There is much we must do to help democratic forces defeat the forces of repression and death

Benedict Rogers for UCA News

Just over a week ago, on the eve of the Feast of St. Patrick, Myanmar’s arsonist military dictatorship set ablaze the Cathedral of St. Patrick in Banmaw (Bhamo) in the country’s war-torn Kachin State.

That beautiful cathedral, built by the Columban missionaries in the 1950s, now lies in smoldering ruins. The clergy residence, the diocesan offices, and the high school are also in ashes.

This breaks my heart. Ten years ago, I spent several days at the cathedral at the invitation of its wonderful bishop, Raymond Sumlut Gam. It was just when Myanmar appeared to open up and transition to what one might term the fragile beginnings of democratization.

The bishop asked me to come and give a workshop for clergy, religious and laity of the diocese, on human rights documentation and advocacy, and in particular the importance of religious freedom.

I spent a beautiful few days in remote Banmaw (Bhamo). I arrived there from Kachin State’s capital, Myitkyina. Still, because of the war in Kachin State, I was prohibited, as a foreigner, to travel by road and had to fly from Myitkyina to Mandalay overnight, and then fly from Mandalay to Banmaw (Bhamo).

A journey that should have taken three hours by road took more than 24 hours and two flights instead.

I may well have been one of the first — or certainly one of very few — foreigners to visit Banmaw (Bhamo) after Myanmar’s re-opening. I was profoundly moved and inspired by the eagerness of the participants in my workshop to engage in rebuilding, reconciling and reuniting their communities and country.

Banmaw (Bhamo) then was filled with the sunlight of hope, even though the continuing storm clouds of conflict remained in the air.

Today, those rays of light are overshadowed by the burning embers of the fires of destruction, renewed repression and continued war.

The second reason this news is heartbreaking is that it is by no means the first time I have received news of such a tragedy.

Indeed, I receive similar reports on a weekly — sometimes daily — basis, so much so that there is a danger that I could become conditioned to it.

I must stay attuned to the fact that every act of barbarity, inhumanity, injustice, cruelty, killing and destruction is an act in and of itself, with dire implications for specific individuals made in the image of God and particular communities.

And yet it is part of a seemingly relentless pattern.

Over the past four years since the Feb. 1, 2021, coup in Myanmar, horrific acts of slaughter and devastation have become all too common.

Only last month, just 10 days after its establishment as the cathedral of a newly-created diocese, the Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Mindat, Chin State, was hit by the military’s airstrikes.

And last year, dozens of churches — Catholic, Baptist, and those of other traditions — were destroyed or desecrated, across Karenni, Karen, Kachin, Chin, Sagaing, and other regions of Myanmar.

Last August, for example, an airstrike targeted a church in Kyeintali Town, Gwa Township, Rakhine State, killing 11 civilians, including two children, and severely injuring 11 others.

On several occasions throughout 2024, as well as in previous years, churches, schools, and homes in Mon Hla in Sagaing Region, the hometown of Myanmar’s Cardinal Charles Bo, have been bombed.

Of course, it is not only churches and not only Christians who are targeted.

Myanmar’s Muslim population — the Rohingyas most acutely, but also other Muslim groups — face severe persecution.

Hindu temples have not been exempt from the military’s rampage.

And even though the junta cloaks itself in the mantle of Burman Buddhist nationalism, Buddhists who oppose it, or who are from the non-Burman ethnic nationalities are also targeted.

The military regime, while it weaponizes religion, is an equal-opportunity oppressor — pro-democracy Buddhist monks have been jailed, tortured, or killed.

When I was able to travel around Myanmar regularly and relatively freely, I worked closely with several courageous Buddhist monks to promote inter-faith dialogue and religious freedom.

Almost all of them have been jailed, some remain in prison and some have died at the hands of the junta. I mourn them just as much as I mourn the destruction of places of Christian worship.

All of this should motivate us to pray with more devotion and advocate with more passion for Myanmar, which as I have written before is Asia’s Ukraine.

As the world focuses on the crises that are in the headlines — particularly Ukraine and Gaza — let us not forget the conflicts that may not be in the news and may seem more remote, but are just as horrific, both in humanitarian and geo-political terms.

Myanmar matters — as a challenge in the battle between democracy and authoritarianism, as a contest for influence between the free world and China and Russia, and as a conflict between open societies and the dark underworld of narcotics and human trafficking.

You might not know much about Myanmar, but you should. Its suffering may be ignored, but it forms part of the underbelly of the dark world we must defeat if our freedoms, social fabric, and cohesion are to survive.

There is much we must do — to aid the people of Myanmar, to punish the military regime, and to help the democratic forces defeat the forces of repression and death.

But perhaps the first thing we should do, a week after the burning of St Patrick’s Cathedral in Banmaw (Bhamo), is to put on a St Patrick’s breastplate and pray with that great saint the prayer in full and these words in particular:

“I arise today, through
God’s strength to pilot me,
God’s might to uphold me,
God’s wisdom to guide me,
God’s eye to look before me,
God’s ear to hear me,
God’s word to speak for me,
God’s hand to guard me,
God’s shield to protect me,
God’s host to save me

…. Christ with me,
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me,
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right,
Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down,
Christ when I sit down,
Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.”

If we pray that prayer, and summon the strength to reach out to help the people of Myanmar and all freedom-loving peoples find freedom, slay oppressors, and rebuild their foundations, no matter how much my heart aches for the destruction that has taken place, we can shine a light to guide us to help build a better tomorrow.

*The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official editorial position of UCA News.