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Changes are taking place
Let it never be said that the La Salette mission in Myanmar is dormant – rather that it is alive and vibrant! When La Salettes, after a 30-year absence, were re-installed in November 2005 at the request of the Bishop Conference, they began by accepting responsibility for running the Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary at Chantagone, Paleik, in the diocese of Mandalay. Five zealous Myanmar La Salettes – Frs. Bernie, Nicodemus, Philip, Jerome and David – accepted as well the charge of two other mission parishes. They also began preaching missions and retreats throughout the country and organized pilgrimages to the Shrine. In October 2006 two more Myanmar La Salettes – Bros. Anton Nyo, MS and Thomas Htan Shan Mong, MS – were ordained deacons in the Philippines. When they have finished their studies in theology in the Philippines they will return home and will spend about six months re-adjusting to their native culture. Hopefully they will be ordained at the Shrine on October 9, 2007 – a significant date because exactly 70 years earlier the first La Salette Missionaries arrived in Myanmar (called Burma at that time).
A long wooden bridge
While in Asia for the General Chapter last May the Argentine delegates – Frs. Norman Butler, MS and Alfredo Velarde, MS – had a chance to visit the newly opened mission in Myanmar. Fr. Norman – always the observant participant – wrote three long pages of interesting reflections. I would like to share with you some of them.
About their arrival in Yangon, the capital of Myanmar: The airport terminal flourishes with fancy gold trim giving the air of the orient. Inside is dark and grimy. Many men are wearing longhis and shower clogs. The longhi is worn instead of pants; it’s a simple wrap-around cloth, from waist to ankles, usually in a dark color. Police and officials are friendly, easing my concern about entering this country under military rule.
About Buddhist monks: Barefoot Buddhist monks go door to door begging for food. They each carry a good size black pot, and offering them food is a popular act of piety. They wear burgundy robes and have shaven heads. Women monks, called sisters, also have shaven heads but they wear pink robes. Some homes in the neighborhood have covered clay pots of water at their door for any thirsty soul passing that way.
Everything has come true
Just a year ago, Fr. Jeremy Morais. MS wrote me these prophetic lines: This will be my last year in Ankavandra. I will celebrate 25 years of priesthood, and will get a vacation to celebrate that event with family on May 22. I will be available for mission appeals and take a mini-sabbatical. Upon returning to Madagascar I will most likely be given a new mission district. I guess it’s God’s will that I remain here just long enough to finish the convent for the sisters who will eventually arrive. And to be very honest, after 15 years working in the isolated district of Ankavandra, I’ll be ready for a change. Wherever the Bishop and the Provincial send me, I’m ready and willing to go.
India - A New Reality
During the General Chapter, May 2006, the La Salette Region of India was raised to the level of a Province. Their first Provincial Chapter – and it will include the election of the new Provincial Superior – is scheduled to take place in January 2007. While at the General Chapter I spent some time with Fr. Matthew Manjaly, MS – the Regional Superior – and Fr. Andrews Kallannoor, MS – the Indian delegate who is presently ministering in Arizona – and they spoke of what this new reality means to them.
Tsingy
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| The Tsingy Forest |
Fr. Joe Shea sent me this note about the village of Bekopaka. Once it was a small, unknown, distant village in Madagascar along the banks of the Manombolo river.Today it is undergoing a tremendous metamorphosis.
Bishop Donald is up North in Bekopaka, district of Antsalova, dedicating the new church. This represents a tremendous step forward for the Catholic Church. A few years ago the
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| Lepilemur in the Tsingy |
inconspicuous village of Bekopoka was just another small, sleepy, non-descript village along the winding Manombola river. Every few months a missionary would visit it . A few years down the road, it will become a separate missionary district, with a resident priest and a school.
My Trip to Mayanmar
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| Fr. David Kyaw, MS, whom I met in Myanmar |
My visit to Myanmar in November of 2005 began long before I sent my passport to get a visa. It was the fulfillment of a dream. For over 50 years I had heard of places with exotic sounding names like Rangoon, Prome, Sandoway, Akyab, Thayetmyo and Mandalay. And then there was the swift-flowing Irrawaddy River that captured my imagination. I could now experience being in most of them. Part of my preparation was to get myself psycologically set for the trip. I developed a mantra that I kept repeating: Keep an open mind and delight in the ordinary! This was tested the very first day of the trip. With a morning flight out of JFK airport in New York, I check into a small hotel the evening before. It was raining hard and there was no eating facility in or near it, but a local restaurant advertised delivery service to the hotel. So I called and ordered a hamburger and a beer. When it came, the delivery person had forgotten the beer. He said I could either deduct the amount of the beer or pay for it and he would deliver it later. I chose the second option, ate the hamburger and waited for the beer. After an hour of waiting, I was sure I had been duped and would never get beer. So I drank water. O, ye of little faith! A few minutes after I downed a couple of glasses of water, the delivery person arrived with the beer. I repeated my mantra to myself, thanked him for the delivery and delightfully drank the beer. I considered this episode a good omen for the trip!
La Salette Sisters in Myanmar
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| Perpetual Profession of Srs. Margaret, Theresa and Mary, SNDS |
The new La Salette Mission in Myanmar is shared, each in a particular way, by both the La Salette Sisters and La Salette Missionaries. On November 22, just a few days after the care of the Chanthagon Marian Shrine in Mandalay, central Myanmar, was confided to the Missionaries, the Sisters celebrated a special event in Myikyina, farther to the north. It marked a definitive engagement to living religious life when Srs. Margaret Zing Htung Hkawn Ri, Theresa Kareng Hkawan Htoi and Mary N-Htung Hka Yun Ja pronounced their perpetual profession. Sr. Margaret shared with us some of her reflections while preparing for that event at the Chanthagon Shrine:
God is not just the starting point of my life…He is the source of it. God planned where I would be born and live. My race as Jinghpaw and my nationality as Myanmar are no accident. It’s all for a purpose.
The Bible tells us, “God is love.” LOVE is the essence of God’s character.
The three vows I made are expressions of my love for God. My vowed life is a journey which is far greater than my own personal fulfillment, my peace of mind or even my happiness. It requires a change in my priorities, my relationships and everything else. It will sometimes mean choosing a difficult path instead of an easy one. …
Nothing shapes my life more than the commitment I chose to live forever through the three vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. As a La Salette Sister, I am vowed to love, and share, to embrace all, especially the poor and the helpless in society. Thus, perpetual profession for me is to receive a new creation, new life, new strength and a new commitment as I go on in the way of Mary’s life-giving style of listening, praying and acting.