We Would Love
to Keep in Touch!
Burmese Lay Leadership
 |
|
Bp.Thomas Newman, M.S., (center) with Burmese who cut and float bamboo strips down the Thandin River. |
A letter from Bishop Thomas M. Newman, M.S., D.D., veteran La Salette Mission Bishop of the Dio-cese of Prome, Burma, revealed that he was about to leave on still another of his "tours" through areas of the vast territory of Burma confided to the care of the La Salette Fathers. This is nothing new to the Bishop since he has now been making these tours of the Mission for almost 32 years, from his arrival in Burma in 1937.
Many matters must race through his mind as he plods from one jungle post to the next with a step perhaps not quite as lively as it was far over a quarter of a century ago… many consolations must well in his heart as he recalls how the torch of the faith has grown ever brighter in this mission territory over the years... of how a mere handful of Catholics has now grown to almost 9,000... of how even in grave adversity, the faith of his people has shone brilliantly as they cling tenaciously to a faith that has come to them from far across the seas.
A Day to Remember
 |
| Original header for La Salette Missions Newsletter |
First Burmese Priest for Prome Diocese
Although this past year was a year to remember, perhaps no year, past or future, will be most significant to the La Salette Missions of Burma than was 1967, for the reason that it marked the Ordination of the first native priest in that Mission. His name is Father Cornelius Kyaw Khine, and no less important, he is the very first ordination to the priesthood by Bishop Newman. This is the climax of the Bishop Newman’s thirty years as a foreign missionary and especially his six years as Bishop of the Diocese of Prome.
Our Chapter – A Moment of Grace
 |
| Fr Jacek Pawlowski, M.S. |
It was my first time to serve as an elected member of our Provincial Chapter although I had served previously as Chapter secretary. There are a lot of things that impressed me. Our Chapter reports were prepared well by our Provincial Administration. These served to inspire many members with our recent accomplishments and the status of our province.
Be Open to the New
Also the Secretary of the Polish Conference of Religious, Fr. Kazimierz Malinowski, OFM Conv., spoke with us. He invited us to look at the chapter as an important event for us and the entire church. He invited us not only to assess our present situation in our province but also to look to the future with hope for new challenges. In my opinion and in that of many others, he inspired us to search for “the new”. This became to central vision of our chapter.
La Salette Church Raised to Minor Basilica
  |
|
| (L) New house is being build at Shrine, 1910; (R) pilgrims celebrate La Salette Feast,1930 |
In order to appreciate the foundation and ministry of the La Salette Missionaries in Poland, we need to understand from where they came and how they began their ministry.
The La Salette Missionaries arrived in Dębowiec in 1910. The seminary was founded through the efforts of Fr. Schalbettera Solomon, M.S., who bought the property on June 7, 1910 from the Dębowiec Municipal Board who had offered for sale the assets of the former Austrian minister, Count Florian Ziemiałkowskim.
The seminary was built between 1910 and 1911. In a short time the seminary became the center of worship of Our Lady of La Salette in Poland.
La Salettes in Angola and Namibia
 |
| Fr. Tarcisio Tchiheke, M.S., the first native Angolan La Salette priest |
The mission in Angola – then a Portuguese colony in Africa – began in 1946 when eight La Salette Missionaries came from Switzerland. Their missionary zeal was directed to poorer regions of Angola. As a result of their efforts to evangelize, to form Catholic communities, to build schools and to educate youth, they soon began to draw vocations. However the first native priest – Fr. Tarcisio Tchiheke, M.S., – came to the La Salettes from the diocesan clergy.
Today the La Salette Region in Angola is composed of 68 priests, 3 Brothers, 25 professed scholastics. There are 76 perpetually professed members and 20 who are temporarily professed.
We have a mission in Opuwo, Namibia, with priests and deacons serving there. Yes, God has blessed us in spite of hardship – or perhaps because of the fidelity to Mission – during more than 30 years of civil war in our country.
Catechists in Madagascar
 |
| Fr. Jeremy (2nd from left) with his catechists at Ankavandra |
A very interesting factor, at least in Madagascar, is that even though some of the catechists have received in-depth training in theology, liturgy and pastoral care, they are not ordained as deacons. The purpose is to emphasize lay leadership and the proper role of the laity. Catechists are not part of the clerical institution but answer the mission of their baptism.
