MYANMAR Religious face recruitment challenges with hilltribe youths

MYANMAR Religious face recruitment challenges with hilltribe youths
February 9, 2009 | MY06605.1536 |

YANGON (UCAN) -- Working with rural youths interested in Religious life in Myanmar often involves education and character formation as well as discernment. Yet they may still end up deciding such a vocation is not for them.

Members of the De La Salle, Our Lady of the Missions and St. Joseph of the Apparition congregations recently shared, in separate interviews, some of these challenges.

They all agreed that Catholics living in cities today are more interested in furthering their careers at home or abroad than in Religious life. Most candidates now come from rural areas, many of them hilltribe youths from Catholic boarding schools, especially in Chin, Kachin and Shan states.

Sister Margaret Mang, novice director of the Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions, said that after graduating from high school, young women interested in knowing more about her congregation live and work with the nuns during an annual “come and see” program. They work in various projects -- farming, gardening, raising fish and poultry -- through which the nuns support themselves.

However, the low standard of education in rural areas makes providing them the necessary training and formation a struggle, she shared. She hopes some may feel inspired to take up a Religious vocation after experiencing the nuns’ life and work.

Brother Lawrence Goh, 58, superior of the De La Salle Brothers, shared similar experiences. He noted that people from remote areas may need to learn how to interact properly in wider society. Some also “have an inferiority complex, and we need to be careful” in giving them formation, he added.

Young men who take part his congregation’s nine-month “come and see” program develop self-awareness, learn how they can serve the Church and receive regular counseling.

If they are interested in pursuing a vocation after the program, they remain with the brothers and study the De La Salle mission, English, music and catechism as aspirants. They are then sent to the Philippines for formation as postulants and novices.

Sister Rosy Tin Myint from the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Apparition shared that her congregation often has to discern if young people are joining for the right reasons.

Sometimes, they may just want to escape poverty, she pointed out. The congregation has to help them discern their real “motives and intentions, and, if they are genuinely interested, give them guidance.”

Another challenge is to ensure that formators themselves are adequately trained. As Sister Mang put it: “If you are not skilled, well-trained or professional, how can you train others?”

Good Shepherd Sister Agnes Paitu, 40, vocations director for her congregation, said formators need to learn more and attend more training programs so they can better understand these young people in terms of their background, emotions and motivation.

Still, the Religious acknowledge that even with their best formation efforts, not all candidates will take up a religious vocation.

“Our intention of welcoming the young girls” and letting them experience the congregation’s work, Sister Mang said, “is so that even if they have no vocation to become nuns, they can still be good leaders in their dioceses and parishes.”

According to the 2009 Myanmar Catholic directory, 1,771 men and women belong to the 30 Religious congregations working in Myanmar.