The young leaders of today are the hope of tomorrow By Fr. Shay Cullen The incredible courage, bravery, and dedication of young people is what the world needs to inspire and lead us into the future. Malala Yousafzai is a striking example of the capability of the youth to give the good example where adults…
Human trafficking – not only in the Philippines Fr. Shay Cullen Stuttgart, Germany – Human trafficking and sex tourism is on the rise in Europe especially in prosperous Germany as well as the Philippines and South East Asia. It is on the rise in the UK and Ireland also. It is slavery under another guise,…
The shame of secret jails for child prisoners by Father Shay Cullen 7th July 2013 A few weeks ago, I visited yet again several child detention centers and police holding cells around Metro Manila with the Preda Foundation social workers. We found two small girls, 13 and 14 years of age behind bars looking out…
The mission is to end poverty and injustice Fr. Shay Cullen Muff, Co. Donegal near Derry, Ireland – A gathering of returned missionaries at the I.O.S.A.S Center (Island of Saints and Scholars) recalled the long tradition of Irish missionaries leaving families and friends and going to foreign lands for life to bring the Gospel message…
The G8 environmental report says coal plants are the worst of all By Fr. Shay Cullen Dublin and Northern Ireland. The shocking revelation that environmental damages caused by economic activities like coal plant electrical generation and mining is costing the global economy as much as US$4.7 trillion a year. The report released last 15 April…
The silenced screams By Fr. Shay Cullen Rachelle, when she was just 13 years old, suffered in silence and isolation. Like most children in the world, she turned into herself and at that young age, having being certified mentally challenged with a mental age of a 9 year-old, she felt totally helpless to change or…
The fishing wars by Fr. Shay Cullen Last week, a Taiwanese fisherman died when a Philippine Coast Guard patrol boat open-fired after one of the four Taiwanese fishing vessels reportedly tried to ram the coast guard vessel. The incident occurred 43 nautical miles east of Balintang Island, in the West Philippine Sea well inside the…
Celebrating the positive power of fair trade Fr. Shay Cullen There are hundreds of thousands of good people around the world trying to make a difference in the lives of the poor and exploited people of this planet. They are working to see that the poor rise above subsistence living and have a dignified human…
REDISCOVERING THE HEART OF FAITH – SERVICE Fr. Shay Cullen When he bent down on his knees in the youth detention jail in Rome last Holy Thursday, washed and kissed the feet of the juvenile prisoners and also a mother and child and a Muslim, Pope Francis sent a message to Catholic Church leaders and…
Mining-affected communities in Zambales badly hit by Habagat, receive recovery assistance IP leader, groups highlight link of mining to environmental degradation and natural disaster Cabangan, Zambales –Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM) and other civil society groups extended disaster recovery assistance to more than 300 Aeta families in mining affected communities in Cabangan, Zambales after being severely…
Eyewitness: A New Dawn in the Philippines thru PREDA Boys Home. By Sophie Newsome, edited by Jim Luce. Olongapo, Philippines August 14, 2012 The Jeepney’s engine is roaring up the streets that tie up the hills of Olongapo. I am commuting to the PREDA Boys’ Home – a Social and Human Development Center. PREDA is…
The Presidential Mining E.O by Fr. Shay Cullen The Presidential Executive Order (EO) outlining the administration’s policy on mining is something to be welcomed as it shows a positive concern in protecting sensitive ecological areas that could be adversely affected by mining, especially the horrific open pit-mining that rips out the heart and soul of…
Dear friends, Preda has begun a petition campaign to the Senators of the Philippines to reject any amendment to the existing juvenile Justice Welfare bill RA 9344. The proposed amendment that has reached second reading in the lower house would put children as young as 12-years old on trial as criminals. The senate can ignore…
Clerical Abuse of Children Must Rooted Out by Fr. Shay Cullen The conference recently held at the Vatican’s Gregorian University brought together cardinals, bishops, priests from over 100 countries and the heads of thirty-three religious orders to tackle the sexual abuse of children by catholic priests. Marie Collins from Ireland, abused at 13, by a…
Seeking Justice, End To Impunity (Fr. Shay’s columns are published in The Manila Times, in publications in Ireland, the UK, Hong Kong, and on-line.) http://www.preda.org/main/archives/2011/r11112301.html As 13 year-old Angelica walked out of the court room she was crying her heart out. Her friends from the PREDA home for abused girls were hugging and embracing her…
by Fr. Shay Cullen http://www.preda.org When the Philippine National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) raided the apartment in Olongapo that night of May 7, 2010, they found a den of iniquity – money, computers, a gun, video cameras, memory sticks and a pregnant young teenage girl in bed with a man more than twice her age.…
by Fr. Shay Cullen http://www.preda.org Despite all the problems in the Philippine courts and prosecution system where judges have outrageously ordered that children trafficked, raped and abused be returned to their pimps by the abuse of the Habeas Corpus law, good judges release minors from degrading prison conditions for transfer to healthy rehabilitation centres. Success…
by Fr. Shay Cullen http://www.preda.org There is perhaps nothing as painful as the smirking face of an accused mass murderer, killer and ethnic cleanser, Ratko Mladic, Bosnian Serb commander, almost laughing at the world that has finally brought him to judgment at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, The Netherlands. Munira Subasic was weeping…
by Fr. Shay Cullen http://www.preda.org In hospitals and in the hovels of the poor vulnerable, impoverished illiterate mothers are hoodwinked into parting with their children under a pretext and many never see them again. Here is one true ongoing story of a court battle in which a brave and determined mother is fighting to get…
By: Father Shay Cullen (Fr. Shay’s columns are published in The Manila Times, in publications in Ireland, the UK, Hong Kong, and on-line.) Source: http://www.preda.org Berlin. The case of a 14 year-old child, call her Angel, who was sold by her parents to an Australian tourist at Baloy Beach, Olongapo city and made the child…
