublin Report, published on 26 November, has been very sympatico to Fr Michael Sinnott during his captivity. I wish my confrere a restful visit while at home with his family and friends.

CathNews Asia and CathNews Philippines carry the same story today under different headlines: Sinnott flies home to Ireland and Rescued priest flies home to Ireland. (Both are a service of UCANews). The source of the news is the Philippine Daily Inquirer where it is under the byline of Dona Pazzibugan.


Fr Sinnott being greeted after Mass in Malate Church, Manila. Fr Pat O'Donoghue in background

By Dona PazzibuganPhilippine Daily InquirerFirst Posted 17:25:00 12/03/2009

MANILA, Philippines -- Irish missionary Fr. Michael Sinnott, who was held captive by still unidentified armed men in Mindanao for 31 days, left for his homeland early Thursday.

“I feel fine going back home and looking forward to the weather (in Ireland). It’s windy, wet and cold,” the 79-year-old Columban missionary was quoted as saying by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines news website shortly before he boarded his 1:05 a.m. flight at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

Full story here.

Yahoo News Philippines also carries the story: Rescued Irish priest Sinnott flies home. Their source is CBCPNews: Fr. Sinnott leaves for Ireland:

MANILA, Dec. 3, 2009— The 79-year old Irish missionary who was recently held by unidentified armed men in southern Philippines for 31 days left at 1:05 AM today on board Etihad Flight EY 421 for a five-week vacation in Ireland by way of Abu Dhabi.

Interviewed at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport past midnight today, Fr. Sinnott said “I feel find going back home and looking forward to the weather, it’s windy, wet and cold.”

He said he will visit Ireland first visiting Pagadian City and will be back on the 15th of January and proceed to Pagadian. While he was scheduled to return to Pagadian late last month, he was advised by his attending physician to remain in Manila to recover from the one-month stay in the boondocks of Mindanao.

“I wish my friends in Pagadian will have peace and no more kidnapping,” Fr. Sinnott said when asked of his Christmas wish for his closest friends in southern Philippines which he also considers home.

He said expects his relatives back home to ask him about his experience being a kidnap victim and hopes to share about his mission in Mindanao.

“I hope the Filipino people and the Catholic church in the Philippines will be able to obtain peace in Mindanao without any bloodshed we hope the elections will be successful and we’ll have an honest president,” Fr. Sinnott said when asked of his Christmas wish for the Filipino people.

Fr. Sinnott will celebrate his 80th birthday in Ireland during the second week of December (17th. He will observe the 55th anniversary of his ordination on the 21st).

Fr. Patrick O’Donoghue, regional director of the Missionary Society of St. Columban accompanied Fr. Sinnott during the trip. (Melo M. Acuna)

Return to the heart of mission

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Fr Michael Sinnott's release: statement by Irish Foreign Minister

Iveagh House, Dublin, HQ of Irish Department of Foreign Affairs

I just found the press release below on the website of Ireland's Department of Foreign Affairs. It was issued on 11 November. I know that Foreign Minister Martin was totally involved in trying to obtain the release of Father Sinnott. Until 18 October he was also dealing with the kidnapping of Irish GOAL volunteer, Sharon Commins, who had been kidnapped in July in Sudan. Thank God, she was safely released. It's not often that Irish citizens are kidnapped overseas and Mr Martin has to be commended for his commitment to the people he serves. It's surely a great strain on a person in his position to have to deal with two cases on two different continents. In the previous post Fr Pat O'Donoghue gave an example of his thoughtfulness.

I've highlighted some points in the press release.

Minister Micheál Martin (in photo below) expressed his delight at the safe release in the Philippines of Fr. Michael Sinnott
11/11/2009


An Roinn Gnóthaí Eachtracha Preas Ráiteas
Department of Foreign Affairs Press Release

Preas Oifig, Teach Uibh Eachach, Faiche Stiabhna, Baile Átha Cliath 2
Press Office, Iveagh House, St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2.

Tel: 353 -1- 478 0822 Fax: 353 -1- 478 5942 / 475 7476
Idirlíon/Internet: http://www.dfa.ie/ Ríomh Phost/E-mail: press.office@dfa.ie

Minister Micheál Martin expressed his delight at the safe release in the Philippines of Fr. Michael Sinnott

Speaking today he said:

“I am personally delighted and relieved to relay the news that Fr. Michael Sinnott has been freed by his captives and handed over to the Philippine authorities.

The release of Fr. Michael represents the successful conclusion of a major diplomatic effort by the Irish and Philippine Governments. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the Philippine Government and to the people of the Philippines for the excellent cooperation they extended to us in securing Fr. Michael’s release. Equally, our EU partners in Manila were a valuable support. I would also like to underline our deep appreciation to the United States Government for their assistance. The International Committee of the Red Cross also assisted.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of the Philippines greets Fr Sinnott on his arrival in Manila.

