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[HCDX] Kachin celebrate silver jubilee of RVA service
Kachin celebrate silver jubilee of RVA service in their own language
BANMAW, Myanmar (UCAN) : Kachin people in Myanmar's youngest diocese
are celebrating 25 years of a Catholic radio service in their ethnic language.
Radio Veritas Asia (RVA), the Manila-based short-wave station run by
Asia's Catholic bishops, has been airing its Kachin Service since
Nov. 15, 1982.
For the local Church celebration of the Kachin Service anniversary,
about 500 Kachin Catholics on Nov. 18 crowded into St. Patrick's
Cathedral in Banmaw, Kachin state, 840 kilometers north of Yangon, as
did Kachin Catholics in other diocesan parishes that same day.
Bishop Raymond Sumlut Gam of Banmaw heads the diocese that had been
carved out of Myitkyina diocese in August 2006. The two dioceses
cover Kachin state.
The Kachin Service programs, broadcast 6:00-6:27 each morning and
7:00-7:27 every night, discuss the Bible, health, youth and
education, satisfy song requests, and provide local and international
news as well as information on the saints. The programs also deal
with traditional Kachin customs and include a question-and-answer
session, Church news, homilies and Gospel readings.
There are about 1.2 million Kachin, living mostly in Myanmar's Kachin
state but also in China's Yunnan province and northeastern India. The
Kachin are a major ethnic group that includes subgroups of Jinghpaw,
Rawang, Atsi and Lisu.
According to the Myanmar government, 57 percent of its Kachin are
Buddhists and 36 percent Christians, and the rest have other faiths.
The Catholic Church says there are about 100,000 Catholics in Kachin state.
One of the Catholics who told UCA News how listening to RVA has
helped them is Marta Mary Kaw, 60, secretary of the Women's
Association in St. Patrick Cathedral parish. She said she became a
more understanding and considerate mother to her children after she
began listening, and "I now switch on the radio so the children can
also listen to the youth program."
U La Ja, another St. Patrick's Cathedral parishioner, said even his
non-Catholic neighbors listen to and appreciate the Kachin Service.
He related that a woman told him she feels privileged to listen to
RVA and asserted that though Catholic nuns are unmarried, they give
very good advice about marriage.
Fellow parishioner Nang Lum said that when she was assistant
catechist on Sundays in the hilly regions, she took along her radio
so others could listen.
Zing Htung Gam, from St. Bridget Church, said the RVA programs have
taught him to work with others to accomplish a task effectively. This
has become his motto for life, he added, and it has worked very well for him.
Archbishop Paul Zinghtung Grawng of Mandalay, who visited the
diocese's St. Patrick's Church in Momauk, told people at the Mass,
"We can share love with each other after listening to the love of God
from Radio Veritas Asia."
RVA's Burmese, Karen and Kachin services regularly attract more than
a million listeners. The Burmese Service has at least 600,000
listeners, the Karen Service more than 300,000, and the Kachin
Service more than 200,000.
The Burmese Service has been on air since Nov. 13, 1978, and the
Karen Service began a few months before the Kachin Service. A
Zomi-Chin language broadcast for several tribal groups in India and
Myanmar began in 1996.
Father Francis Lum Dum, a priest of Myitkyina diocese, launched the
Kachin Service and ran it single-handedly for two years until 1984
when two nuns began to help him put the Kachin Service together.
Today, a priest, a nun, a brother and one laywoman work for the
Kachin Service in the Philippines.
(<http://www.theindiancatholic.com/report.asp?nid=9739>http://www.theindiancatholic.com/report.asp?nid=9739)
via <http://www.kimandrewelliott.com/>www.kimandrewelliott.com
Yours truly,
MD. AZIZUL ALAM AL-AMIN
E-65, GOURHANGA, GHORAMARA
RAJSHAHI-6100
BANGLADESH
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