Faith Based Approach to Nation Building

Introduction:

In this paper some reflections are taken back from the presentation that I made at National Symposium held in 2005 November at National Major Seminary in Yangon on the occasion of celebrating the 50^th Anniversary of establishment (Archdiocese and Diocese) of Local Church in Myanmar. Time has passed. 7 years! Myanmar is changing in building a new nation. However, I find that some old remarks are still relevant to the present situations. Added to the old notes, a new look on it will be described from a Christian perspective. My main focus here will be fixed on how the Church in Myanmar can contribute to building a new nation of Myanmar.

Our Church in Myanmar has remained a minority Church comprising of ethnic nationalities such as Kachin, Kayah, Karen, Chin, Mon, Bamar, Rakhine, and Shan. It is a Church with great potential having a good number of vocations to the life of Church’s ministers and religious life and the lay people’ pieties are still deeply religious. A blessing in disguise, as a result of the country's long seclusion for about 50 years (since 1962), the Church has still retained much of Gospel and human values that regrettably disappeared in some countries in the globe, due to negative impact of globalization. Our Church in Myanmar can be criticized for many weaknesses, yet it has launched on its journey despite of all its weaknesses and internal and external challenges. These challenges concern internal communications between lay people and the clergy as well as external communication with the other faiths. The Church in Myanmar has set itself the objective of providing inward solidarity with the poor and vulnerable people and outward solidarity with the people of other religions. The tasks to be performed in this context are as varied as the problems that are encountered. In a word, our Church in Myanmar has a mandate and a role to play in building a new nation of Myanmar that is for a nation of justice and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit ( Rom 17: 14).

“The Church’s deepest nature” said Pope Benedict XVI, “is expressed in her three fold responsibility: of proclamation of the word of God (kerygma-martyria), celebrating the sacraments (leitourgia) and exercising the ministry of charity ( diakonia). These duties presuppose each other and are inseparable”.( Deus Caritas Est, DCE, 25) (cf: On service of Charity, Apostolic Letter,Nov 11, 2012)

Change that we need in nation building

“ It seems to me that most people simply let life happen to them. However a few, a very few, decide what’s going to happen to them in life” (cf. John C Maxwell). Many of us wait for change but only few of us like to make change happen realizing that If we can not be victors of change, we will be victims of change. To just stay alive is not enough. There is a need to learn how to do more with life than simply let it happen to us. Much is changing! Changing too fast! Alarming us in the invitation to this seminar workshop. The golden age of the Church in Myanmar has ended when a coup was staged in 1962. All mission infrastructures collapsed as nationalization and confiscation of mission properties took place. About 300 foreign missionaries expelled. Our Church in Myanmar has experienced its Dark nights!. It was a real Kenosis Experience. Humanly speaking our Church in Myanmar could have withered and died out with the effect such deadly blows. However God is with us (Immanuel). Thanks to Catholic Bishops Conference of Myanmar (CBCM) and Myanmar Council of Churches (MCC) leading and guiding the Church in Myanmar prudently and patiently throughout these difficult years and coming out courageously with much resiliency at the down of building a new nation.

To be able to adequately cope with the rapid changing situations in Myanmar, the Church needs to develop herself to be proactive rather than reactive, flexible but pragmatic. Under long years of restrictive and oppressive conditions the Church has been used to be passive and reactive. Now time has come in building a new nation the Church has to learn to be more proactive in taking leading and prophetic role. Change is always painful and many prefer to remain in their status quo (a comfort zone). Now is our departure point. To change the traditions and the 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 as well as lay people in equal measure. While for the 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.

 FABC has emphasized on developing a participatory Church for Church in Asia empowering lay people. Leadership in social matters has to be passed on to competent lay people. The socioeconomic and political fields are their arenas. After Vatican II, the role of laity is much 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 Catholic Church in Myanmar. The reason was easily justified by the difficulties which the young Church and young Hierarchy was faced during long years of isolation. 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", Youth, Women Associations, or under many other names in Myanmar. Though in some areas lacking inter-diocesan coordination 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.

In this process of building a new nation of Myanmar, a move that we need to take is to have more coordination and collaboration established among our Christian Churches in Myanmar forming one united force, being a model of unity in diversity to this multi ethnic nation.

