KIDNAPPED missionary Fr. Michael “Mick” Sinnott has flown to his native home in Ireland to celebrate his 80th birthday there, according to the Columban’s website.
Sinnott’s birthday will be on Dec. 17.
The elderly priest was abducted in Pagadian City last Oct. 11 and released a month after as a result of government negotiations with his abductors.
“I feel fine going back home and looking forward to the weather (in Ireland). It’s windy, wet and cold,” Sinnott told journalists in Manila who accompanied him to the airport.
The clergy’s superior, Fr. Patrick O’Donoghue, regional director of the Missionary Society of St. Columban (MSSC), accompanied Sinnott for his five-week vacation in Ireland.
Sinnot will return to Pagadian City on Jan. 15, O’Donoghue said.
“I wish my friends in Pagadian will have peace and no more kidnapping,” Sinnott left this message to his friends.
“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,” he added, as his Christmas wish for the Filipino people.
The 79-year old priest was greeted by his family, fellow MSSC priests and Department of Foreign Affairs officials in Ireland when he arrived Thursday, Dec. 3.
He then met with local journalists there and told them: “I hope to go back to Pagadian to continue the work I have been doing for the last few years.”
“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,” he added.
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.
The Irish Examiner, a newspaper based in Ireland, described Sinnott as “looking remarkably better than he did on his release on November 11.”
REPORT BY MICHAEL MEDINA
Sinnott’s birthday will be on Dec. 17.
The elderly priest was abducted in Pagadian City last Oct. 11 and released a month after as a result of government negotiations with his abductors.
“I feel fine going back home and looking forward to the weather (in Ireland). It’s windy, wet and cold,” Sinnott told journalists in Manila who accompanied him to the airport.
The clergy’s superior, Fr. Patrick O’Donoghue, regional director of the Missionary Society of St. Columban (MSSC), accompanied Sinnott for his five-week vacation in Ireland.
Sinnot will return to Pagadian City on Jan. 15, O’Donoghue said.
“I wish my friends in Pagadian will have peace and no more kidnapping,” Sinnott left this message to his friends.
“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,” he added, as his Christmas wish for the Filipino people.
The 79-year old priest was greeted by his family, fellow MSSC priests and Department of Foreign Affairs officials in Ireland when he arrived Thursday, Dec. 3.
He then met with local journalists there and told them: “I hope to go back to Pagadian to continue the work I have been doing for the last few years.”
“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,” he added.
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.
The Irish Examiner, a newspaper based in Ireland, described Sinnott as “looking remarkably better than he did on his release on November 11.”
REPORT BY MICHAEL MEDINA
