1 From the desk of fr. ken mazur Dear Readers, Myanmar is one of the most beautiful countries in the world. The smiles on the faces of the people are just as nice as their demeanor; everyone is friendly and helpful. I was fortunate to have visited Myanmar a few years ago. A local priest, who was our host for those few days, helped us across the border with Thailand. Crossing the border used to be much more difficult; when we crossed, you no longer had to leave your passport with them; no longer interrogated by gun-toting border officers; no longer followed everywhere you went by the local police. The country was slowly opening up after decades of a military dictatorship. Myanmar is a mountainous country, and the roads are not in the best shape; many of them were made by Americans and their allies during WWII. In 1866, the Vatican entrusted the country of Burma (its former name) to PIME, and two years later, two of our missionaries set sail to begin the mission. In 2018, PIME celebrated 150 years of presence in Myanmar, although most of our missionaries were expelled in the 1960s after the beginning of the dictatorship. The 1950s were tough years. Five of our missionaries were brutally martyred; two of them, Mario Vergara and Alfred Cremonesi, have been beatified. For many years, Myanmar was the world’s largest grower of poppies, which of course, is used to make opium. Just recently, that “honor” was taken over by Afghanistan. Nevertheless, the Golden Triangle, the area where Myanmar, Laos, and Thailand converge, is still a large producer of the drug. In the early hours of February 1st this year, the peaceful and simple, yet busy, lives of the people of Myanmar were shattered by a coup d’etat, a military takeover. Once again, these simple and poor people have been thrown into chaos. We do not hear too much about this on our Evening News because Myanmar is not a country important to the United States. Since the coup in February until today (mid-April), more than 600 innocent citizens, many of them young, peaceful protestors, have been killed by the military. The dictatorship often claims that they have received the “death penalty.” Please pray for the people of Myanmar and our PIME Missionaries. In Christ, Fr. Ken Mazur, PIME US Superior 2 May // June 2021 INSIDE ON THE COVER Mission In the wake of February’s military The Coronavirus has taken the life of coup, the people of Myanmar have 07 the first Missionary Bishop from Brazil, 12 already faced violent atrocities as PIME Missionary and Bishop in Guinea the world watches and waits. Bissau, Monsignor Pedro Zilli. Fr. Daniele takes a look at a Basilica Featured close to the hearts of Detroiters, with its 19 Sr. Emanuela Nardin, MDI, Art Deco-style architecture. incorporates media to help reach students while both educating and 16 Misión en Acción evangelizing in Brazil. Highlights of this month’s issue for PIME’s Lay Missionary our Spanish-speaking supporters. Association offers the opportunity 26 Lo más destacado de la edición de 22 for professionals to lend their help este mes para nuestros partidarios in the missions. hispanohablantes. Publisher: PIME is present in the following parishes Fr. Ken Mazur, PIME in the United States: Executive Editor: St. Ann & St. Lucy - Harlem New York, NY Fr. Daniele Criscione, PIME San Francesco – Clinton Twp., MI PIMEMISSIONARIES SINCE 1850 Translation: St. Rosalia - Regina Pacis - Brooklyn, NY Fr. Dino Vanin, PIME St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception - Monroe, MI Editing & Design: (313) 342-4066 Patrick Carroll U.S. Mission Office Mailing in Canada: Proofreading: 17330 Quincy St. 980 Louis Avenue [email protected] Michelle Regner Detroit, MI 48221-2749 Windsor, ON N9A 1X9 www.PIMEusa.org Stacey Bentley 3 Fr. Giovanni Tulino, PIME, shares the mercy of Christ with the Cambodian people through his work as a teacher. Featured reality of his mission, where there are precisely five Catholics. waiting to The geographical coordinates are those of a suburb south of Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. The mission here was born in Ta Khmau in 2014, with Fr. Mario Ghezzi, the current Director hear his of the PIME Mission Center in Milan. This birth- place of the mission in Cambodia was entrusted to the hands of Fr. Giovanni Tulino three years ago. voice However, the religious coordinates speak of a pop- ulation of 15 million Buddhists by tradition, and By Anna Pozzi the Catholics number about 20,000 throughout the country. “We practically all know each other!” In the rural area of Ta Khmau, there are only five Fr. Giovanni, who is originally