Columban missionaries elect first Filipino leader

A Filipino priest from La Union has been elected as the new international leader of the Missionary Society of St. Columban, making it a “historic moment” for the 106-year-old congregation.

According to the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), Andrei Pax, 42, is the society’s first Filipino superior general of the Missionary Society of St. Columban.

Paz's election came during the society’s general assembly in Lima, Peru last month.

He succeeds Irish Fr. Tim Mulroy, who served the post since 2018. Paz will lead the Columbans for a six-year term at their current headquarters in Hong Kong.

“While I consider it a great honor, I also feel a great sense of responsibility to respond to the trust that has been placed in me,” Paz said.

“Please pray in a special way… that we will ensure that the joy of the Gospel continues to be shared with people around the world,” he added.

Paz will be joined by Australian Fr. Peter O’Neill as Society Vicar, Fr. Kim Young-In as Second Councillor, and Fr. Salustino Villalobos as Third Councillor.

After Paz joined the Columbans as a seminarian in 1998, he was ordained priest in 2009. His first mission assignment was at a Columban parish in the remote mountains of Taiwan.

In 2012, he was assigned to mainland China to serve as vocations coordinator. This work took him to many communities across the nation, where he saw the need for ministry to children with disabilities.

In 2025, he went to study occupational therapy at Creighton University in the United States. After finishing his studies, he returned to China and worked in a rehabilitation center that provides therapy to children with disabilities.

Paz also trained people working in orphanages in remote areas to provide similar therapy.

In 2020, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, he returned to the Philippines and served at Malate Church in Manila, a parish administered by the Columbans since 1929.

The Missionary Society of St Columban was formally founded in Ireland in 1918 and takes its name from St. Columban, Ireland’s sixth century missionary to Europe. Its missionaries are currently working in at least 20 countries.