Service of Charity in building nation

“The service of charity is “ said Pope Benedict XVI“ a constitutive element of the Church’s mission and an indispensible expression of her very being” ( Deus Caritas Est, DCE, 25). It is the right and duty of all the faithful to devote themselves personally to live the commandment of love (cf. Jn 15:12). We have to devote ourselves to offering our contemporaries not only material assistance, but also refreshment and care for their souls. (cf. DCE 28). Whether in the small communities of particular Churches or on the level of the universal Church, the Church is called as a whole to exercise of the service of Charity.

Cyclone Nargis (2008), Cyclone Giri ( 2010), Shan East Earthquake ( 2011), Kachin Conflicts ( 2011 - ) just to mention a few, the Church in Myanmar has manifested the love of God towards all her neighbors ( disaster affected people) regardless of status, faith and ethnic affiliations. We are our brother’s keepers. Love of God is manifested in our actions. Seeing Jesus forsaken among the afflicted people we remember what Jesus said “ You did it to me” (Mt. 25). “ Important is not how much we have done but how much love we have put in our doings” said Blessed Mother Teresa. In carrying out our charitable activities reminded Pope Benedict XVI, the various Catholic organizations should not limit themselves merely to collecting and distributing funds, but should show special concern for individuals in need and exercise a valuable educational function within the Christian community, helping people to appreciate the importance of sharing, respect and love in the spirit of the Gospel of Christ. ( On the service of Charity).

Our service of Charity (Diakonia) has to become our way of building a new nation of Myanmar.  Threatened by global warming and climate change our nation is prone to various natural disasters. Friend in need is friend in deed, in the moment of difficult situations encountered, how can we join hands together as Christian Churches in Myanmar to manifest the love of God in concrete way is our way forward. Jesus comes to serve not to be served!

Respect and Dialogue with Cultures in nation building

No dialogue, no life! Communication is life! Today dialogue and meetings must take place on various levels both inside and outside the Church. This seminar/workshop is a proof of our coming together to cultivate a round table culture among us. Such kind of good practice and initiative needs to be enhanced. Dialogue within the Church also means discussion between the various ethnic groups to which our Christian communities belong. Ecumenical events should be created more often, not only once a year during week of Unity Service. Dialogue beyond the Church includes discussion and meeting with followers of other religions in the form of Interreligious dialogue.

Here comes the need of a dialogue with cultures in Myanmar. Dialogue with culture concretely means inculturation. The Catholic Church in Myanmar is blessed with many vocations to the priesthood and religious life. Today our 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 leveled at the Church in Asia, true also to Myanmar, is that she is still viewed as a relic of colonial era. In the process of building a new nation in Myanmar, the Church needs to be more incarnated!

Of course, in the field 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".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,( Church ministers) 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.)

Option for the poor in nation building

Myanmar once rich in economy in Asia but now categorized among the least developed countries. In building a new nation, the president of the country announced steps for poverty reduction. Option for the poor an expression of solidarity in nation building. Here the word "poor" is not to be taken only in material sense. There are also the issues of educational opportunities and gender equality. For the Church, with the poor ought to include working with the refugees, migrants and displaced people, the poor, the sick and the handicapped. 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 a good 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 she wants to live and suffer with the poor. The challenges are huge but we can recall the words of Blessed Mother Teresa, Missionary of Charity, “ In our life we may not be able to do great things, but we can do small things with great love”.

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 4:16-19).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 sign of God's love for them. 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. These are again the challenges that can be counted in the process of nation building to which the Church in Myanmar is urgently called to participate if she really wants to be the Church of Myanmar. 

 Promoting Civil Society in nation building

In Myanmar, the Church with her institutional structure is regarded as a well organized faith based organization. In this sense the Church has to be well prepared to transform the society in which she lives. Like the Catholic Church in general, the Catholic Church in Myanmar, being hierarchical in structure, technically speaking in a sense, may not be regarded as a model of Democratic Society. However the concept has changed since Vatican II, now more clearly defined, that the Church is Communion. A new way of being Church in Asia is set up by FABC.  In this way that the Church in Myanmar 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 her own followers, but extending her efforts to others as well, the Church could use awareness-raising and education to prepare people for a democratic life together. Grassroots communities are one place where democratic structures and democratic behaviors can be practiced. A Church that is aware of her own good organization should not neglect the responsibility of transforming into a democratic community that respects human rights.