from the province of Catholics. Here, most of the inhabitants have never Naples, Italy, jokes. heard of Jesus. Father Giovanni Tulino’s mission is Born in 1979, he arrived in Cambodia in October one of waiting and of loving freely. of 2014. A country where “almost no one knows Jesus, they have not even heard of him, but where hen it is said that the number of there is room for witnessing and sharing.” Christians can be counted on one’s After spending the first three years dedicated to fingers, it is not an easy metaphor. studying the Khmer language, with knowledge and In theW case of Fr. Giovanni Tulino, PIME, it is the pastoral experiences in the three ecclesial zones in 4 Mission World waiting to hear his voice which the country is divided, Fr. deals mainly with Ompau Prey. knowledge.” Giovanni agreed to move to Ta Ta Khmau should become the Many people think that Fr. Khmau. A suburban area six miles beating heart of this area, even Giovanni is simply a teacher. It is from the capital, it is practically though only two of the baptized the locals who point out that, no, incorporated into the greater are originally from here, while the he is the priest. What does that Phnom Penh. Next year they will other three come from elsewhere. mean? For many, nothing. “Most open a new airport there, and But we also have a group of four people,” he explains, “do not even they recently completed a road women who are going through know what the Church is. They that quickly connects it to the the catechumenate in prepara- think it’s an NGO or something. capital. However, even today in tion for Baptism,” the PIME Mis- But when they experience the Ta Khmau, there are gratuitousness of God, still buildable areas, many doors open. It and the cost of living happens, for example, is a bit lower, making it “It is challenging to when we bring a sick more attractive to the person to the hospital many who prefer to transmit the Lord’s or take care of them commute. Fr. Giovanni without asking divides his time anything in return. It is between Ta Khmau gratuitousness. something that strikes and Phnom Penh. them very much. I am Having done biblical convinced that this is studies in Rome, he In Cambodian, the key to entering the has also agreed to teach hearts of Cambodians: Sacred Scripture in the grace and gratuitous- seminary, deal with there is not even a ness, which do not biblical pastoral work exist in their culture for the diocese, and and mindset. It is not train catechists on the word for ‘Grace’.” easy, on the contrary. Bible on Saturdays. In It is challenging to short, even though we are dealing sionary explains hopefully. transmit the Lord’s gratuitous- with what the PIME Priest calls Some months ago, the ness. In Cambodian, there is not “a small flock,” there is certainly house next to the mission was even a word for ‘Grace’.” no lack of work. “Pastoral activity purchased; a nursery school with Indeed, even from the per- is the one area in which I try to 35 children and an after-school spective of faith, correct termi- invest more than any other, and program were opened. In front of nology represents an obstacle that the one to which I dedicate the the house, there is a large clearing is not easily overcome. “We are at most time,” he says. Not only that, for playing, and upstairs there the very beginning. We are a bit though. The pastoral sector that is a hostel with eight children like the Churches of St. Paul, the he is in charge of consists of three attending secondary school. They first to be able to pass from oral to communities: the central one in come from villages and hope to written tradition,” the missionary Ta Khmau; the one in Koh Noy, continue their studies. “The idea says. “For us, too, the difficulty is half an hour away, started about is not only to host these young precisely this: we do not yet have 15 years ago with 35 baptized people but to involve them in a language of religion and faith. Catholics; and another one in activities so that they can act as a Transmitting Gospel values is Ompau Prey, an hour or so away bridge with the kids in the neigh- complicated for this reason, it is by car. “I live in Ta Khmau and borhood. We stay open from six in why it is necessary, first of all, to deal mainly with this community the morning to seven at night. It is translate them into gestures. For and that of Koh Noy, while Fr. the only accessible space, parents example, in the villages, aware- François Xavier, a priest of the trust us to send us their kids, and ness-raising, and training activ- Foreign Missions of Paris (MEP) some even ask a few questions.