The Archbishop of Yangon, Cardinal Charles Maung Bo, delivered an inspiring talk to the students and staff of Stonyhurst College, a Jesuit school in the United Kingdom, when he visited on Saturday May 21. He spoke of the role of the Catholic Church and the struggle for religious freedom in his country Myanmar.
Go, set the world on fire! On January 3, 70 young people, set out to do just that in their home countries – Cambodia, Korea, Myanmar, Macau, Taiwan, Thailand, Timor-Leste and Indonesia – after nine days spent in the first Magis JCAP, held at Omah Petroek in Kaliurang Yogyakarta.
Myanmar Scholastic Pius Than Naing Lin SJ is one of the newest members of the Arrupe International Residence (AIR) in the Philippines. As the international house of formation celebrates its 25th year, he shares how life in AIR is broadening his perspective.
The fury and ferocity of floods becomes more amplified when one sees the situation first hand. The data, descriptions and dashboards of information fail to project the face of people and their experience at the ground level. At the invitation of the Bishop of Kalay (Sagaing division – the place that took the brunt of floods), we visited Kalay. As the plane descends (roads are still to be repaired) an eerie scenario unfolds. A vast expanse of clay mud covers hundreds of acres where there were once villages and flourishing farming communities. Only water now.
The landfall on July 30 of Cyclone Komen in Bangladesh brought strong winds and heavy rains to Myanmar, particularly to Rakhine and Chin States and Sagaing and Magway Regions in western Myanmar. More than one meter (40 inches) of rain that followed turned the floods into a major natural disaster. On August 3, the Ministry of Agriculture stated that 525,895 acres of farmland had been submerged. The Relief and Resettlement Department (RRD) of the Government of Myanmar put the number of deaths at 63 and displaced people at 200,000. But newspapers (e.g.
We, the major superiors of the Jesuit Conference Asia Pacific, sincerely and enthusiastically welcome Pope Francis’ new encyclical Laudato si’ (On the Care of Our Common Home). He draws attention to the urgent need for reconciliation with creation, already one of our apostolic priorities in Asia Pacific. We urge all the members of our Conference, our colleagues, and all those we seek to serve to make a thoughtful and generous response to the Holy Father’s plea.
Can getting a higher education benefit entire communities and even countries? Jesuit Father Michael Garanzini, Secretary for higher education worldwide for the Society of Jesus, thinks so and he has the model for doing just that.
On May 19, Jesuit Refugee Service Asia Pacific issued a statement calling for Southeast Asian nations and the global community to respond to the suffering of the Rohingya people who have been fleeing Myanmar in unprecedented numbers in recent weeks. Thousands did so by boat and were stranded at sea after being turned away by Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia.
At Kanyintabin village, a community nestled on the bank of the vast Pyamalaw River, Jesuit Scholastic Cyril Nay Myo Htet, better known as Phocho, sat down with a group of farmers on a hot December afternoon, a mug of sweetened instant coffee in his hand. This was the time of the year when they harvested the yields of their toil and sweat.
A multitude from the remotest edges of Myanmar converged on Yangon to celebrate 500 years of Christianity in the country. According to Fr Chinnappan Amalraj SJ, Delegate for the Jesuit Myanmar Mission, they occupied all the empty spaces in and around the churches, halls, even Hindu temples.
Fr Joseph Aik Maung SJ, who was ordained in May, led one group of the Kachins who came from the northernmost dioceses. Fr Aik Maung is one of only three Myanmar priests in the Society of Jesus.