I would especially like to thank Ambassador Richard O’Brien and his colleagues on the ground for their perseverance and determination in bringing about this happy outcome.

As in previous kidnaps, no ransom was paid by the Irish Government. To do so would only have jeopardised the vital work of aid workers and missionaries around the world - it would also place other Irish citizens in danger.

Fr. Michael Sinnott, a member of the Columban Fathers, displayed great forbearance in enduring more than a month in captivity, in spite of his age and difficult health. Fr. Michael has spent much his life working for the poorest of the poor in the Philippines, and I know that the ordinary people of the Philippines will be overjoyed to have him returned safe and well to his community.

I would like to pay my own personal tribute to the Sinnott family, who have behaved with great dignity during this ordeal. I would also like to thank the Columban fathers, both in Ireland and on the ground in the Philippines, with whom we have remained in constant contact during this difficult period. It has been a tough 32 days for everybody concerned, but particularly so for those who were waiting anxiously at the end of the phone for news of their loved one.

Fr. Michael, his family and the Columban fathers exemplify all that is great about Ireland – their sense of justice, their stoicism, their selflessness, and their innate dedication to helping the less fortunate among us. Working on this case over the past month has left me with an even deeper admiration for the work of our missionaries abroad. Ireland is immensely proud of their achievements”.

Ends+++
11 November 2009
Press Office

Statue of St Columban, Luxeuil, France

Though I'm posting the press release 12 days late it is fitting to do so as St Columban's Day draws to a close here in the Philippines.

Fr Michael Sinnott's release: Days of Thanksgiving

DAYS OF THANKSGIVING
Fr Pat O’Donoghue
Columban Regional Director, Philippines

‘I know the plans I have in mind for you, plans for peace and not disaster, to give you a future and a hope’ (Jer 29:11) [Antiphon for Ferial Mass Sunday, 15 November 2009]

Fr Mick Sinnott was released from his captivity at 4.30am on Thursday, 12 November 2009. It was the moment that so many had waited and prayed for. It was a moment of great joy and thanksgiving and the days since then have been marked by the same sense of joyful gratitude. Right around the world, as people heard the news of his release, there was joyful celebration and praise to the God who had brought him safely back to us. It is indeed ‘good news’ and, as we so often read in the Gospel, when people experienced the presence of God in Jesus’ healing, God was praised and thanked with joyful hearts.

No one who has been journeying with Father Mick in his 31 days of captivity has any doubt that it was God’s providence that led to his release last Thursday. God’s plans for his peaceful release have been beautifully revealed. But I believe that God’s plans for a much broader peace in Mindanao (something Father Mick himself spent so much time and effort on) are also being gently unfolded before us. God has listened to the heartfelt prayers of so many around the world to release Father Mick from his captivity and he has united those prayers with his own desire to release Mindanao (and other places here) from the ‘captivity’ of conflict and fear that has been part of our story for many years. God’s plans for peace are far more wonderful than we might have dared to hope, as the antiphon reminds us
.
Late Wednesday (11 November) evening I had an indication that Father Mick might be released on Thursday (12th). The previous Wednesday (4 November) we also had our hopes raised. But they did not materialise. This time, I was trying to remain ‘indifferent’ but I did spend time in the Chapel urging Jesus that it might be so this time! I slept but not easily. Then just after 4.30am my cell phone rang with the news that we all had longed to hear – he was free at last. Within a few minutes I had another phone call giving me the news that he was indeed now with government officials in Zamboanga City. How can I describe my feelings? I cried with joy, relief and gratitude. My prayer of gratitude to God was truly heartfelt and I sensed that God was rejoicing with us too. How true it is that God delights in showering his goodness upon us.

But that ‘peaceful prayer’ was cut short very quickly as the news agencies began to call me for my reaction. How lovely it was to share the good news with them, especially those reporters who had journeyed with us these last weeks. They were genuinely delighted when they phoned and asked for my reaction. It truly was a moment everyone could share in. Looking back now there was a ‘comical’ element to it as both my cell phones and the landlines all began to ring at once, even as I was trying to make some phone calls or send text messages to send the good news to those who were still sleeping! But it was a ‘happy chaos’ as the news spread and people wanted both to share in it and get something for their news stories.

Sometime after 5am I got a phone call from Zamboanga City. I believe that it was Ambassador Seguis (undersecretary at the Department of Foreign Affairs). He told me that Father Mick was with him and would like to speak to me. In the moments I waited while he passed the phone to Father Mick I wondered how he would sound. I need not have worried – his voice was just as it always was, though he did sound tired. As I tumbled out my questions, asking how he was etc etc he calmly replied that he was fine but a little tired as he did not get any sleep that night and had been hiking the previous afternoon. And then, in typical fashion, he apologised for causing all the fuss! He sounded so much himself that I began to wonder if he had been ever been abducted!

