Challenges of the Catholic Church in Myanmar

Reflection on Challenges of the Catholic Church in Myanmar

Background

The ecclesiastical hierarchy in Myanmar was established in 1955. Since then and after the departure of the foreign missionary societies such as MEP, PIME, St.Columban,etc, Myanmar Mission was totally under the administration of the local hierarchy with the cooperation of a few foreign personnel who were allowed to stay on under much pressure and restriction.

The Indigenous (local) hierarchy faced a very difficult situation in Myanmar in its young age. Although the Constitution of the Socialist Government (from 1962 to 1988) allowed certain freedom of religion, in many respects, religious activities are limited and controlled. Freedom of worship is allowed but no freedom of publications of religious books. No prominent projects are allowed. Everything has to be done under and within the framework of pastoral activity. Practicing policy of neutrality, Myanmar as a nation was isolated from the rest of the outside world. Conversions to Catholicism are tolerated as long as the local community remains undisturbed. Consequently evangelization is concentrated in the minority tribes.

The Catholic Church in Myanmar has remained until now a minority church comprising the different ethnic minorities such as Kachin, Karen, Kayah, Chin, Mon, Bamar, Rakhine, and Shan. This minority church is made up only about one per cent of the total population of 48 millions. Isolation of the country cut completely the Church off from the important events in the universal church, such as the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) and the internal church developments that stemmed from it. Consequently the Church is known and criticized by the outsiders as a pre-Vatican Church, strictly hierarchical and patriachal, lacking in pastoral programs. Despite all the criticism, the Catholics in Myanmar remain remarkably loyal to their Church.

The Church in Myanmar, on the other hand, is a young Church. Young in the sense that it is awakening. It is Church with great potential which consists in the fact that there are enough vocations and the people are deeply pious. In addition, as a result of the country's long seclusion, the Christians have retained values that disappeared long ago in other countries because of the globalization and the consumers society. If the Church is well accompanied and allows such accompaniment to take place, it can certainly develope into a participatory Church rooted in its own country. Myanmar has a Catholic Church that can be criticized for many things, yet it has launched on its journey despite of all its weaknesses and external and internal difficulties. It is a Church that sees its great challenges in the field of education and combatting poverty, a Church that wishes its members to grow, given the poverty and oppression it faces.

The internal and external difficulties faced by the Catholic Church in Myanmar can be seen as posing challenges to the Church. These challenges concern internal communication between lay people and the clergy as well as external communication with the other Christian denominations, followers of other religions. The Church in Myanmar has set itself the objective of providing inward solidarity with the poor in its own ranks and outward solidarity with the poor and the suffering people of other religions. The tasks to be performed in this context are as varied as the problems that are encountered.

1. Toward a participatory Church

The Catholic Church in Myanmar needs to develop in structural change. Of course, to change the traditions and the firmly established structures in a peaceful way will surely take time.This will certainly happen if the learning process involves all those concerned. This applies to clerics and lay people in equal measure. While for clerics the structural change into a participatory church will be accompanied by a loss of power and renunciation, the lay people will initially have to be encouraged to take part in the change as they have learned a different role, once that is passive and receptive. Further more bishops must acknowledge that lay people deserve an appropriate financial reward for their work.

Leadership in social matters has to be passed on to competent lay people. The socioeconomic and political fields are the arena of lay people. The clerical image of the Church even in temporal matters has to change. A spirit of collaboration with lay people is to be developed. It is the lay people who can provide effective leadership in social transformation in accordance with the social teaching of the Church.

Support for lay people in the form of training and integration is necessary for the structural change into a participatory Church. Structural change is indispensable wherever a diocese faces up to its numerous challenges. It has been noticed that in many dioceses in Myanmar priests are already complaining of having too many responsibilities.

There are many ways of supporting lay people. It is important to back the kind of projects that directly benefit lay people. In Myanmar that applies, in particular, to training projects at various levels and with varying contents as well as to awareness-raising projects and study grants. Lay people should be enabled to study not only sociology, ethnology, political science, psychology but also theology and philosophy and spirituality.

