austraLasia #3480
MYM
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.
MYM
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.