Shortly after that people began to arrive at the house to celebrate! To be honest, my memory is hazy with regard to those hours. I contacted someone to see about getting to Zamboanga by road (it is a 4-5 hour journey and I would have needed security). Father Mick then phoned me a second time to tell me that he would be travelling to Manila on a government plane and was expected to arrive there at 10.30am. My suggestion that they might set down in Pagadian on the way was treated for the joke it was! So I managed to call Fr Mick McGuire (Columban Vice Superior in the Philippines) to arrange that he would go with Irish Ambassador Richard O’Brien to the airport to meet Father Mick, who would also be met by the President of the Philippines, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Meanwhile, I had to arrange to get myself to Manila via Ozamiz. The four Sacred Heart priests (assigned in Dumalinao) came early to rejoice – they had been through this themselves in 2001 when Fr Pepe Pierantoni was kidnapped in Dimataling, a former Columban parish in the diocese of Pagadian. Shortly after that Bishop Manny Cabajar arrived with some others. He, too, was tired as he had been in the neighbouring province playing a very important part in the whole process of Father Mick’s release. To say that we were all relieved would be the understatement of the day! How different our conversation was that morning from so many other days when news was uncertain and rumour rife.

Just before 10am the security detail who would accompany me on the road trip to Ozamiz arrived and I realised I wasn’t ready to leave. I did have a bag packed with Father Mick’s clothes etc in it, but my own was not packed. It just took four minutes as I pushed everything in and began the two hour journey to Ozamiz.

As I checked in at the airport people approached to offer good wishes. Everyone said the same thing – we have been praying for Father Mick – and they were all delighted that he was again free, asking me how he was and where he was etc. In the departure lounge, I phoned Fr Mick McGuire to ask where Fr Mick Sinnott was. I wanted to go straight from the airport in Manila to the hospital where I thought he would be. We had our contingency plans ready, as we assumed that he would need to be taken to hospital for a full check-up. How wrong we were! He was back in our Singalong house having lunch! Having arrived in Manila to the formal welcome with President Macapagal-Arroyo, the Irish Ambassador and Fr Mick McGuire among others, he was taken to a private room where he was able to speak with the President and the others who met him. After that meeting, he was taken to a press conference, which was televised live and, to many people’s surprise, he handled himself like he was doing this all his life! He had asked to return to Singalong and have his medical check-up done from there. It was a wise decision. After the press conference a presidential escort brought him home – for once traffic was not a problem!

With the barber and, I think, Dr Navalta

My plane arrived in Manila ahead of schedule and I arrived in our house just before 3.30pm. Father Mick was having his hair cut and his beard shaved off! He looked tired but well. It was great to see him and to see him so well. It was a little awkward to hug him as he sat with the barber’s robe around him, but I did! He had that particular smile of his as if to say when is all this fuss going to be over! How different he looked from what I had feared during those weeks of captivity. Dr Navalta, our doctor, was already there. He has given Father Mick a thorough check-up and was arranging to have a series of tests done in the following days. He, too, was more than surprised as how well Father Mick was, though there were some things that needed immediate attention. By contrast he suggested that I was not looking that great!!

There were some TV cameras already at the gate and others came shortly after, but we asked that they would wait for a while to give Father Mick and the rest of us a chance to catch up. They were more than willing.

We were all so eager to hear Father Mick’s story that we did not tell him much about what had been happening on the ‘outside’ during his time in the swamp and later in the forest! He was surprised by the media coverage and the extent of the worldwide interest in him and his abduction. Around 5pm we allowed the first reporters and TV crews to interview him. He also answered calls from radio stations in Ireland. He was as obliging as he always is – never refusing, even when I wanted to call time. When he was not able to take a call, I became the ‘second choice’!! It was well after 9pm when the last of the reporters left and we refused any more phone calls from the media for that night.

As I listened to him telling his story again and again, I began to pick up more of the details of what it had been like for him during his captivity and my admiration for the man grew even more. Father Mick, as is his style, played down the difficulty of the conditions in which he was kept as much as the discomfort when he was changed from one location to another. He was ten days in what he calls a ‘swampy area’. When he got out of the hammock, which was used to sleep and sit in, he stepped into almost knee-high water and his feet were in the mud underneath. Food was also a problem there as they were unable to cook anything. For those ten days he had no medication. He did find it difficult to walk through this swamp when he had to, but again, while acknowledging the difficulty, he played it down. When they got to the ‘forest area’, as he calls it, which was quite a journey from the swamp, things were better. His captors made a pathway of about ten meters in the vegetation, which allowed him to exercise. He also had his essential medications there. The food was somewhat better also – the emphasis should be on ‘somewhat’! As for shelter, they had a tarpaulin over them and that was it. When there was wind with the rain, they got wet and sometimes he had to sleep in wet clothes. That he never got an infection is one of the great graces that he, and all of us, believe was the fruit of all the prayers being offered for him. Father Mick’s total lack of self-pity is something that has impacted on everyone. Listening to him, if you really did not know the harshness and primitive nature of his conditions, you would be forgiven for thinking that it was just a few weeks on a ‘nature hike’. The reality was much much different, despite what he says.