After Vatican II, the role of laity is promoted to the role of protagonist from the traditional role of audience or spectators. The implementation of the Decree on the Apostolate of the Lay People of Vatican II came rather late to the Church in Myanmar. The reason was easily justified by the difficulties which the young Church and young Hierarchy are facing. But this does not tend to deny the long felt need as well as the existence of Lay Apostolate in Myanmar usually known as " Diocesan Laity Council" or " Catholic Action", or under many other names in Myanmar. Though lacking inter-diocesan cooperation and collaboration, they all have the same aim and each diocese had its own way to survive, to progress with the help of lay people.

2. Toward a Church of Dialogue and solidarity

Dialogue must take place on various levels both inside and outside the Church. One element of the dialogue within the Church is discussion with lay people, without which a structural change in the strongly hierarchial relations between clergy and laity is practically impossible. Another element is discussion with the universal Church. Dialogue within the Church also means discussion between the various ethnic groups to which the Christians belong. Dialogue beyond the Church includes discussion with the other Christian denominations and also with followers of other religions.

Dialogue with other religions and other ethnic groups will be credible if it is backed up by solidarity with all persecuted people in Myanmar regardless of their denominations or religions. If the Church sees only its oppression and persecution and does not actively oppose persecution and discrimination against people of other faiths as well, it is not very credible and can not hope for support from others in turn.

Another expression of solidarity is what is referred to as the option for the poor i.e living with the poor. Here the word "poor" is not to be taken only in material sense. There are also the issues of educational opportunities and equality of the sexes. For the Church, with the poor ought to include working with the growing numbers of refugees and displaced people, the poor, the sick and the handicapped, as denouncing human rights violations and social injustice. All this demands a great deal of solidarity and sacrifice on the part of the better-off in favor of the less well-off.

A further aspect of living with the poor is concern and care for the increasing number of people in Myanmar infected with HIV. It is the ethnic minorities, and thus also the Christians, who are afflicted with this disease. The Church has begun to take on responsibility in this area and will have to do so even more in future if it wants to live and suffer with its poor.

Myanmar was officially designated a "least developed country" in 1989. The World bank estimates, based on a national government survey of household income and expenditures in 1997, that about one fourth of the population, or thirteen million people, are living below minimum subsistence level, with another five million living precariously just above it. Since this household survey was conducted the economic situation has worsened; an even greater proportion of the population is now living below the minimum subsistence level. Moreover, Myanmar is ranked 131th in the UNDP Human Development Index 2003, placing it in the lower portion of medium human development countries in the region.

Certainly there is a need of dialogue with the poor. The people of Myanmar are rich in spirit although often poor in material things. Social, economic and political injustice is built into the structures under which they live. Therefore, FABC argued that: " Dialogue with the poor means a real experience of poverty and the oppressive socioeconomic and political structures under which they live.." Such a dialogue takes shape in a dialogue of life. " It demands working, not for them merely, but with them, to learn from them, their needs and aspirations as they are enable to identify and articulate these, and to strive for their fulfillment, by transforming those structures and situations which keep them in that deprivation and powerlessness."Such a dialogue leads to a genuine operative and organized "action and reflection in faith," sometimes known as " conscientization", which enables the poor to acquire effective responsibility and participation in the decisions which determine their lives, and thus to free themselves (cf nn. 19-24)

In his inaugural speech on the coming of the Kingdom of God and its realization in him, Jesus announced Good News to the poor (cf.Lk 4:18). Hence, BIMA III advocated that to be true to her Master, the Church must make every effort " to listen to the poor and the marginalized, to discover their cultural values and expressions, and to stand together with them by supporting their just causes, in order to be truly a healing sing of God's love for them". It added that " in the light of the urbanization and industrialization which are sweeping East and Southeast Asia, the Church (in Myanmar) today must give special attention to the plight of the urban workers, who are often uprooted from their traditional cultures and involved in a difficult struggle for life" (n.4)

FABC V (1990) brought the ecumenical and plurireligious dimension in the efforts to work together for the poor. It insisted that our minority status should not deter us from patiently working out in collaboration with Christians of other Churches and peoples of other religions and persuasions the steps needed to liberate our people from the bondage of sin and its societal manifestation, and to inscribe the values of the Kingdom of God in the Asian society ( cf.nn 4, 1-4,6)

3. For Inculturation and Contextualizaton

The process of inculturation and contextualization is still slow in the Catholic Church in Myanmar. Implementation of the new theological, liturgical, pastoral and catechismal ideas of the Second Vatican Council was greatly hampered in Myanmar.

