PIME Vicar General: Burmese Church "alive" but now needs "missionary spirit"
Rome (AsiaNews) - From the celebrations for the
centenary of the founding of the diocese of Kengtung in the days of Advent in
preparation for Christmas, Burmese Catholics are experiencing a period of great
ferment, characterized by a deep spiritual intensity. The
Church in Myanmar is "alive" and breathes - like the rest of the
country - an air of "greater freedom" of "movement and
ideas," says Fr. Livio
Maggi, vicar general of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME), speaking
to AsiaNews following his recent trip to the Asian country. However,
it "needs relationships to survive" and combat a growing materialism
which has already hit other nations in the region "such as Thailand."
The
PIME missionary, together with other priests, made a short trip to Myanmar,
from 6 to 11 December, to participate in the celebrations for the centenary of
the founding of the diocese of Kengtung held 7-9, which saw the launching of a Facebook
page (click here). From
Mass every morning at 6 am, concelebrated by dozens of bishops and priests
(pictured), in front of thousands of faithful, until the afternoon meetings,
symposiums and reflections on the life of the Church, the event was an occasion
of deep communion for Catholics. One
which, among other things, involved members of all ethnic groups and
minorities, including Burmese, Shan, Kachin, Chin and Akha.
The meetings, Fr. Maggi
tells AsiaNews, related to the reality
of the local Church: starting from the past, to the path of mission in Myanmar;
the second day focused on the current reality, and finally the prospects of the
pastoral plans for a "new evangelization" in the near future. Kengtung
is a diocese located in Shan State, in a nerve-center of the country that
borders China, Laos and Thailand, and is included in the "Golden
Triangle", a former hub of the drugtrade derived from the poppy
cultivation, which has seen a slight decrease in recent times.
"I
hadn't been back to the area for three years - said Fr. Maggi - and I found a
different air, greater freedom of movement and ideas." He
visited, along with others, thanks to the efforts of local authorities, the
tomb of Blessed
Clemente Vismara, PIME missionary in Burma, a hundred kilometers in-land,
where the controls are less strict than the city. "From
the point of view of the Church I found a vibrant Church - continues the priest
- that has a positive, if not optimistic, outlook toward the surrounding reality."
There
is, however, at the same time, the concern that "these openings can lead
to a separation of the faithful" to a "materialist and secular"
vision of the West, as is already happening in neighboring Thailand and also
touches on Buddhism. "Even
in Myanmar - he said - there is a real risk that people pay more attention to
the economic and material rather than the spiritual and religious."
The
future also touches on the work of missionaries in the country, once key to
planting the seed of faith and then expelled by the military dictatorship. "Modernization
and globalization are the challenges of the coming years," said Fr. Maggi,
in a Church which "represents a bridge" and especially for the
different souls and cultures that characterize it, by connecting countries as
diverse as "Bangladesh, Laos, Thailand, China and Vietnam." "For
this - adds the Vicar General of PIME - it is essential to reacquaint people with
the underlying reasons of spirituality, because faith can not just be social
commitment, but must be a call to profound dialogue with the Lord." Finally
a thought for vocations, rising after decades of isolation, coupled with the
formation of the clergy who "must strengthen the missionary spirit",
opening themselves up and looking to the universal Church.
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10/06/2019 14:54
