YANGON: July 31, 2014 --"These acronyms", someone said to me one day -
"just can't get a hang of 'em." MYM - once short for
'myriametre', now obsolete? Meet Your Maker? But the MYM we
know is far from obsolete - though it had its moments. The now
flourishing Vice Province of Myanmar could almost have been
obsolete, and not that long ago either. After state
nationalisation of education in 1962 and expulsion of
missionaries in 1966, just a handful (13) of Salesians were
left. Between then and 1975 nobody (Salesian higher-ups, that
is) visited them. They looked doomed. But see them now - The
EAO Regional has made his first visit to the Vice Province as
Regional and his first official 'animation' visit which will
take him through the entire Region. He found, despite some
uncertainties at various levels, including the political, a
'new spring', new energy, looking to the future, with some 120
aspirants, 9 of them 'senior' and ready for the next move; 9
of them already prenovices, 3 novices, 17 post novices, 16 in
theology, 1 Brother in the particular formation process for
Brothers, a total membership just a dozen short of triple
figures.
And the Catholic Church in Myanmar will shortly be celebrating
500 years.
Think 500 years of evangelisation, and one part of the world
thinks Christopher Columbus and the Americas. Another part
thinks Henry VIII (if British), Reformation (if Continental).
In 1514, though, one curious piece of trivia might interest us
- the King of Portugal sent a white elephant (sic) to the Pope
in Rome as part of a rather elaborate entourage. They say he
became the Pope's favourite animal but died of constipation a
year or two later after receiving gold-laced purgatives (so
the story goes!). But let's not lose track of things, because
it was Portugal, in 1514, that sent soldiers, sailors and
settlers - and accompanying chaplains, to the Kingdom of Pegu
(just north-east of Yangon). This
has been chosen as the official beginning of Catholicism and
will be celebrated in Myanmar this year.
The Church, and the Salesians as part of it, are looking more
outwards now. The best-known Burmese senior cleric for the
rest of the world is the Salesian Archbishop of Yangon,
Charles Bo. As recently as July 19, 'Martyrs Day' (which
includes Muslims as well as Christians and Buddhists), he
spoke forthrightly, telling his flock, but knowing there was a
wider audience, that the country finds itself at “a crucial
juncture”. “What we do today and in the next five years will
determine our destiny and our history. Prosperity or poverty?
Peace or chronic war? Development or loss of everything? Unity
in diversity or interminable conflict? The destiny of Myanmar
is in our hands”,
And while the message of the Regional to his confreres in MYM
is not quite so dramatic, it certainly urges them to come out
of isolation, look to the future, respond creatively to the
needs of the local area (they have already identified the huge
need for TVET, technical vocational education), and give
sensible rein to the youthful energy so evident in their
numbers - all of which, by the way, is happening.
There are some objective difficulties still. Communications
infrastructure, especially within our Houses, needs to go
beyond the local Internet Café; snail mail arriving from
outside the country suggests it might have ended up in a
French restaurant - not even a silvery trail can be found for
some items. Social change there has been, but some of it lacks
legal guarantees - the Congregation has no 'juridical person'
status before the Government. The long period of forced
isolation has not been easy to break free from at a 'thinking'
level. Local people need material in local languages, and as
yet, though it has begun, there has not been adequate
translation of Salesian materials.
There are good signs - MYM sent its first missionary out in
2013 (South Sudan); the average age of confreres (34) and the
excellent preparation many of them have been given, the result
of good formation planning, bodes well for the future. The
aspirantate does not guarantee that numbers like 120 will soon
be reaching the novitiate, but it has produced excellent past
pupils. Things are on the move: a
Vocational Training Centre will be opened this year in Yangon
(with strong support from VIS, Italy); there are already three
other smaller ones in three other places. There is a work for
street children in Mandalay. They have a mission frontier,
with all its demands, right within the Vice Province in Wa,
with three mission parishes and four schools. And
overall, the quality of the confreres is MYM's real strength.
Can we help? 'We', meaning the rest of EAO of course. 'We' are
already doing so - it wasn't so many weeks back that a senior
Salesian Scripture scholar was in Myanmar, working with local
clergy and religious and interacting with the Salesians. 'We'
are helping them in material ways too. In fact 'we' have
benefited over the years with good Burmese (easier to say than
Myanmese!) confreres holding down important roles in our
communities. 'We' can also help them by encouraging
extended communication with the rest of the Region, especially
through our work with lay mission partners, an aspect that
still has to develop in the context of MYM.
Oh, and that elephant? No, it was not a 'Pegu' or a 'Pagan'
one (there was once a Kingdom of Pagan in Myanmar). They think
it was Indian.
