wfn.org | Anglican province in Burma making difficult transition from old to new

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2001-309b

Anglican province in Burma making difficult transition from old to new

by James H. Thrall

      (ENS) The foreign missionaries have been gone for 35 years, expelled from 
Burma (Myanmar) in 1966 as part of a nationalistic sweep by the military 
government that plunged the country into decades of self-imposed isolation. But 
their legacy lingers.

     Despite the justifiable pride Burma's Christian denominations take in having 
re-established themselves, practically overnight, as indigenous, active and 
expanding churches, some nostalgia for the "time of the missionaries" refuses to 
die.

     Older generations, especially those who actually remember pre-1966 days, 
"want to retain the traditions taught by the missionaries," said Anglican 
archbishop Samuel San Si Htay of the Church of the Province of Myanmar.

     When it comes to church practices as fundamental as forms of vestments and 
types of music, "we are still using the old style of service," agreed Assistant 
Bishop Philip Aung Khin Thein of the Diocese of Mandalay, at 42 the province's 
youngest bishop. "It's not easy to change because we are fixed for so many 
years."

     But young people especially are ready for something new, he said. "They want 
folk music during the service. They want to sing with guitars."

     A student at the Baptist Myanmar Institute of Christian Theology (MICT) in 
Rangoon said some churches of all denominations are "now encouraging people, 
especially young people, to write hymns in their own language. The tunes and all 
are very much Burmese." But, she complained, "they can't be used in church. 
Especially the older people will not accept the hymns sung with Burmese tunes."

     In order to be sensitive to the feelings of older parishioners, said Aung 
Khin Thein, "we have to take time. Certainly we cannot change immediately, but we 
hope in the future to change."

     A newly adopted prayer book published in Burmese, but not yet translated 
into English, tries to merge and update the spirits of the 1662 and 1960 
liturgies that had been in use before. The revised prayer book intentionally 
introduces threefold litanies reminiscent of Buddhist forms of blessing as a way 
to make the liturgy more accessible to potential Buddhist converts.

 'Not yet' for female priests

     Specifically female imagery for God in the prayer book, however, has yet to 
be considered. And while the province long ago accepted the principle of female 
ordination, no women have yet been ordained as priests. 

     "We've accepted the ordination of women in principle, but not the practice," 
said the Rev. Saw Maung Doe, principal of Holy Cross Theological College in 
Rangoon, the Anglican seminary. "Personally I think it's a long way to go because 
of the tradition," said the Rev. Peter Thein Maung, provincial treasurer. "For 
some people it is a little difficult for them to accept it."

     In part the hurdle is local rather than specifically Christian culture. 
Because of the premium placed on ethnic identity among the majority Burmans as 
well as the country's numerous ethnic minorities, traditional models of male 
dominance can be hard to shake. "People want to identify the tradition with the 
ethnic group," said San Si Htay.

     The province's Anglo-Catholic roots, combined with the country's long 
isolation, may also have much to do with it, suggested the Rev. Napoleon Aung 
Tun, a deacon and provincial coordinator of mission and evangelism. "A lot of 
people don't understand. They think that Anglo-Catholicism is the only Anglican 
tradition. They don't know there are many faces of Anglicanism."

     One Anglican church leader suggested that in some dioceses with parishes 
that might accept female priests, such as the Diocese of Yangon, there are enough 
male candidates to fill any open pulpits, and "so women do not need to be 
ordained." In the dioceses with shortages of clergy, such as Hpa'an, which is 
heavily Karen, or Mandalay, which is mostly Burman, however, cultural norms 
present barriers, he said.

     "It depends on the culture [in which] only the man is the priority. That is 
the Burmese and Buddhist culture," Aung Khin Thein said. "My personal opinion is 
'no problem,' but I don't know about the other bishops."

Getting the same education

     At Holy Cross, where women have been accepted as students since 1976, 18 
women, or nearly a third of the 56 students, are preparing for various forms of 
non-ordained ministry. After their four years of study, women will have earned 
the same bachelor of theology degree as male students, but usually will pursue 
work in religious education, youth ministry, or Mothers' Unions, will join staffs 
of provincial or diocesan offices, or teach in Bible colleges.

