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Pagadian: Christians and Muslims waiting for Fr Sinnott’s arrival

by Santosh Digal
The missionary is coming at the end of November on a four-day visit to the place where he carried out his mission and where he was abducted. Nothing is known about his next assignment. Fr Sinnott wants to go back among the people of Mindanao.
Manila (AsiaNews) – The people of Pagadian (Mindanao) and their bishop, Mgr Emmanuel Cabajar, are waiting for the arrival of Fr Michael Sinnott, expected for the end of November. After his release on 12 November, this would be the first visit for the Irish priest to Pagadian, the town where a group of six armed men abducted him on 11 October.

“My wish is to go back among the people of Pagadian as a missionary,” Fr Sinnott said, but “the final decision depends on my superiors.”

Fr Patrick. O’Donoghue, provincial of the Society of St Columban, said, “Fr Sinnott needs rest”; only afterwards will a decision be made for his next assignment.

Currently, the missionary is in Manila, a guest of the Columban Society’s regional house where he is receiving the necessary medical care to achieve full physical and psychological recovery.

Fr Sinnott spent 31 days in the hands of his captors. For a month, they kept constantly moving the elderly and sick missionary in the jungle of Lanao del Norte province, 150 kilometres from Zamboanga.

They eventually let him go in Sangali (Zamboanga) following the mediation of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), a rebel group initially blamed for the kidnapping. Despite a US$ 2 million ransom demand, no money was paid.

So far, police has failed to identify the authors of kidnapping.