Aid to the Church in Need: Burma: The Christmas that never was

Burma: The Christmas that never was

Posted by Press release on 18/2/2008, 9:30 am
Message modified by board administrator 7/8/2008, 1:43 pm

ACN News, Monday, 18th February 2008

BURMA
The Christmas that never was

By John Pontifex

REPORTS have come through from a remote corner of Burma showing how Christians were forced to scrap their main Christmas celebration at the last minute.
Most years, Catholics from a dozen or more villages in Chin State in western Burma meet for a large festive gathering, which climaxes with a Christmas service.
But last Christmas, the local bishop sent an urgent message urging that the traditional festivities be cancelled and requesting that the faithful hold low-key celebrations within their own separate villages.
For the villagers, it meant abandoning plans which were already far advanced – pigs had already been killed for the annual feast and a host of other preparations had been completed.
In an interview with Aid to the Church in Need, the Catholic charity for suffering Christians, a religious Sister from Burma said no reasons were given for the bishop’s actions but that fear of a government clampdown was a probable factor.
The Sister, who cannot be named for security reasons, said: “It was a very silent Christmas for our people. They were very sad – especially as everything was ready. There was a sense of great disappointment.
“Of course, they can celebrate by themselves but they much prefer to be together with people from other villages. It is part of the tradition and without it they feel very lonely.”
Burma, which is also known as Myanmar, hit the headlines last year when a string of protests about living standards quickly escalated into a national crisis.
As with earlier disturbances, the uprising was crushed by a military junta, which wields absolute power, defying international criticism and sanctions.
During her interview, the Sister explained that while the Church was not persecuted as such, Christians – who number 4.2 million (8.3 percent of the population) – were under tight controls and official permission to build churches was very rare.
A major break-through came when the Church received the go ahead to build a major seminary outside the capital, Rangoon, but just when the students were about to move in, the government seized the building and refused them entry.
The dispute was later resolved amicably and the seminarians resumed their studies in the new building.
The Sister said that in spite of the dictatorship her religious order was able to carry out evangelisation work.
One of the regions where they work is Wa State, in the north of Burma neighbouring China, where many speak their own language and in many cases Chinese.
She said “Most of the people we work with are pagan, worshipping trees etc. They have a very, very low education and are very poor.”
Alongside their evangelisation work, the Sisters provide support as teachers and nurses.
“We sometimes come up against huge dangers,” the Sister explained. “If a mother dies in child-birth, often the child is blamed. That is their culture. If one of our Sisters tried to intervene and save the child, the people might just attack her.”
She added: “The village elders respect our Sisters but the Sisters can’t really go in and talk about God because most people aren’t in favour. However, with time they change.”
“The Government doesn’t stop our work because they don’t really go to this remote part of northern Burma – the region has a certain amount of autonomy.”
Evangelisation is a key part of their charism. As novices they have to go out in twos and threes, visiting villages and talking about the Faith.
Vocations remain high with nearly 30 young women entering the order this year.
The Sister added: “As for me, I really like to work for God.”
Aid to the Church in Need provides about Ł500,000 in projects for the Church in Burma every year, supporting mainly evangelisation work including formation programmes for laity, religious literature, ongoing formation for priests and Sisters, Mass stipends and upkeep of Sisters' communities.

Editor’s Notes:

Directly under the Holy See, Aid to the Church in Need supports the faithful wherever they are persecuted, oppressed or in pastoral need. ACN is a Catholic charity – helping to bring Christ to the world through prayer, information and action.

Founded in 1947 by Fr Werenfried van Straaten, whom Pope John Paul II named “An Outstanding Apostle of Charity”, the organisation is now at work in about 145 countries throughout the world.

The charity undertakes thousands of projects every year including providing transport for clergy and lay Church workers, construction of church buildings, funding for priests and nuns and help to train seminarians. Since the initiative’s launch in 1979, 45 million Aid to the Church in Need Child’s Bibles have been distributed worldwide.

For more information, please contact the Sydney office of ACN on (02) 9679-1929. e-mail: info@aidtochurch.org or write to Aid to the Church in Need PO Box 6245 Blacktown DC NSW 2148. Web:www.aidtochurch.org

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Aid to the Church in Need PO Box 6245 Blacktown DC NSW 2148 ABN: 62 418 911 594
Ph/Fax (02) 9679-1929 e-mail: info@aidtochurch.org web: www.aidtochurch.org