Here comes the need of a dialogue with cultures in Myanmar. Dialogue with culture concretely means inculturation. Given the fact the fact that even within the country there are many cultures, a question rightfully being raised is : " dialogue in whose cultures?" John Paul II gave a good catechesis on inculturation in his homily during the Mass on February 4, 1986, at the Brigade Police Grounds, Calcutta:

" In offering to others the Good News of Redemption, the Church strives to understand their culture. She seeks to know the minds and hearts of her hearers, their values and customs, their problems and difficulties, their hopes and dreams. Once she knows and understands these various aspects of culture, then she can begin the dialogue of salvation; she can offer, respectfully but with clarity and conviction, the Good News of the Redemption to all who freely wish to listen and to respond. This is the evangelical challenge of the Church in every age."

The Pope has identified three critical moments or tasks in the process of evangelization of cultures:

Inculturation: The Church simply has to penetrate the cultures of the people by identifying itself with them, understanding their values and beliefs, and responding to their struggles and aspirations. It has to incarnate the Gospel message of love into the thought patterns and affective climate of the communities. The Church must truly enter the minds and hearts of the communities, their worldview and customs, their pains and hardships, their dreams and hopes.

The proclamation of the Gospel Message: The Gospel is proclaimed to "all who freely wish to listen and respond". It is proclaimed, not imposed. The message of salvation is an invitation, no coercion. And those who freely wish to listen and to respond have a right to the Gospel. Hence, the explicit proclamation has to be made.

The "Dialogue of salvation" proper: This is where the interaction between the Gospel and culture, the Church and the communities, takes full effect. The Gospel is made flesh among the people, and the Church can be considered theirs, one with them. The laity's role is most crucial in the dialogue of salvation. It is they who can enflesh the message of salvation in the context of family life and work situation, in the socioeconomic and political fields of community life, in the challenges offered by modernization and technology.

Formation in the social doctrine of the Church is necessary and has to be contextualized. Without contextualization, social doctrine can become ineffective platitudes. But contextaulized in the interplay of faith and social reality, the social teaching of the Church are elaborated, clarified, and effectively applied to burning social issue of the day. The phenomenon of globalization has to be discerned not simply in terms of economic ideology but especially in the light of social dimension of the faith, of the sacraments and liturgy. The over-all mission to evangelize every strata of society has to be integral.

4. Need of Building up a civil society

In Myanmar, the Catholic Church is the only independent and well organized group. In this sense the Church has to be well prepared to transform the society in which it lives. Like the Catholic Church in general, the Church in Myanmar is not a model of democratic society. However it can still help to prepare people for different social structures. This would be an important contribution to the country's future and could strengthen the position of the Church in a changed political system and a society that is in the throes of change as a result. Beginning with its own followers, but extending its efforts to others as well, the Church could use awareness-raising and education to prepare people for a democratic life together. Not only priests and religious but also lay people especially, could be sent to attend carefully chosen university courses abroad. Grassroots communities are one place where democratic structures and democratic behavior can be practised. A Church that is aware of its own good organization should not shirk the responsibility of transforming into a democratic community that respects human rights.

In Mater and Magistra #239 the document says " In their economic and social activities, Catholic often come to contact with others who do not share their view of life. In such circumstances, they must, of course, bear themselves as Catholics and do nothing to compromise religion and morality. Yet at the same time they should show themselves animated by a spirit of understanding and unselfishness, ready to cooperate loyally in achieving objectives which are good in themselves, or can be turned to good. Needless to say, when the Hierarchy has made a decision on any point Catholics are bound to obey their directives. The Church has the right and obligation not merely to guard ethical and religious principles, but also to declare its authoritative judgment in the matter of putting these principles into practice."