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 would 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. 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.

Uplifting the standard of education in nation building

Christians missionaries like Jesuits, Dominicans, Franciscans, Barnabites, Oblates, MEP, PIME, Columbans, and Rev. Judson and companions, etc, have contributed a lot in building Myanmar (ancient) through their tireless endeavors on founding a flourishing Education System. Myanmar was once considered one of the most literate countries in Asia. 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. This is a challenge!

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 due to poor family income. 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. Text books, 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 prosperous families can afford to send their children to school, even at the primary level. This is a challenge!

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 Church in Myanmar will respond to these challenges regarding their duties of educating their children?.

Future of a country lies in the quality of education given to younger generation. Now many new opportunities are open. Programs conducted by UNICEF like ECCD, EXCEL are the platforms where the Church in Myanmar is closely collaborating. Many NGOs are undertaking this responsibility filling the gaps that the Government is failing to do. Some Catholic dioceses organized community volunteer teachers sending them to remote areas for children education. This is a sort of creating job opportunity for them and at the same time providing access of education to children in villages. Yangon archdiocese is now known for TTC programs and Jesuit Education Programs.. We do not wait for change in this regard. We can make change happen here. We may not be given back our old confiscated mission schools, and we may not be able to build a new Judson college! but in our own way we can build  moderate schools, learning centers, language centers, IT centers, mobile libraries in building this new nation of Myanmar.  

Seeing globalization as threats and opportunities in nation building

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. How to keep ourselves prepared?

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”.( cf.)

However the effects of globalization can be 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 Transcendence.

Formation in the social doctrine of the Church in this regard is necessary and has to be contextualized. Without contextualization, social doctrine can become ineffective platitudes. But contextualized 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.

Facilitating accompaniment of international community that we need in nation building

In this globalized age Myanmar can not remain isolated. The country needs good accompaniment. As the country is open, many like to come to invest. Investment for accompaniment? Good! “ The nation is not open to looting by outsiders after five decades of  suffering” reminded us by Archbishop Charles Bo in his Keynote address yesterday (14, Jan 2013). The Church in Myanmar being international institution has a role to facilitate the proper and effective accompaniment of international community in nation building. If Myanmar is well accompanied and allows such accompaniment to take place, it can certainly develop into a participatory nation. Here accompaniment  means " journeying with the people, listening to them, and challenging them ". 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, seeking for the benefits of the targeted people rather than their own profits.

The grassroots communities are they that most need of 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 (Caritas Myanmar) has taken the steps in this direction and deserves support from outside at both the international and diocesan level.

Conclusion:

Constant renewal in formation and training is absolutely necessary. Initial and on-going formation of priests and consecrated persons ( Church Ministers), 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 evangelizers ( nation builders) along with the process of building a new nation. We have to learn to be familiar with Myanmar realities. Then we will be be able to discern the movement of the Holy Spirit in our Myanmar cultures in the context of Asian traditions. We have to be persons of dialogue, able to share and pray with one another, able to form community with one another establishing networking and collaboration, prepared to face new challenges in building this new nation.

The Church in Myanmar as the whole body needs constant renewal of formation. Church Ministers needs to be introduced to the renewal of the Church in Asia and socio-pastoral methodologies and skills to build community; religious communities have to understand development besides works of charity and even more involved in the social and pastoral plan of dioceses and local church communities; catechists and youths need to be retrained in animation and community development; and laity deepened in their spirituality through human and spiritual formation for engagement in the world. When all sectors of the Church in Myanmar is well renewed, we can be certain that we can make a change happen that is building a new nation of Myanmar.

fr. henry eikhlein ( January 15, 2013)

Reference:

1. An outline of the history of the Catholic Burmese Mission ( from the year 1720 to 1887) by Bishop Paul Ambroise Bigandet, published in Rangoon in 1887.
2. History of the Catholic Church in Burma ( 1856 to 1966) by Father Edward P. Evans, published in September 2012, Italy.
3. Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, by Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, 2005
4. FABC documents

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