Every reporter that he spoke with remarked on how impressed they were by his calmness and lack of bitterness, resentment and anger. Many of us will have heard of the Stockholm Syndrome, where an alliance builds between the kidnap victim and his/her captors. I don’t believe that this can adequately explain Father Mick’s own way of responding then or now to his abduction and as the days have gone on I am more convinced of that. He was forthright and honest about what had happened. He did not shrink from speaking of the more unpleasant aspects of the experience, especially the actual abduction itself during which he was roughly treated, but he genuinely feels that they did their best to care for him as much as possible and is grateful for that. Once they assured him that they did not intend to kill him, and once he had surrendered to God’s way (after an initial ‘complaint’ to God as he puts it himself!) he seems to have settled down to wait. He said that he knew from the experience of previous kidnappings that sometimes they take a long time to resolve. His only prayer was that it would not be ‘months’! And he added to one reporter: ‘You could get used to anything’. He has shown us that he can – and those of us who know him, recognise the genuineness of that statement. His own faith relationship with God – and the integrity that that has honed in him – sustained and nurtured him.

But Father Mick himself is the first one to insist that his calmness and peace were also the gift of all the prayers that were being offered for him. And as he has come to know how many were praying for him, he believes that more and more. He has had many reminders as the days go by of just how many prayers have been offered for him. His concern is how he can ‘repay’ all those thousands of people who have been praying constantly for him. We are assuring him that seeing him free and well is the only ‘repayment’ that anyone would ever want. But we can be sure that all those who prayed for him will be included in his prayers for the rest of his life.

He began his medical tests on Friday. But it was also another busy day of interviews with the media who came to the house as much as with those who called from abroad. He spoke with Papal Nuncio Archbishop Edward Joseph Adams early Friday morning and with Bishop Cabajar. He was also happy to speak, using my cel phone, with a number of people who had expended a lot of energy to have him released. One of these was Governor Aurora Cerilles in Pagadian. Mr Micheál Martin, the Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs, and I were both on an early morning radio program in Northern Ireland. [It was afternoon here. Father Mick went on the same program on Saturday morning.] A few minutes after the program, the Minister called me to convey his good wishes to Father Mick and myself. It says a lot for the man that he did not ask to speak to Father Mick as he did not want to disturb him. But I insisted that Father Mick would be very happy to speak to him and he did. They had a lively ten-minute conversation (a Wexford man and a Corkman!) after which I again spoke with Minister Martin who also was ‘taken’ by Father Mick’s simplicity and genuineness.

Saturday was less hectic. One of the more important things was to get Father Mick new eyeglasses. We had tried to send his glasses to him with our first attempt to get medication to him, but they never got to him. We can only wonder who is using them now?! He went to his eye doctor of many years, who graciously saw him immediately. It was his first trip out of the house since he arrived Thursday and he soon realised that he is ‘recognised’ by many ordinary people. Those in the doctor’s office immediately recognised him and told him how they had been praying for him. When he came out from the doctor a group of people, who had heard that he was there, came to greet him and tell him that they too had been praying for him. All wanted to have their photo taken with him. He obliged, his own gentle way of saying thanks to people whom he ‘recognises’ for their genuineness and goodness.

There were some more interviews in the mid afternoon and then, shortly after 5pm we set out for the Thanksgiving Mass in Malate Church at 6pm. We wanted to arrive a little early to allow time for people to greet him before Mass – and he was ‘mobbed’! It was the last night of the novena to Our Lady of Good Remedy, to whom we had been fervently praying for his release. The church was packed to capacity. The Irish Ambassador, Richard O’Brien, Honorary Consul General of Ireland, Noreen Trota, and other guests were in the congregation. I was the principal celebrant (something that had been long scheduled). I must say that it was a beautiful and joyful celebration with the choir at its best. Father Mick spoke after the Post-Communion Prayer. You could hear a pin drop as people listened intently to him. He spoke simply but powerfully about his experience and about the love of God, urging us twice to allow God to love us. (I now have the recording.) He got a standing ovation when he finished – and you could feel the genuine joy and delight of people. It really was wonderful. Afterwards we all enjoyed a lovely meal in Malate. It was Columban Family – Sisters, Lay Missionaries, students and priests – and a few guests. As someone remarked afterwards, it was one of the most joyful celebrations we have ever had. We got back to Singalong at about 9.40pm but Father Mick’s Day was not yet over. There had been two phone calls from the office of the President of Ireland, Mary McAleese, while we were at Malate and the secretary had promised to phone again. She did just before 10pm and Father Mick spoke with the President for about 10 minutes. She told him that she hopes to see him at her residence, Áras an Uachtaráin, very soon!

The days of thanksgiving go on. It is now just a week since Father Mick’s release and things have ‘settled’ a little. When he goes to Mindanao next week for a visit, we can be sure that there will be more joyful thanksgiving celebrations. As I end this, however, I would like to offer my own reflection on these most extraordinary weeks. What I share here is more or less what I shared in my homily at the Thanksgiving Mass in Malate on Saturday, November 14th.