Every effort should be made to encourage the Church in Myanmar to join in the construction of a civil society, however tinny the beginning may be. It is going to be difficult for the people of Myanmar to deal positively with changes. They will have to learn from the beginning how to cope with new forms of society. This is where the churches in Myanmar could play an important role, preparing people to act independently and responsibly and sending selected people for appropriate study abroad. Support must be given to "Skill training, workshops and seminars for leaders of people's organizations, progressive church programs and the NGOs. Civil society must be given support through the formation of political organizations and NGOs, networking and linking among different progressive political forces and sectors, and the convening of forums and conferences to arrive at a common analysis and agenda. The importance of coming to a shared understanding and a shared agenda with other religious communities is obvious to many of us.Constantly giving reminders and support for the idea is one of the challenges that the aid agencies could present, with the necessary sensitivity, to the Church in Myanmar.

5.Need of uplifting the standard of Education

Myanmar was once considered one of the most literate countries in the world. Unfortunately the education system at all levels is decaying and along with it the future of Myanmar's next generations. The education of children and allocating minimal resources to public education has been neglected. In 1999, the World Bank found that state spending on education is among the lowest in the world, equivalent to 28 cents per child annually. Of the national budget, less than 1% is used for all civilian education.

Only three out of four children enter primary school, and of those only two out of five complete the full five years. According to a study conducted by UNICEF, the single greatest obstacle to school attendance in Myanmar is cost: 57.6% of households cannot afford basic education for their children. Female students are disproportionately affected by high dropout rates. Fewer than one third of all girls who enroll make it through primary school. Those children who are able to attend school rarely receive quality education. Textbooks, equipment and school supplies are outdated and in short supply. Teachers salaries are far below subsistence wages and have forced many teachers to quit out of economic necessity. Increasingly, only propsperous families can afford to send their children to school, even at the primary level.

In addition to dropping out of school for financial reasons, thousands of children are forced to drop out or interrupt, their education for reasons associated with conflict due to: lack of an educational infrastructure; few teachers; security concerns; constant transience due to forced relocation etc. How the Catholics in Myanmar will respond to these challenges regarding their duties of educating their children?.

6. Need of Accompaniment

As noted above,i f the Church in Myanmar is well accompanied and allows such accompaniment to take place, it can certainly develope into a participatory Church rooted in its own country. Here accompaniment means " journeying with the people, listening to them, listening to them, and challenging". Accompaniment means involving oneself in a different world view, a different culture and different people in order to develop and realize something jointly with them. Accompaniment is therefore impossible unless one has a thorough knowledge of the context in which one wants to become involved. It is ultimately a matter of partnership. And this assumes that one also genuinely knows the other people's circumstances, needs, etc. Moreover, if one wants to know other people's dreams, hardships etc, more than just superficially, detailed communication has to take place that extends beyond the negotiation of specific projects.

Accompaniment also means challenging. Challenging assumes, likewise, that one has a thorough knowledge of the project partners and the situation they live in. It is only this kind of knowledge that prevents challenges becoming overtaxing. In addition, the concept of accompaniment as a challenge assumes an open dialogue with the project partners. This is only guaranteed if an aid organization's project work favors quality over quantity, i.e concentrating on a small number of projects or employing enough staff to spread the load of project administration.

The grassroots communities are they that most need strengthening. Power relationships can only be changed, and greater freedom can only be realized, if ever the grassroots are empowered. To make this happen, one indispensable prerequisite is awareness-raising so as to develop a clear view of people's own situation and circumstances, reveal the causes of problems and open up potential solutions. Karuna Myanmar has taken the first step in this direction and deserves support from outside at both the international and diocesan level.

7. Awareness of the Effects of Globalization

Now all over Asia we can observe the effects of globalization which has great potential for good or ill. Unfortunately what we can see the effects of globalization in Asia are the negative effects. There does not seem to be any place, so rural or so isolated, as no to be affected one way or another by globalization, Myanmar inclusive. This may not necessarily be in form of technological advance but certainly in the form of considerable price increases of basic commodities. E.g Increasing oil prices has a domino effect on all goods.

