The Road is Long

Helping to discern vocations to religious and priestly life was a priority for our La Salette Missionaries from the beginning of their ministry in Burma in 1937. Their main concern was building up the local church. Consequently the first men who asked to enter the seminary were directed to the diocesan priestly way of life and ministry. When the La Salettes were forced to leave some 30 years later the diocese of Prome had been established and was prospering.

A few years later one diocesan priest, Fr. Bernard Mya Thein asked to become a La Salette Missionary, and joined the Filipino province. He returned to his homeland at various times in subsequent years. In the late 1980s he recruited young men who also wanted to become La Salette Missionaries. This was in view of returning someday to assure a La Salette presence in Myanmar. That dream came true in November 2005 when five Missionaries were commissioned by the Archbishop of Mandalay to minister at Our Lady’s Shrine in Chanthagone and two neighboring parishes. Since then ten other La Salettes have returned to Myanmar.

 However mostly for financial reasons vocation recruiting had to be suspended in the late nineties. It was decided, even after their return home, that a solid foundation needed to be laid before young men could be accepted for training. Frs. Philip Naw Aung, MS and David Kyaw Kyaw Lwin, MS were sent for further studies in India and the Philippines. Community meetings focused around requirements for candidates, the system of formation to be used, where a formation house would be located. Yet even as this was going on many young men were attracted to the La Salette way of life and ministry. Some came to the Marian Shrine just to be close to these Missionaries – eating with them, praying together with them, working along side them, sleeping wherever there was room, learning about what it would mean being a La Salette Missionary.

Now all is ready. Fr. Lucas Suan Za Lian, MS has been named Director of the first four candidates: Anthony, Aloysius, Job and Stephen. Like Christ on the road to Emmaus, Fr. Lucas will be there to listen, to share their joys and sorrows, ups and downs, doubts and difficulties. Their home will be a former restaurant a few miles from the Shrine. They will join the Shrine community each morning for prayer, meals and use of the computer to improve their English language skills.

Their formation road will be a long one. All candidates must have a college degree or equivalent. They must pass the TOFEL exam (English Fluency Test) with a score of at least 500 – although the seminary requirement is only 450. Then, after living with the community from six months to two years they can move on to a more formal engagement with the La Salette community – postulancy, novitiate ending with first vows, studies in philosophy and theology, and ordination.

May our Lady look out for and protect these young men as they journey toward a dedicated life as La Salette Missionaries.