‘My Spirit rejoices in God my Saviour...... He who is mighty has done great things for me [Luke 1:47, 49].

The Visitation, El Greco

Two women, both pregnant, one beyond normal child-bearing years, the other a teenager, rejoice together. Each knows that the child in her womb is a particular and singular blessing from the All-Gracious God. And it is this shared knowledge of the heart that allows them to exult together in God’s goodness. They believe that Yahweh’s promise to Israel, long foretold and long waited for, is being fulfilled in and through them and their children. And they acutely know that this is all gift. And so their hearts overflow with joy as they experience the goodness, faithfulness and tender yet passionate love of God for his people – anew.

We have all read those words of the Magnificat many times. We have understood them, been encouraged by them and maybe even delighted in them. But to what extent have we truly experienced them? I’m sure some people have, especially when God has ‘entered’ their lives in unexpected and life-giving ways. I am not a mother and so I cannot know what it is like to experience the first ‘stirrings’ of the baby in the womb. I am told it is a most beautiful and precious experience, especially so when it is the first pregnancy. On Thursday morning, November 12th, something stirred deep in my heart, in my very being, when at 4.30am I got news that Father Mick was free. I really can’t even begin to describe that experience nor the feelings of joyful gratitude that welled up within me when I heard his voice later on the phone. What I do know is that I experienced his release and his good health as sheer gift of a provident and gracious God – there was ‘new life’. And within this I also experienced my own ‘lowliness’, though not as a burden or an embarrassment, but as a reminder of how much we are constantly loved by the One who is Love. This aspect of Father Mick’s release can only be shared and understood by those who live in the horizon of belief. And during these last five weeks God has built up a worldwide ‘community of believers’ who have put their trust in God and reached out to him in prayerful asking and waited on his promise to be fulfilled in God’s time and way. That ‘community’ now rejoices together as we see God’s promise fulfilled and Father Mick safely and healthily restored to us.

We know that God is good. To experience it is gift. In these last five weeks many have been drawn into a deep experience of God’s wonderful goodness and mystery. It was a journey which led us to “ponder” God’s word anew in fairly extraordinary circumstances and to hold to God’s promise and wait in hope in ways that sometimes ‘stretched’ our faith. I now believe that it was Mary who gathered us, a ‘community of prayer’ from many parts of the world, and accompanied us, as she did when she and the disciples waited for the wonderful promise of Jesus (that he would not leave them orphans) to be fulfilled on Pentecost Day.

Remembering is at the heart of our faith. We are constantly called to ‘remember’ who God really is and how he has shown his love throughout history, despite infidelity and ‘forgetting’ and betrayal of his goodness. Eucharist is central to our ‘remembering’ as Christians – there, more than anywhere, we are led into the most intimate self-giving that God could ever give us. Mary gathered us into ‘remembering’ her Son and his presence and word to us, which became the source of our deepened trust and hope and surrender. She helped us see, as she herself came to see in her lifetime, that even in the darkest moments God is to be trusted. She held us, as ‘community of prayer’, in hope even when our expectations did not materialise, when we felt disappointment and dejection and when we wondered why God was not answering our prayers as we may have wanted. She helped us persevere, surrender again and again and trust that God does indeed make all things work to the good ultimately. I truly believe that the ‘surrendered hope’ which sustains waiting was Mary’s gift to me and many others these last weeks. It gave me a confidence to do what was possible and then wait in trust. I lovingly thank her for that precious gift and ask that it may last.

It is only now, perhaps, that we can better see how God was and still is answering our prayers in ways that are more wonderful than we could have imagined or foreseen. As Father Mick’s captivity lengthened more and more people were ‘joined’ to the community of prayer. But they were also joined to the greater desires of God’s heart that exceeded our ‘focus’ of Father Mick’s safety and freedom. It is for this reason that I believe we need to keep our prayers going – that God’s further desires may blossom soon.

There are three fruits of our prayer that I would like to focus on here. I am sure there are many more.

Firstly, there is Father Mick’s good health. He said he had no aches or pains despite the rough conditions. He did not get any infection, which medically speaking was nothing short of miraculous. And the care of his captors can be added in here.

Secondly, his safe release, which was secured through understanding, negotiation, patience and compassion. From the beginning I believed that his captors were capable of compassion and a number of times I said this publicly, adding that if they showed this, it is what we would remember them for. That nobody was injured, or worse killed, is a wonderful answer to prayer.