It was Pius X who would have said, “give me a missionary priest and ten catechists and I will do more than with ten priests.” When I see Fr. Jeremy and Fr. Jean with their 20 catechists I am convinced of the truth of that intuition. Why? Because lay catechists, as church leaders, are present to the daily life of their village and of the Christian community they serve.
A Sick Call to Remember
 |
| Fr. Charles Gendron, M.S. (1917-2005) in our Hartford, CT, residence |
In the late 1950’s I was stationed at our church in Sandoway, Burma, along the coast of the Bay of Bengal. The country was torn with strife — some territories were controlled by government forces, others controlled by the rebels.
One day a man arrived and asked me to go a village where an old woman was in danger of death. I set out on the twenty-mile trek by the only means available — my trusty Raleigh bicycle. Seven miles down the road I had to stop at the government army outpost and show my pass allowing me to enter rebel territory (I had to be sure to show the right one since I also had - illegally - a rebel pass to travel into government territory). When I arrived at a large village where we had a church — I promised later to return and say Mass for them — I left my bicycle and traveled the next mile and a half through rice fields on foot, in the rain.
Arriving at my destination, I found the old woman — not lying on her mat dying, but sitting up eating a bowl of rice, seemingly not in bad health! I was exhausted, muddy and sweaty, so I told her I would get cleaned up and change clothes before hearing her confession and anointing her. “No!” she cried, “I want to go to confession and be anointed NOW!” And so it happened.
The Mission Post of Ankavandra
 |
| Map of Central Madagascar and Ankavandra |
The mission post of Ankavandra was, is and will ever be the most difficult parish in the diocese to visit. After countless unfortunate experiences, I continue to persist in my determination to spend some time in that mission post each year. This year was to be all the more memorable because, at 75, I should know better. Even though Air Madagascar has a scheduled weekly flight from Tsiroanomandidy, once you arrive at the Ankavandra airstrip you still have a 90-minute trek into town. The heat should be a deterring factor but there are also rice fields to cross, some muddy areas and a rather steep climb. Then there is always the river. Even though you pay $1.00 to have someone paddle you across, there is no insurance for the thrill of fighting the current.
Memories of Fr. Mike Blumm, M.S.
 |
| From !946 issue of “Our Lady’s Missionary” |
During his years in Hartford, CT, as a La Salette seminarian, he got the nickname “Mike.” Living in New England, where almost everyone was either a Red Sox or Yankee fan, he was an anomaly because he was an avid Detroit Tigers’ fan. So the guys began calling him “Mike” after one of his idols, Mickey Cochrane, manager of the Tigers.
He made his profession on February 2, 1940, and was ordained on May 26, 1945.
After World War II, when it was safe once again to send missionaries to Burma, Fr. Mike and five other La Salettes – Frs. Good, McElhinney, Gendron, Mannering and Perpete – volunteered. In September 1946 they arrived in Rangoon. Their first job was to learn Burmese – not an easy job because you not only have to learn grammar and syntax but – like many oriental languages – different tones of pronunciation. In his short history of La Salettes in Burma, Fr. Bill Doherty, MS tells this story:
“I recall standing on the banks of the Irrawaddy River waiting for one of our men as he crossed over. As he approached the shore, one of the ‘longshorewomen’ called out to him, ‘Priest, do you need any help?’ He answered, ‘Lady, no I don’t need your help’ – at least that is what he wanted to say. The key word should have been given the first tone – a high short tone. Instead he used the third tone. In effect he answered her by saying, ‘Lady, I have no desire for you.’”
Peace is More than the Absence of War
 |
|
Jonas Malheiro Savimbi (1934-2002) was an Angolan political leader. He founded and led the UNITA faction |
 |
|
A displaced girl in Uige who, like almost a third of her country's population, has been displaced by violence and war |
But what peace? Will it be a win-win situation that will allow partisans of both sides to finally work together for the good of the population? Will it be a peace that ensures non-violent solutions for future political conflicts and misunderstandings? Will the Churches, which have had a predominant place in seeking peace, have a role to play in this transition? Will it be a peace that permits the Gospel to find a place in this ravaged society? Will it be a peace that assures the inauguration of a democratic society conceived and implemented with respect for the culture of the people? The answer to these and other challenges depends on the type of reconciliation that is proposed and accepted.
Poverty and corruption are rampant — and this despite (or maybe because of) the fact that Angola has an annual export revenue of over $3 billion per year. Oil, gold and diamonds have been used for so long to buy arms. Can these revenues be turned into instruments of peace and prosperity?