Ordinations in Myanmar

Columban Fr Neil Magill shares with us his participation in the ordination of five new Kachin priests in Myanmar.

Ordinations in Myanmar

The Kachin people are a large ethnic group inhabiting the Kachin State in Myanmar. A large portion of the Kachins support independence from Myanmar and are engaged in a war against the Myanmar Military for independence.

Against the background of this war and the displacement of thousands who have become refugees, I recently travelled to Myitkyina, the Kachin capital, for the ordination of five Kachin deacons to the priesthood. Columbans worked with the Kachin people from the 1930s up until the late 1970s, when the last Columban was expelled.

Participating in the ordination ceremonies was the experience of a lifetime. It was wonderful to be in a faith-filled atmosphere with at least 5,000 people for the three days of seminars, choir practice, catering and the ordinations.

Many of those participating at the ordinations were the poor, who had come from refugee camps. It was an opportunity for these refugees to celebrate even though they have been traumatized by this conflict and their dislocation from their homes.

Hundreds of women have been gang raped by the military. Innocent people, including many children have been killed; homes burned, villages destroyed and more than 10,000 people displaced from their homes and villages. They now have no homes, no money and no influence, but they do have a strong faith and a hope that they will see justice for their children.

I decided to ask one of the newly ordained priests about his vocation story and the role that Columbans had played in it. Fr Bosco N-lam Hkun Seng told me his story.

"In 1952, my grandparents were converted to Catholicism through the work of Columban Father Owen Rodgers. In 1956, my father was also baptised by him.

"My grandfather was a man of great dignity, which gained him the respect of all. For about eight years during the war years, priests could not visit his village. So he was the one who organized the faithful. The last parish priest in our village was Fr Owen O'Leary who left the village in 1967.

"My father hadn't been highly educated. He studied only up to grade eight in a Columban mission school in Myitkyina under Fr Thomas Walsh. He died in 1945 at the age of 34 from malaria after being interned by the Japanese during the war. My father also studied under Frs Thomas Dowling, John O'Sullivan and Owen O'Leary.

"When the war broke out, my grandfather called him back to our village and he could not continue his studies.

In 1967 he began working as a catechist and attended the catechetical course in St Luke's Catechist School under the guidance of Fr Bernard Way. My father is still a catechist.

"Since my father was a catechist, priests came to our home every now and then. So, priests were no strangers to me since my boyhood. From then on, I observed the way they spoke, the way they dressed and what they did. They were my heroes.

After I joined the seminary, however, I came to see the very human side of priests and how some could lose their vocation. On the other hand, I also saw some good and holy priests.

"In my seminary life, I liked reading mission magazines such as The Far East. I got much wisdom from those magazines.

"Regarding my vocation, I have learned one thing - that a priest should be seen and be approachable. Joy does not lie in material things, but in us. I believe that a life of commitment, simplicity and honesty gives us joy.

I truly want to die without being old, if being old means no longer being useful to others."

Columban Fr Neil Magill has worked in Korea, on the General Council in Ireland and now works in Myanmar.


Read more from The Far East, March 2014