Sydney – Not just charity, but communion. This is how Cardinal Charles Maung Bo, Archbishop of Yangon, defined the commitment of the National Direction of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Australia to the people of Myanmar. He made this statement at the opening of the biannual plenary of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference in Sydney, which he attended last week.
The Archbishop of Yangon said his country was going through simultaneous economic, employment, social, health and education crises.
“Your solidarity is not an abstract idea; it is a light in the darkness,” he said. “Your support reminds our suffering people they are not forgotten by the universal Church.” The Salesian Cardinal added that the centenary of the establishment of World Mission Sunday reminds us that mission is “not just the work of missionaries, but the responsibility of the whole Church.”
Cardinal Bo asked for prayers for the people of Myanmar and then, together with the bishops, presided over a brief ceremony to install the new National Director of Catholic Mission, Peter Gates. “Cardinal Bo’s presence with all the Bishops of Australia and his engagement with so many Australians during his time with us exemplified in gestures, word and action Pope Leo’s theme and focus for World Mission Sunday: ‘One in Christ, United in Mission’, Peter Gates told Fides. “Such graced moments are wonderful signs of hope for all people and a world in much need of unity, peace and love.”
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