Thirdly, I believe that God desires to use our prayers for a much broader purpose. Father Mick has spent time and effort working with others for peace in Mindanao. He has been a member of the Interfaith Forum for Peace and Solidarity in Pagadian for many years. If plans work out, the welcome prayer gathering for him will be on Thursday, November 26, the beginning of the Mindanao Peace Week. I have a real sense that, in ways we might never fully know, the Peace Process negotiations with regard to Mindanao have been given ‘new life’ as a result of Father Mick’s abduction and 32 days in captivity. Might I then suggest that all of us, whether in our individual prayer or when we gather to pray, would continue to ask Our Lady of Good Remedy to bring peace to Mindanao and all of this beautiful and wonderful country of the Philippines. In this way we will be one with God who knows what plans he has in mind for us here for a peaceful and hope-filled future. May we see the ‘great things’ God has in mind come to fruit in Mindanao. Then we will have even more reason to rejoice.

I am aware that during Father Mick’s time of captivity, I have, on a number of occasions, thanked all of you who prayed with us, waited with us and offered your support and solidarity in all kinds of ways, as we sought his safe and speedy release. Now, I wish to reiterate that thanks and to also say thanks to the many people who emailed and/or called to offer their good wishes to Father Mick and to us here. Maybe, in time, we may get a thank you to all of you. I would also like to say a special word of thanks to all those who worked in often unseen ways but whose efforts and influence were crucial in securing Father Mick’s release. I include here those from the highest positions in national and local governments, to those in the Diplomatic Corps, to bishops and priests, to those very ordinary people on the ground. Many of these people showed courage and commitment that goes well beyond even the highest sense of duty. Many also became a source of inspiration to me. They all have our deepest gratitude. May they know that God, in whose providence we trusted, will not be outdone in generosity.

'The Miracle Girls'

My young friends in Holy Family Home, Bacolod City, who have appeared in Misyon, here (video) and here (video), have been praying their hearts out for Fr Michael Sinnott. when I returned from Australia recently the first question of the younger ones was 'Komusta si Father Michael?' 'How is Father Michael?' They were quite ecstatic yesterday when they heard of his release and have a welcome for him on the homepage of Misyon. One of the girls whispered to me wiht a smle on her face, 'We are the miracle girls'. The fact that Father Sinnott had no medical problems whatever in captivity, even though he's 79, had a heart bypass four years ago and had no medication for about ten days, indicates that God was indeed listening to the heartfelt prayers of 'The Miracle Girls'.

Knowing Father Michael's 'weakness' for ice-cream I promised Sister Alma TC, the one in charge of Holy Family Home, that I'd get ice-cream for the girls when he was released.

RTÉ and other coverage of release of Fr Michael Sinnott

Fr Michael Sinnott relaxing yesterday at St Columban's, Manila

Ireland’s nation radio and television service, RTÉ, has given extensive coverage to the kidnapping and release of Fr Michael Sinnott. Under the heading Family praises Sinnott’s understanding you will find links to two interviews yesterday with Father Sinnott. One is the interview at the press conference on his arrival at Villamor Air Base, just south of Manila. The other is an interview later in the day at St Columban’s, Manila, by Margaret Ward, RTÉ’s foreign editor. Watching these two videos you can see a ‘before and after’ Fr Sinnott – not before and after the kidnapping, but before and after shaving. I am still astonished at how well he looks and at the fact that he suffered nothing health-wise during his 31 days of captivity.

On the bottom of the RTÉ webpage you will find links to various radio and TV reports. I sometimes have trouble with RTÉ’s links but am not sure if the problem is with their technical side or with my computer.

Upon arrival at Villamor Air Base yesterday morning

London’s The Daily Telegraph carries a report: Freed Irish priest ‘treated well by Muslim kidnappers’.

Day 32 - Freedom: Message from Fr Pat O'Donoghue

A decent meal after more than a month! St Columban's, Manila, today

Fr Pat O'Donoghue, Regional Director of the Columbans in the Philippines

Dear Friends,

Today has been a most blessed day with the peaceful and safe release of Fr Mick Sinnott. I know that all of you, who have kept vigil with us over this past month are now rejoicing with us. The responsorial psalm today 'Let my soul live to praise you' perhaps sums everything up. Father Mick is safely with us and he together with all of us around the world who have been praying for this day, do indeed praise the Lord.

I really do not have energy to do a 'full' update on today - but I promise to do something tomorrow to bring you up to speed on the details of what happened today. Thanks once more to everyone.

Blessings

My comments on the release of Fr Michael Sinnott

Frs John Comiskey, Jude Genovia, Desmond Quinn and Michael Sinnott.

St Columban's, Manila, 12 November 2009

I am amazed and delighted to see how well Fr Michael Sinnott looks after his ordeal for the past month.

You can find my comments on his release on a video on the homepage of Misyon, the online magazine I edit for the Columbans here in the Philippines. It is under the heading Editor on the release of Fr Micha . . . and is a postscript to the Pulong ng Editor (Editor's Word) that I recorded for the November-December issue of Misyon and which is below the new video.

I think that I have done justice to an outstanding missionary priest in both videos, a priest I can hold up as a model of what a priest of Jesus Christ is called to be.

May God grant him many more years among us.

