School and education: the Burmese Church looks to young people for the country’s future
In Pathein (capital of Irrawaddy Division) and Pekhon (suffragan to the archdiocese of Taunggyi), Catholics organised summer camps for children aged five to ten.
In Pekhon alone, more than a thousand children signed up. One parish hosted all the children for a full week. Activities included catechism, Biblical plays, religious songs, games and physical activities.
The idea behind the camp was to get children to appear in public, speak to others and about themselves. All these activities occurred during school break and included meetings of young people and catechists as well as spiritual retreats.
In Pathein, local Catholics chose instead to offer training course to children and teenagers. A seminar that lasted a week brought together kids from different parts of the city. These meetings, which were open to all young Catholics, later moved to the participants’ different neighbourhoods. On these occasions, people took part in catechism lessons, health education as well as leadership and management training.
The goal was to bring together young people, especially those from the villages, so that they could establish ties with other. Participants had the opportunity to exchange information and stories about their place of origin as well as the cultural and religious activities in their respective parishes.
Yangon and Mandalay are two big commercial hubs. In these big cities, priests cannot easily organise activities for children. During school break, they are personally involved in preparing next year’s school year, whilst parents would rather see their children help out at home in the daily chores.
For this reason, catechism lessons in Yangon were offered on a rotating basis to enable those who could to attend. Those who could take part in the daylong programme received food and took part in music and English courses as well as prayers in the city’s cathedral.
In Mandalay, the parish priest had announced catechism lessons for communion and confirmation. However, since the response was not what he had hoped for, he went door to door. At the end, he was able to bring together more than 70 participants, up from the initial 10.
He also decided to pick up the children with his van. In addition to the catechism, children were provided with lunch, an afternoon snack as well as leisure activities, before they were taken home.
Religious freedom is not fully respected in Myanmar. There are still some trouble spots where fighting still takes place. In Shan state, for example, the local ethnic minority is still at war with the regular army.
In the diocese of Taunggyi, the bishops were unable to celebrate Our Lady in the nearby Maing Pan shrine for fear of clashes between armed factions. This did not however stop prelates, friars, priests, nuns and lay people from sponsoring support programmes since “education is crucial for young people and the country’s future.”
In Mandalay, the Church also organised a prayer meeting open to members of others religions to commemorate the victims of the quake and tsunami in Japan.
Around 200 priests, pastors, religious sisters, Buddhist monks, nuns and lay people from different religions took part in the interfaith prayer gathering in the hall of the Sacred Heart Cathedral, Mandalay city on 2 April.
Organisers also raised around US$ 2,600, which they said they are going to send to quake survivors.
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30/11/2021 15:48
