Bishops appeal for safe release of kidnapped Irish priest
By Ferdinand G. Patinio
MANILA
Bishops have appealed to the kidnappers of Irish priest Michael Sinnott to release him immediately as he has a heart problem.
“We appeal to his abductors to treat him with respect and release him soonest. Fr. Mick is not in the good of health and badly needs his daily dosage of medicine. With him is only one day of medicine. We are urging the abductors for arrangement to be made to ensure that Fr. Mick gets his medicine,” said Pagadian Bishop Emmanuel Cabajar, in an interview over Radio Veritas 846 Monday.
He said that Father Sinnott was a man of peace, so he should be allowed to go back to his charitable work.
Catarman Bishop Emmanuel Trance also echoed Cabajar’s call, saying the abduction of the priest would not be of help to the cause of the abductors.
“If they have any cause at all, this abduction will not help their cause,’ he said.
Trance also appealed to the government to do everything for the immediate and safe release of the 79-year old Irish priest.
Sinnott, an Irish missionary from the Society of St. Columban was kidnapped by still unidentified armed men at the St. Columban Residence in Pagadian City at about 7:30 p.m. Sunday.
Witnesses said three or four men immediately entered the Columban Residence, took the missionary to a vehicle and brought him to still unknown destination.
Meanwhile, Aurora Loceño, a Columban lay missionary close to Fr. Sinnott, also pleaded for the immediate and safe release of the Irish priest missionary.
Loceño said that Sinnott had a serious heart problem and underwent a bypass heart surgery at hospital in Cebu City in 2007.
The priest had been working for the welfare of disabled children in the Diocese of Pagadian through his “Hangop Kabataan” program since early 2000.
Fr. Sinnott is turning 80 years old on Dec. 19. He has been in the Philippines since 1976. (PNA)
COLUMBAN FATHER MICHAEL SINNOTT KIDNAPPED IN THE PHILIPPINES
Columban Father Michael Sinnott was kidnapped October 11, 2009 around 7:30 p.m. (local time) from outside his home in Pagadian City, Province of Zamboanga del Sur, Mindanao, as he was taking an evening stroll in the garden.
As Church workers were closing the gate to the compound in the Columban house in Pagadian, Zamboanga del Sur, on October 11 2009, a man pushed his way through saying he wanted to talk to a priest. Then three or four heavily armed men appeared, forcing the gate and dragging 79-year-old Irish Columban Father Michael Sinnott from the garden into a white pickup truck, before speeding off.
The vehicle was later found abandoned and torched in the nearby beachside area of Santa Lucia. Fishermen told police that they saw the group boarding a small motor boat heading off in the direction of the town of Tukuran.
A statement from the regional director for the Columbans in Manila, Father Pat O'Donoghue, said that police and other law enforcement agencies had been called. Patrol boats were mobilized, but found nothing.
Father O'Donoghue said that no motive has been given for the kidnapping and, as of 11:00p.m. on October 11, there had been no contact. He added that he is worried for the safety of the aging priest, as he underwent quadruple bypass surgery in Cebu in 2005 and has been under medication ever since. "One of my greatest concerns for him is that he does not have his medication with him, which he needs," he disclosed.
Father Sinnott was ordained on December 21, 1954, after studies in Ireland and the United States.
Father Sinnott has worked in Mindanao since he arrived in The Philippines in 1957, except for a period in Ireland as rector of the Columban seminary, a short stint studying liturgy in Paris, and a few years in Manila as the vice director of the Philippine region.
Father O'Donoghue is asking people to pray for his safe return.
why this kind of abduction happened inside the residence of the victim specially the foreign priest who make their missionary life in our country.
What happen to police force, our military forces? Until when they stop that such of stupid crimes in the city..the area of Mindanao.
Maybe, they related for political issues bcoz of near election or this is the act of terrorist campaign againts the goverment.
Think twice.
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COLUMBAN FATHER MICHAEL SINNOTT KIDNAPPED IN THE PHILIPPINES
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