The way we were - Burma Farewell
09.07.2009
By Bishop John J. Howe.
Pressure from the government in Myanmar forced the Columban Fathers to take the heart-breaking decision to withdraw from Myanmar in 1978.
I handed over the Diocese of Myitkyina to Bishop Grawng on 24 April 1977. Three days later, there was a farewell function for me, held by the priests, sisters, catechists who had come for the handing over ceremony, together with the people of Myitkyina parish. Every Sunday a similar function was held in a different place until the final one in Bhamo on June 19.
Parting with my priests, sisters and people was not easy. That is no surprise. I have lived and worked among them as a priest for the past 36 years, and as their bishop for 18 years.
Yet, as I look back now from Rangoon while waiting for a travel permit to leave the country, I feel a sense of peace, serenity and gratitude that helps me to accept the sadness I naturally feel. What consoles and encourages me most is the clear realization I have of the bond of mutual respect and love that unites the priests and people of the diocese.
In the Diocesan Renewal Seminar that we held in Myitkyina after I had handed over to Bishop Grawng there was an air of sadness that was obvious to all. On the last day one of the catechists made a moving appeal to the Columbans to reconsider the decision to leave by the end of 1978.
The people, he said, wanted them to stay on, not because they could still help so much - help that was badly needed, but simply because the people did not want to be separated from them. They wanted them to stay even if they could not do any work.
Perhaps the best tribute one could pay the Columbans for what they have accomplished here over the past 40 years is to say that they have built a real community united in faith and love.
Through Baptism, the Eucharist, the Sacraments and prayer, we brought forth and formed our people to a new life and made them into a new people, a people of God. We made them a new people in the material sense too, through educating them, training them in hygiene, teaching them to appreciate the value of their customs and culture, and through the many other influences for better living that flowed from the faith we handed on to them.
Now as we leave them to take care of their church themselves; their strength lies, I believe, in that faith-informed community spirit and life. United in faith and love they can face the challenges and difficulties of the future.
The burden will grow lighter each year as more Kachin priests are ordained, but it will be many years before there will be enough to take adequate care of
the needs of the people. In the meantime they will need all the help that the Columbans and their benefactors can give them.
United in faith and continuous prayer, we can surely hope that God will help Bishop Grawng and his priests to bring to full maturity the community that the Columbans built on the foundation laid by the pioneer priests of the Parish Foreign Missions in 1872.
- Taken from The Far East December 1977.
