YANGON: 14 June 2010 -- The Rector Major with his Council and
the outgoing Superior for Myanmar (MYM) Vice Province, Fr Joachim Ye
Maung, have announced that Fr Maurice Vallence will be the new Superior
for the coming six year period. The precise date of the changeover is
not known at the time of writing.
Fr Maurice is not new to a responsibility of this
kind, since he
was in a similar position, though as Delegate, when the then Burma
circumscription was under Calcutta Province. Born 1994 at Mymyo
in the
Diocese of Mandalay, Fr Maurice has long been associated with the
struggles of a small but stalwart, and now growing Salesian presence
that has won the admiration of many, especially the people and the poor
to whom they minister, local clergy and hierarchy. There were difficult
moments in the Salesian story in the country when it even looked as if
our presence there would not survive. Fr Maurice, Fr Joachim and others
were amongst those who kept the flame alive.
Fr Maurice also spent some time in Rome at the
General
Administration, and brings that experience, too, as he prepares to
assume the role of the second Superior for MYM, set up as a Vice
Province under the patronage of Mary Help of Christians, in 2004.
The
26th General Chapter in 2008 saw MYM become part of the East
Asia-Oceania Region.
While the world has been able to follow political
developments in
the country over recent years, as it also followed the disastrous
effects of Cyclone Nargis, the Salesian presence is less well-known
outside the country. Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) is the largest
nation in Indochina, a little larger than Afghanistan, to gain an idea
of its size. It is bounded by Bangladesh, India, China, Laos, Thailand,
which also helps understand its centrality and some of its challenges.
In terms of religious adherence, the country is predominantly Buddhist,
Christianity being just 4% or thereabouts of the population.
Nevertheless there are 16 dioceses, and Salesians are present and
active in four of these. Archbishop Charles Bo of Yangon is also a
Salesian. While some aspects of traditional Salesian work have to wait
until Government policy allows them to develop, the outstanding feature
of Salesian presence, its work for poor youth, is broadly acknowledged
and supported. Marian devotion is strongly promoted by the Salesians
also. The vice province has a strong missionary outlook amongst its own
people, and a number of Burmese confreres are playing important roles
in other parts of the Region.
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