MANDALAY: 20
February 2014 -- A
thanksgiving Mass to mark 75 years of the Salesians in
Myanmar was held on 15 February 2014 at St. Joseph’s parish
(Lafon)
Mandalay. It was a simple celebration of the Eucharist at
which
Archbishop Paul Zing Htun Grawng of Mandaaly presided with
Archbishop
Charles Bo, SDB of Yangon and 23 priests concelebrating. The
homily was
delivered by Fr Edward Sein Myint, SDB.
Archbishop
Charles Bo offered a word of thanks in the name of the
Salesian Family
to the Archbishop of Mandalay, the parish priest and the
parish
pastoral council for not only giving them all a chance to
celebrate but
also for being present personally. He also thanked the priests
and
religious and especially the parishioners and past-pupils. The
parish
church was too small to hold everyone.
Archbishop Bo also recalled his experiences at the Lafon
Memorial
School where he was when he was just 8 years old. He
reiterated his
appeal in an earlier homily to the Government to return the
schools to
the Church to prove that democratization of the nation is
genuine. Fr
Francis Dass, Vicar of the Superior of the Vice province
thanked those
who were there, in the name of the superior and the whole
Salesian
family.
Soon after Mass Frs Edward Sein Myint, Francis Dass and
Mariano Soe
Naing offered some thoughts on the missionary dream of Don
Bosco, Don
Bosco's spirituality for young people, and an historical
reflection on
the 75 years of the Salesians, respectively. An hour-long
drama on the
life of Don Bosco was presented by the novices and the
postnovices
under the direction of Fr Bosco Zeya Aung, the Novice Master.
Older participants at the celebration recalled their
experiences of the
early Salesians and their nostalgic narrative of past years
was most
touching. They wished to see a better and bigger celebration
of the
history of 75 years; they found the present celebration too
small for
the immense good that God has wrought through the Salesians.
A Brief History
In 1842, Don Bosco was actually thinking of being a missionary
to
Burma, which was then known as the Kingdom of Ava and Pegu,
and is now
called Myanmar (Cf. John Baptist Lemoyne, Biographical
Memoirs, Vol.
II, New Rochele, New York, 1965, 160).
This dream of Don Bosco was fulfilled when his sons took over
the
orphanage of the aging MEP missionary, Fr. Leo Lafon, on 31
January,
1939. The team of six confreres gave their all to plant the
charism of
Don Bosco in the heart of country, the city of Mandalay, which
was the
capital of the Kings untill British colonial occupation in
1886. The
pioneers were Frs Antonio Alessi (the leader) and Urbano
Bordin,
Clerics Anthony Del Col and Denis Cavanah, and Coadjutor
Brothers
Charles Dell'Acqua and Angelo Bongiorno.
Initially, the pioneers encountered countless hindrances. At
the
arrival of the Salesians in Burma, all the schools in the
country were
closed because the pupils had gone on strike for political
reasons
against the colonial rule of the British and in demand of
absolute
independence. A few months after their arrival the Second
World War
broke out. Burma turned into a battle field. The school could
not
actually start till 1946, after the War had ended.
From then on the school grew rapidly. It flourished, with
student
numbers reaching 1200 in less than a decade, and numbers
peaked at 1800
in 1962. The Salesians seized every opportunity to expand
their works.
In 1954 a new parish and school were opened in Rangoon
(Yangon) with
government recognition and the agreement of the Bishop of the
Diocese.
In 1957 an aspirantate was initiated to recruit local
vocations. It was
so successful that in 1964 the Novitiate opened with 12
Novices. On
April 28, 1965 there were 12 newly professed.
This flourishing work came to an abrupt end with the
nationalization of
the schools on 1 April, 1964 and the expulsion of the foreign
missionaries in November 1966 by General Ne Win, a notorious
dictator.
After all these experiences the Salesians in Myanmar were
paralyzed.
But the deadliest blow was yet to come. In 1974 the
Archdiocese of
Mandalay asked the Salesians to leave the Lafon parish,
despite it being
given to the Salesians "in perpetuum". Following that
disaster the Bishop of Rangoon also asked the Salesians to
return the
parish they had founded in 1954.
The Salesians were now without schools, parishes. But Divine
Providence
opened another door where others had been closed. In
1976 the
Holy See entrusted the Mission of northern Shan State to the
Salesians.
Suddenly, young native Salesians found themselves to be
missionaries on
those mountains ranges. They have been faithful to the task.
The region
was turned into a diocese in 1990 with a Salesian, Charles Mg
Bo, as
the first prelate. He is now Archbishop of Yangon.
The Salesians received a landmark recognition when they became
a Vice
province in 2004. At the moment there are 32 priests, 1
perpetually
professed Salesian Brother and 39 clerics and Salesian
Brothers in
various stages of initial formation.