Media coverage of release of Fr Michael Sinnott

President Gloria M. Arroyo greets Fr Michael Sinnott, 12 November 2009

Fr Michael Sinnott at press conference, Manila, 12 November 2009

The photos on this page were all taken today, 12 November 2009. Fr Michael Sinnott looks remarkably well for a 79-year-old who had a bypass operation four years ago who has just spent a month in captivitiy in what he describes as 'promitive' conditions. But he pointed out that his captors took good care of him.

Father Sinnott arrived at Villamor Air Base, south of Manila proper, this morning. among those who greeted him were President Arroyo, Irish Ambassador Richard O'Brien, Fr Michael McGuire, Vice Director of the Columbans in the Philippines, and Fr Desmond Quinn, ordained with Father Sinnott in Ireland in December 1954. Father Quinn worked for many years in the Philippines, mainly in Negros Occidental, and happens to be on a visit from Ireland at the moment. Fr Patrick O'Donoghue, Director of the Columbans in the Philippines, was in Pagadian City when Father Sinnott was released in Zamboanga City, five or six hours away by road.

Here are some links to media outlets.

BBC NEWS

Irish Priest Freed in the Philippines

Includes part of press conference in Manila today.

RTÉ (Irish national radio and TV service)


Sinnott ‘grateful’ for release help


This includes a link to a video that shows President Arroyo of the Philippines meeting Fr Sinnott at the airport and part of the press press conference he gave.

It also includes a link to an interview with Irish Foreign Minister, Mícheál Martin, who mentioned, among other things, the esteem in which the Columbans are held in the area where Father Sinnott worked. He praised the work of the Philippine government and of the Irish Foreign Service, particularly Richard O'Brien, the Irish ambassador to the Philippines, who is based in Singapore.

Taking a question at press conference

Al Jazeera

Filipino gunmen free Irish priest

Classmates: Fr Desmond Quinn and Fr Michael Sinnott, St Columban's, Manila

The Irish Times

Released priest plans to turn to missionary work

Relaxing with fellow Columbans, St Columban's, Manila

Irish Examiner

Priest released from kidnap ordeal

With some staff members, St Columban's, Manila

Manila Bulletin

Kidnapped Irish priest released

Philippine Star

Sinnott freed

Philippine Daily Inquirer

Sinnott ‘very sure’ captors not MILF

This report includes a link to a video of the press conference.

Further reports on release of Fr Michael Sinnott

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

FATHER MICHAEL SINNOTT RELEASED

Fr Michael Sinnott was released this morning at 4:30 (8:30pm Wednesday GMT) in Zamboanga City in the south-east of the Philippines. Details later. But you can check the RTÉ (Irish national radio and TV) report here and the Philippine Daily Inquirer report here.

Fr Pat O'Donoghue, Regional Director of the Columbans in the Philippines

The RTÉ report has links to a clip from the TV news, where Joe Little, the religious affairs correspondent, gives some background to the release. It also has an audio interview with Fr Pat O'Donoghue, the Regional Director in the Philippines, from Pagadian City. You can access these by clicking on the video and audio icons under the headline 'Fr Michael Sinnott Freed'. (I frequently have problems with RTÉ clips. They sometimes 'hang' in the middle and keep repeating a line. I don't know if the problem is with thir technology or with my computer).

Thanks to all who have been praying for Father Michael. And thanks to all who have been involved behind the scenes in trying to obtain his release. It is a moment of great joy and relief for all of us who know and love this great priest.

Further details will be posted later.



The lobby of St Columban's, Manila

The message below is for the record, and I'm happy that it is such.

Fr MICHAEL SINNOTT – DAY 31
10 November 2009, 9:45pm Philippine time, 1:45pm GMT
Fr Patrick O’Donoghue, Columban Superior, Philippines

Fr Mick Sinnott is one month in captivity today. Thirty one days – a long month. It is an advent that is still not over, but we continue to await with hope his ‘joyful coming home’. Lord we ask that you do not delay any longer – bring him home to us soon. There have been difficult moments in this journey of waiting, and maybe there will be some more, but as always the psalms reassure us: ‘When I think I have lost my foothold; your mercy, Lord, holds me up. When cares increase in my heart your consolation calms my soul’ [Ps 94]. God is indeed our strength and our Columban history bears this out. Today is the death anniversary of Fr Pat Monaghan, one of the first group to go to Korea in 1933. He was interned by the Japanese during the war and then had to flee as the North Korean army invaded his parish in 1950, He returned to his parish when it was safe to do so. He died of cancer on this day in 1951. May he and St Martin of Tours, whose feast day it is today, join in the continuous intercession of this advent.