In reality, the weak and poor nations of the world can not be competitive. They are simply small fish in the wide sea of free global competition, at the mercy of big fish. That is why Pope John Paul II has sounded the alarm over the phenomenon of globalization. It has its blessings. It has great promise. But we need international regulations and controls. We need the cooperation of superpowers so that these could look at the effects of globalization on poor economies. We need to temper globalization with solidarity.

The effects of globalization must contribute to the positive movements in Asia, particularly in Myanmar. The movements such as the movement to community, the movement to empower the poor, the movement to freedom among women and youth, the ecological movement and the movement to spirituality. All these movements that one can see among peoples, non-government organizations and people's organization point to one direction: human solidarity in Myanmar, solidarity with cultures, with ecology and with the Transcendant.

8.Indigenous Clergy and its formation

The Catholic Church in Myanmar is blessed with many vocations to the priesthood and various religious life. The first seminary was started by Bishop Percoto in Monhla village in Upper Myanmar and was completed in 1770 but later moved to Nabet village situated near Monhla in 1780. It was meant for the training of catechists and priests. The three first Myanmar nationals were ordained in 1789, after undergoing the formation in Yangon by a Barnabite Father called Sangermano. It seemed that the formation of the indigenous clergy was terminated with the end of Barnabite mission. During the few years under the mission of the Oblate Fathers, two other natives were sent to Rome to be trained at the Propaganda College and ordained priests in 1852 and 1854 respectively. For the next hundred years (1860-1957) the candidates from Myanmar were sent to the General college of St.Joseph in Penang, Malaysia for their priestly formation. During that period, realizing the needs of the local clergy, throughout the mission in Myanmar, minor seminaries were established according to one's own means and way.

It was only in 1957, September 1, that the regional major seminary was finally opened on Myanmar soil with the enrollment of 8 students under the charge of two staff members; Fr.Luigi Bengamini PIME and Fr. Vincent Zan, a diocesan priest while waiting for the arrival of the Jesuit. The staff headed by Fr.Joseph F.Murphy S.J arrived the next year and began a full function of the seminary. The Jesuit Staff were among the missionaries expelled in 1966 by the Socialist government. Of all the 68 students studied under the Jesuits, 41 became priests. With the expulsion of the Jesuit Staff, the indigenous clergy headed by Fr. Martino U Tin formed a new local staff to run the seminary which until present day takes care of the priestly formation for the Catholic Church in Myanmar.

With the directives came from Rome in 1983, Philosophy and Theology departments were officially established on 17 January 1983 as two distinct institutes, each with its own Staff. Though the Institute of Theology remains stable until now, there had been times of change and shift of the Institute of Philosophy from Yangon to Bago, from Bago to the present site at Pyin Oo Lwin.

At present, there are three Major Seminaries,(Theologate in Yangon, Philosophy in Pyin Oo Lwin and Institute of Spirituality) about 200 seminarians are undergoing their priestly formation. Every year, about 30 new candidates are admitted to the Major seminary in Yangon and about 20 have completed their priestly formation in Theologate in Yangon, and are ready to be ordained priests for the Church of Myanmar.

Our Christian Church in Myanmar needs priests and pastors who are truly of the soil, rooted in their own social, cultural and spiritual heritage, healthily integrated and inculturated. One of the criticism levelled at the Church in Asia, true also to Myanmar, is that after nearly 2000 years she still appears a stranger and a foreigner in her appearance and manner of worship. She is still viewed as a relic of colonial era. In the past, perhaps a misguided zeal made us throw the baby out with bath water. Social, cultural and even spiritual values present in other religions were frowned upon if not altogether rejected.

If in the past we rather indiscreetly rejected even what was good in other religions, we must take care, lest in the present, we indiscriminately adopt all that they offer. In the filed of inculturation discernment is necessary for we need to steer clear of two extremes: " the risk of passing uncritically from a form of alienation from culture to an overestimation of culture. Since culture is a human creation and is therefore marked by sin, it too needs to be healed, ennobled and perfected". ( Pope John Paul II, Redemptoris Missio # 54 ,December 7,1990). Christ assumed human nature but also redeemed it. The process of inculturation needs not only patience but also guidance. The guiding principles for inculturation are" compatibility with the Gospel and communion with the universal Church.

