RANGOON — The Roman Catholic Church in Burma is celebrating the end of its 500th jubilee year this week with musical and dance events. Tens of thousands of people from across the country are expected to attend the events, which will end on Sunday.
At Rangoon’s 100-year-old St. Mary’s Cathedral on Friday, Christian hymns filled the air as Catholics from various ethnic backgrounds congregated to celebrate their religion.
People sang peaceful songs in Burma’s largest church, which was filled to its 1,500-seat capacity, and many more people gathered outside. An estimated 30,000 people from various states, such as Chin, Kachin, Karenni, Mandalay, Mon, Bago, Shan and Sagaing, are expected to attended the events, organizers said.
The Bishops Conference of Burma started celebrations for the “500th Great Jubilee Year” on Nov. 24, 2013 and with a number of events in the coming days the jubilee year will officially come to a close coming on Sunday, Nov. 23.
“I am very happy. An event like this I can only hold once in my life and all my brothers and sisters from different regions can pray together to our God and Jesus. I am very satisfied with my life,” said Father Wilfred Nefsut Soe of St. Mary’s Cathedral.
Organizers of the jubilee year said Catholicism was first brought to Burma’s shores by Portuguese sailors in 1511, but the 500-year jubilee could not be held in 2011 because of repression of religious minorities by the then-military regime, which has long promoted a nationalist, Buddhist identity for Burma.
As the political reforms of recent years have created more space for some religious minorities, the church chose to mark the jubilee this year.
“The Catholic Church came to Burma in 1511 and we needed to celebrate in 2011. But there are some problems [at the time], but we can celebrate now,” said an event organizer named Charlie.
“This celebration will be a historical gathering of Catholics from across the country in one place,” he said, adding that tens of thousands of people were attending.
Among the events held are mass prayer services in the morning and afternoon, and musical entertainment will be organized in the evening; performances will include traditional dances by some of the country’s Christian minorities.
Singers such as Nwat Yin Win, Chit Thu Wai, Chan Chan, Phyu Phyu Kyaw Thein, and Ni Ni Khin Zaw will be performing.
On Sunday, the events will wrap up with a prayer service at the 32,000-seat Thuwunna Youth Training Centre Stadium, where thousands of Catholics will join. A Kachin Manaw dance performance will close the celebrations.
Khin Saw, a dancer from Kachin State who will participate in the event, said she was very proud her dance troupe would be performing at the closing ceremony. “There are many ethnic dances in Myanmar but the Manaw Dance has been chosen and I felt very proud of my ethnic dance and religion,” she said.
Archbishop of Rangoon Charles Bo has said that Burma has around 770,000 Catholics spread across 16 dioceses, representing around a fifth of the country’s total Christian population, which he estimated at about 7 percent of the total population of around 51 million.
Burma is believed to be 80 percent Buddhist and the religious majority has long dominated state institutions and the army. During military rule, ethnic and religious minorities were discriminated against or persecuted, problems that continue to some extent to this day.
The United States Congress’ report on religious freedom 2014 ranks Burma as one of the worst in the world for religious freedom, in particular due to state-sponsored persecution of the Rohingya Muslims in Arakan State. Christian minorities like the Kachin, Karen and the Chin have long complained of being discriminated against, and face problems when they try open new churches or organize seminars.
However, Catholic Church leaders this week emphasized the new openness in Burma following reforms and have been at the forefront of promoting religious harmony and organizing interfaith dialogue.
Rangoon Division Chief Minister Myint Swe was invited to the jubilee events, as were national leaders of the Buddhist sangha and other religious leaders.
Father Mawyit, secretary of Myanmar Catholic Bishops association, said attempts had been made to invite Pope Francis to Burma for the celebration but he added, “The Pope cannot come to Myanmar. Pope is the leader of Vatican City State and he can only come when our Myanmar president invited him and I think there are some troubles to get the security assurances for the Pope.”
He said Father Oswald Gracias, President of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences, is attending the jubilee in Burma instead.
Joseph, a catholic from Shan State, said he was eager to see the head of the Roman Church in Asia. “It is a rare chance to pay respect to His Eminence Oswald Gracias and this is my first time I came to Yangon. I am very happy to be here and the 500th jubilee is an once-in-a-lifetime event,” he said.
