Changes are taking place

Let it never be said that the La Salette mission in Myanmar is dormant – rather that it is alive and vibrant! When La Salettes, after a 30-year absence, were re-installed in November 2005 at the request of the Bishop Conference, they began by accepting responsibility for running the Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary at Chantagone, Paleik, in the diocese of Mandalay. Five zealous Myanmar La Salettes – Frs. Bernie, Nicodemus, Philip, Jerome and David – accepted as well the charge of two other mission parishes. They also began preaching missions and retreats throughout the country and organized pilgrimages to the Shrine. In October 2006 two more Myanmar La Salettes – Bros. Anton Nyo, MS and Thomas Htan Shan Mong, MS – were ordained deacons in the Philippines. When they have finished their studies in theology in the Philippines they will return home and will spend about six months re-adjusting to their native culture. Hopefully they will be ordained at the Shrine on October 9, 2007 – a significant date because exactly 70 years earlier the first La Salette Missionaries arrived in Myanmar (called Burma at that time).

Changes are taking place. Fr. Philip is presently ministering with our Filipino La Salettes in Hawaii in preparation for coming to the Mission Center in St. Louis from where he will preach mission appeals during the summer. After his preaching assignment he will take time to prepare himself for a ministry in formation of future candidates to the La Salette Congregation.

Another change is that Fr. Jerome has been asked to join the ministry team at the Shrine of La Salette in France. If he gets his visa he will leave next month. So you can see another reason why the arrival of the newly ordained deacons – and soon to be ordained priests – is a grace-filled occurrence.

I received word from Fr. Bernie about a crisis they had to face in late October and early November when the city of Chantagone and the Shrine became a refuge for flood victims. There are numerous dams throughout the area. Rains were abundant. This is usually good thing because rice is the main staple of the country. But when the rain did not stop, disaster struck. Early one morning in late October, while people were still asleep, the government decided to lessen the pressure on some of the dams – and they opened several flood-gates without notifying the people in the low-lying villages. Lives were lost. Houses were leveled. Vegetable gardens were wiped out. Livestock was swept away. Drinking water was impossible to find since wells and pumps were inundated by rising water. As the rains continued and more and more dams were opened, more villages surrounding the Shrine were flooded. Hundreds of villagers – with their chickens and livestock – took refuge there. The property was crowded. Yet God provided. The Fathers were able to give them food and shelter. A local benefactor – himself a victim of another crisis  a few months earlier when he had to liquidate 300,000 chickens because of the bird flu – came to the rescue and gave the fathers hundreds of pounds of rice and curry for the flood victims.

It was difficult to ask these flood victims to leave and return to their villages as the waters receded. Even though only one daily meal had been provided, they were very happy to enjoy the hospitality, running water, toilets, electricity – most of the time – and, for the Catholics, regular Mass and the Sacraments.

Hopefully the floods are gone for good. But still it rained quite a bit in the second week of November. Many are preparing for the cold season which comes in a month. The experience of the floods brought out some of the best in many people. We thank God for giving us his love through one another.