The Liturgical readings today warn and yet reassure us. ‘Power is a gift to you from the Lord, sovereignty is from the Most High’ and we are accountable for how we use whatever power we have [Wisdom 6]. If those who have power could but understand this, the Kingdom that God desires so passionately for us ‘on earth as in heaven’ would blossom. That power corrupts is all too evident as sin continues to seduce the hearts and obscure the perception of so many who ‘hold power’ in one way or another. Power seduces and destroys. The tragedy is that those who hold power cannot see this, or if they do, they ignore it in a false sense of their own invincibility. And people suffer, sometimes terribly. So, even as we see the signs of God’s kingdom breaking through these past weeks in the goodness of so many people who have given time, effort and prayer to do what is in their power for Father Mick’s safe release, we also see the signs of the anti-kingdom continuing to oppress compassion, goodness and peace. Yesterday three people were abducted from a factory on Basilan Island. More victims; more ‘commodities’.

In the face of all this we are assured that ‘God does not stand in awe of greatness, since he himself has made small and great and provides for all alike’. God’s kingdom continues to permeate the world despite the evil that seems to overwhelm us. The wheat and the darnel grow together and we are called to recognize both for what they are. It is important for us to be able to see the signs of ‘God-at-work’ in the hearts of those we meet. It helps us overcome discouragement when we feel ‘powerless’ and surrounded by corruption and evil. As today’s Gospel points out, gratitude is one of those signs of the kingdom living within us. Nine of the lepers experienced the ‘healing power’ of God as a ‘possession’ – they got what they wanted; the giver was no longer important to them, only their ‘health’. But the Samaritan saw beyond the gift to the Giver and came back. He was the one ‘saved’ – he had discovered the God who loved him and he wanted relationship with this man, not just his health. This was the real and lasting gift. He gave thanks and he found new life. It is this relationship which ‘saves’ us, also; which evokes gratitude and trust; and which, in compassion, enables us to use our power wisely and for good. Father Mick’s abduction and the thirty-one days since have revealed many in whom the kingdom is alive. With the Samaritan we give praise and thanks to God whose love will conquer all.

It has been a particularly quiet day. And for that I was grateful as it allowed me to do some other things that do require my attention. Father Mick is no longer a ‘daily item’ in the news here. Too many other things dominate, including the reaction to the beheading of Gabriel Canizares and the abduction of the three people in Basilan. Less media coverage is not a bad thing just now. The efforts that continue to find ways to obtain his release might prosper more easily with less media attention on him. That said, I am very grateful to so many media people who have been, and are, very helpful in keeping the real issue of Father Mick’s abduction before the public both here and abroad.

Mid-afternoon, however, did provide its own ‘drama’. Somebody phoned the house and told one of the staff that there had been a ‘flash report’ on GMA 7 TV saying that Father Mick had been released at 1pm. There was joyful exuberance as they rushed to the TV to see the news. They told me excitedly as they ran to the TV. One of the staff of Hangop Kabataan, who was in the house at the time, ran after them. My immediate reaction was one of relief but I must admit skepticism followed quickly as I realized that, if true, somebody would have called us in the intervening two hours. There was, of course, nothing on the TV as they frantically searched all the channels. I called someone who would know if it were true. It was another false report. The disappointment for the staff was painful to observe as they sat dejectedly, some of them with tears in the eyes. Thank God, hope had returned again by 7pm.

Father Mick may have receded from the news headlines but he is not forgotten. On the contrary. I had an email from a Filipina friend in Ennis, Co Clare, Ireland, who told me that he is remembered in their weekly Filipino Mass there. She assured me that all her Filipino friends there pray for him daily. She also stressed the importance of hope saying that nothing is impossible to God. Sr Ann Breen, a Columban Sister in Dublin, also emailed me to tell me what people who write to their mission office are saying and doing. I will quote from it:

‘Like the rest of the Columban family here, I am reading your daily bulletins and all of us here in Crumlin are in union of prayer with you and all the other many people who are literally interceding day and night for Father Mick's release. I hope it will bring a little more light and hope to you to know that there isn't a day when I don't get letters in the office from benefactors who are praying for Father Mick - just today there were two, both expressing great concern and praying for him. A few days ago an old man of ninety-seven assured me that he prays every day for his release. And these are people who have never seen him or known him. Yesterday a teacher from Donegal (who helps the Community of Hope in Ozamiz) told me her Sixth Class (Grade Six) pupils pray every day for him and are always asking for news of him. And these are only a few of the thousands all over the world. If there was ever an example of what it means to “storm heaven" surely that is it!’

Fr Pat Raleigh (Vice Director of the Columbans in Ireland) also emailed me some days ago to tell me about a prayer vigil organized by Filipinos in Dublin but I cannot locate it right now. When I do, I will give more details.

Fr Mick has now entered into his 32nd night and second month of captivity. Little did we think a month ago that a worldwide community of prayer would have formed ‘around him’. And it is still growing. May those prayers further God’s kingdom as God so desires. May they protect not only Father Mick but all captives, especially the most forgotten, this night. And as we continue our novena to you, dear Mother, Our Lady of Good Remedy, may you obtain his release soon so that we all can, like the Samaritan, rejoice in gratitude on your Feast Day.