Myanmar And The China Connection

By Sr Tammy Saberon SSC

Sr Tammy Saberon, a Columban Sister, was missioned to Hong Kong from 1982-1991. Then she was recalled to the Philippines to do vocation work from 1991-1996. After her renewal in England for one year she received her new mission assignment to Myanmar. Below she shares with us how she is.

Have you ever been to a place for the first time and yet you feel as if you were there before because the welcome you received was so familiar and intimate? This was our experience when we visited Myitkyina in Myanmar for the first time.

Out of Myanmar

Myitkyina is St. Columban Diocese. The Columban Fathers and Sisters worked in this place as missionaries in the 1940s. They worked hard to bring the Good News in the Kachin State, the Northern part of Burma, now Myanmar. One of the Columban ministries that greatly helped the natives was education. The Columban mission was cut short when the Burmese government in 1996 sent all foreigners and missionaries out of the country and took control of all the schools founded and administered by the foreign missions. All the Columban Sisters left that year while some of the Columban Fathers stayed behind for ten more years. Columban Bishop Paul Singtung Grawng, the first Kachin priest, since then, has taken the responsibility of caring for the Diocese for over twenty years without help from outside.

Mission re-opened

Early in 1999 Sr. Roberta Ryan, member of our Congregational Leadership Team, visited Myitkyina to see the possibility of re-opening our mission there. A few months later, Bishop Grawng sent a letter of invitation for the Columban Sisters to work in Myitkyina Diocese. Sr. Kathleen Geaney, our congregational leader, and her council considered the Bishop’s invitation by forming a Myanmar Mission Team composed of four members. And on March 26, 2001 Sr. Ann Rita and I left for Myanmar.

When we finally arrived in Myanmar, I knew that we had arrived in the place which was the home of the Columbans for many years and we were only “coming home”. The people welcomed us as if they were welcoming the same Columban Sisters who served and loved them years ago. When a little girl came up to me and gave me a bouquet of flowers, I could not hold back my tears.

Fruits of their labor

It was very touching when we met the former students of the Columban Sisters as they recalled their experiences regarding the dedication of the Sisters in their mission to the Kachin people. Certainly, they had sown the seeds while the local Bishop, the priests, sisters and catechists watered them and God made them grow. It is amazing how the local Bishop and the Church managed not only to survive but to spread the Good News. Today, Myitkyina Diocese has the largest Catholic population in Myanmar, in spite of the military regime. The good news is that the ceasefire between the military and the Kachin rebels since 1994 has never been broken so there is peace in the Kachin State.

Youth power

The Kachin people are simple, untouched by the sophistication of the western society. Their faith is pure and their zeal to spread the faith goes beyond the border of China with the help of their young people who continue to volunteer to go to the remote villages to spread the Good News. Young priests are assigned to remote parishes for ten to thirteen years before they get their renewal course abroad in places like the Philippines and Rome. The Columban Catechetical Center in Myanmar produced over five hundred professional catechists. We were there during the Silver Jubilee of Bishop Grawng and he gave recognition to these catechists. What is interesting was that out of the over five hundred catechists only 29 were women catechists. When asked why, their answer was because the catechists are sent to mission in remote villages in the jungles and they stay there for weeks while their wives take care of their children at home. These catechists receive little allowance but the community where they are assigned support them during their stay.

Since the day I was welcomed here in Myanmar, I knew I had come home. And just like the first Columbans who had come here years ago, I know I am going to have many delightful stories to tell.

The Church in Myanmar is very much alive. Brave, young missionaries go in over the mountains to China crossing the border to bring the Good News, despite many dangers. La Tawng was one of the catechists in Myitkyina Diocese. However he caught malaria and died during his mission in the mountains. His death was a great loss to the local Church but it has also caused many more youth to become mission volunteers. The Kachin youth volunteers leave their homes and families to serve for ten months up in the remote villages of the jungles of their widespread diocese situated to the east of China and west of India.