     While other denominations, including the Baptist and Methodist, have 
ordained women, the number of female clergy throughout the country is still low. 
Somewhat paradoxically, the principals of two of the most prominent seminaries in 
Rangoon, the English-language Myanmar Institute of Theology (MIT) and the 
Burmese-language MICT, are both women.

     Archbishop San Si Htay's daughter, Snow, a student at Holy Cross, said that 
while she hoped there would be female priests in the future, she recognized the 
cultural barriers existing at the moment. Her own studies, she said, are prompted 
by a desire "to know more about theology," and to "help my father's ministry."

     Another female student suggested the proper strategy for Christianity as a 
minority religion is to "Burmanize our Christianity, not Westernize it." Although 
a woman can not be ordained, she may still "want to serve the Lord as a 
layperson," she said. The Buddhist majority in the country already has difficulty 
"understanding our theology," agreed a male student. "We have to transform our 
gospel and our mission. We have to participate effectively in their social 
understanding so they can accept it."

     Yet another male student asserted that women should be ordained now, 
underscoring that "we are in the same training" at Holy Cross. "I hope and 
believe that women will be ordained," he said.

      "We have to do something," concluded San Si Htay. He recommended 
encouraging the development of the diaconate as a distinct order that would 
attract both men and women, to get the church accustomed to the idea of ordained 
women. "If we can do that, I think it won't take long," he said. "We have never 
known the styles of women priests here. We just know that mothers are very good 
at keeping house and raising children."

     But resistance to even those initial steps is likely, he added. "I don't know the 
other bishops--there are some still they may not like it," he said. "Even the Mothers' 
Union, they do not like it."

Addressing sexuality and AIDS

     The church also finds itself pushing against cultural norms as church-supported 
health workers attempt to respond to an epidemic of HIV/AIDS infection. With 
AIDS rampant in Burma, despite government efforts to downplay the extent of
the problem, a training program based at St. Mary's Church in the Diocese of 
Mandalay, as one example, is preparing young women from rural villages as 
health/spiritual outreach workers. More than 20 women have received the three 
months' training provided by retired professors and other members of the congregation 
who have appropriate expertise, said Aung Khin Thein.

     The Myanmar Council of Churches (MCC) has also invested "a lot of money 
and effort" to develop an extensive AIDS information effort, said the Rev. Smith 
Nguhl Za Thawng, general secretary. Given the government's slow engagement 
with the issue, the MCC initiative is a program he called "unwelcome, uninvited 
but unavoidable."

     While much of Burma's AIDS infection is related to drug use, health workers 
also address safe sex measures, though sexuality, whether heterosexual or 
homosexual, is a difficult topic to discuss. "It's considered quite shameful," said 
Aung Khin Thein. "You cannot study sex with men and women together." Even in 
theological colleges and Bible schools, "It's difficult to talk about the subject," he said.

     The stigma associated with rape, for example, has kept Burmese women used as 
"comfort women" to provide sexual services to Japanese soldiers during World War II 
from coming forward, reported Anna May Say Pa, MIT principal. "They dare not speak 
up because it would bring disgrace on their families," she said.

     There is a particular reticence about discussing homosexuality, and especially 
about admitting it might be at all common among Burmese. Church health workers 
will share about homosexuality "just to prevent AIDS," Aung Khin Thein stressed, 
not to promote it. "We just share and we teach what we heard from the other world."

     And with the church yet to ordain women, the issue of ordaining non-celibate 
homosexuals is difficult to even contemplate, he said. Burma's bishops apparently 
did not involve themselves extensively in debates over sexuality at the 1998 Lambeth 
Conference. "They came  back from Lambeth Conference and just shared what they 
had heard from other countries," he said. "From our country, no reaction."

--James H. Thrall is a doctoral student in the Graduate Program in Religion at Duke 
University and former deputy director of ENS.