Without inculturation there can be no incarnation and without the incarnation there is no salvation. Christ was not born in a void or in a vacuum. He took flesh in the womb of Mary. He was born in a certain place and a certain time in history. His life was interwoven into the prevalent social, cultural and spiritual fabric of his time. As the Word of God, he spoke a human language, with a specific accent and a definite cultural heritage. " The incarnation of the Word was also a cultural incarnation" observed Pope John Paul II in his address to the University of Coimbra on May 15, 1982. In fact, "Christ by his incarnation committed himself to the particular social and cultural elements of the men among whom he lived" said Ad Gentes # 10. The Fathers of the Church are good models of inculturation. " Therefore, for future priests, going back to the Fathers of the Church means nourishing themselves from the very roots of Christian culture, and understanding better their own cultural tasks in today's world" (Instruction on the study of the Fathers of the Church in the formation of priests, congregation for Catholic education, November 10, 1989, #43.)

9.Need of renewal in formation in all aspects

Renewal in formation is absolutely necessary. Initial and on-going formation of priests and consecrated persons, the formation of the laity- all these have to be renewed. The new way of being Church and the New Evangelization in the third Millennium absolutely require a new type of evangelizer. We have to be familiar with Asian realities, particular with Myanmar realities. We need to be able to discern the movement of the Holy Spirit in our Myanmar cultures and our Asian traditions. We have to be persons of dialogue, able to share and pray with one another, able to form community with one another. We need to be formed in appropriate Myanmar missionary spirituality, a key to new evangelization in Myanmar.

The whole body needs formation. If we work only with one part of the body and ignore others, the renewal will collapse on itself. Clergy needs to be introduced to the renewal of the Church in Asia and pastoral methodologies and skills to build community; religious have to understand development besides works of charity and even more involved in the pastoral plan of dioceses; catechists needs to be retrained in animation and community development; and laity deepened in their spirituality through human and spiritual formation for engagement in the world. Seminary formation has to include pastoral exposure and personal transformation. Formation has to be systematic, with clear criteria for selection of participants, support for trained persons in the dioceses, and follow through application of learning. Otherwise, all training will be wasted.

Way forward

In reviewing the past 33 years of vision of renewal, the FABC sifted out ‘eight movements that as a whole constitute an Asian vision of a renewed Church’. They are:

1. A movement toward a Church of the Poor and a Church of the Young.

2. A movement toward a truly local Church, towards a Church incarnate in a people, a Church indigenous and inculturated.

3. A movement toward deep interiority so that the Church becomes a deeply praying community.

4. A movement toward an authentic community of faith. Fully rooted in the life of the Trinity, the Church in Asia has to be a communion of communities of authentic participation and co-responsibility.

5. A movement toward active integral evangelization, toward a new sense of mission.

6. A movement toward empowerment of men and women.

7. A movement toward active involvement in generating and serving life.

8. A movement toward the triple dialogue with other faiths, with the poor and with cultures.

The Asian Bishops summed up their entire approach to mission in the

‘New Way of Being Church,’ as:

a. dialoguing with the realities of Asia from within;

b. discerning the movement of God’s Spirit in Asia; and

c. translating into deeds what the Spirit bids us to accomplish (FABC V, art. 7.1).

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References:

1) FABC Papers No.920

2)Bishop Orlando B.Quevedo, O.M.I, on " Challenges of the Asian situation to Seminary and Religious formation" October 25,1999, Korea.

3)Fr.Alex Rebello's conference on "Spiritual Formation and Religious Tradition In Asia" October 26,1999, Korea.

4) The Crisis in Burma, by the Burma Fund October 2003

5) Human rights in Myanmar by Anne Schreiber (Missio),2004

6) Harmony through Reconciliation by Br.Anthony Rogers FSC, 2005