Karenni Catholic Church inside the war zone in Burma/Myanmar, photo by Antonio Graceffo
Antonio Graceffo reporting from inside the war zone in Burma/Myanmar.
On Easter Sunday, the Burmese army launched an airstrike against a monastery in Karen State, where an entire village had taken refuge. The bombs fell for hours, and when the smoke had cleared, numerous civilians, including women, children, and monks, were dead.
There were no soldiers in the village, so 100% of the casualties were civilians. About half of them were Christians.
Burma is predominantly Buddhist, with a significant Christian minority comprising approximately 6% of the population. Many of these Christians belong to the country’s 135 ethnic minority groups, notably including the Kachin, Chin, Karen (also known as Kayin, as featured in the movie “Rambo IV”), and the Karenni (distinct from the Karen, despite the similarity in name).
The repression against Christians and the wholesale murder of civilians have been features of the Burmese civil war, which has been ongoing for about 70 years. However, targeted attacks against churches, monasteries, Catholic, and Baptist schools have intensified since the 2021 coup, which dashed any hopes of a transition to democracy.
Previously, I had worked with the Shan ethnic group and resistance fighters. However, recently, I decided that I wanted to focus my energy on the Christian minority in Karenni State (also called Kayah State), the smallest ethnic state in Burma.
About 50% of Karenni are Christian, with the majority being Catholic and the rest Baptist. Over the past three years, roughly 80% of the Karenni people have been displaced, and 3,000 civilians have been killed, from a total Karenni population of less than 400,000 people.
Catholic priests and nuns assigned to dioceses in Burma have risked their lives to remain with their flocks, offering what help and protection they could. In November, 1,300 civilians, including Christians, Buddhists, and animists, took refuge in Christ the King Catholic Cathedral complex in Loikaw, the capital city of Karenni State.
These people were internally displaced individuals (IDPs), meaning that the Burmese army had already destroyed their villages, and they had found their way to the Cathedral, where the priests and nuns were offering them refuge.
The Burmese army threatened to bomb the complex, but the priests implored the soldiers not to attack and to allow the people, who included the aged and the infirm, to remain in safety.
However, eventually, the Burmese army attacked, using heavy weapons, fighter jets, armored vehicles, and 120 mm cannons. Many people were killed, while the rest were forced to flee into the jungle, including the Bishop of Loikaw, H.E. Celso Ba Shwe, and the priests and nuns, who were finally forced to abandon their post. After the people fled, the Burmese army took over the center and are now occupying it.
Loikaw is the site of the most intense fighting in Karenni State. According to Lt. Colonel Mei Reh, a battalion commander in the Karenni Army, the Burmese junta has laid hundreds of landmines around their positions and uses drone jammers to protect themselves from the resistance fighters.
He estimated that counting soldiers, dependents, and support personnel, Loikaw is now occupied by about 10,000 Burmese who receive resupply by air. They are also protected by helicopters and jets.
The rebels, by contrast, are on foot, carrying what small arms and rations they have, walking for weeks in some cases to reach the front lines and fight to retake their country.
When I am inside Burma, I meet with internally displaced people and soldiers, filing reports on the war. I also pray with anyone who is willing, and the reception among the Karenni is astounding. Nearly everyone I meet wants to pray together.
Over the years that I have been reporting on this conflict, I have been inspired by David Eubanks, leader of the Free Burma Rangers. The lesson that I learned from him and from his faith as a missionary/soldier is to pray not for victory, but to pray that the hearts of the Burmese army will be changed by God’s grace and that they will stop fighting.
He teaches that Christian soldiers should pray for peace and an end to the conflict, and when they kill, to kill for love. They must remember that they kill to protect their people, their land, and their country, but not out of hate.
Amazingly, when I met Catholic soldiers, including a company commander, this is what they prayed for: to kill with love and to stop killing as soon as they could find peace and establish a democracy in their country.
The Free Burma Rangers have been spreading that message in Burma for more than 20 years, among all of the ethnic resistance armies. And now that I am working with Karenni Christians, I can say the message is getting through.
The United States is one of the few countries to ever win independence and establish a democracy by way of a bloody war. Usually, after a revolution, warlords and generals replace the previous dictator, and nothing changes.
Instilling ideals of love, compassion, and forgiveness in the soldiers and officers now will hopefully help to heal the country when the war ends, so they can avoid retribution killings and animosity that would result in a fractured state.
People back in the US ask, “How can you be a Christian and a soldier?” and the answer is, “to kill with love.” They ask me, “How can you support Burmese refugees but demand a secure southern border?”
And my answer is, the Karenni and other ethnics are not requesting to be resettled in the US or some Western country. They just want safety from the war now, and they want the war to be over so they can go home and resume their lives in their own land.
The Catholic Church in the camp where I was located had been hit by an airstrike a few months ago, so the people were afraid to go to worship there. However, the Catholic Karenni women told me that during Lent, they held prayer services in their huts every day.
On Good Friday, they decided to risk using the church building, and for the first time, they held service there. The priest could not make it to the camp because of the fighting, but two Karenni catechists trained at the seminary in Karenni State led the worship.
They did the same on Easter Sunday. These people could easily have lost their faith, being displaced by war and losing their families and their homes, but they trusted that God had a plan, and they would eventually return to their homeland in peace. Their faith should be an inspiration for all the people in wealthy countries at peace.
After the Catholic service, I attended the Baptist service on the other side of the camp. Although I am Catholic and love attending Mass, I have to admit, the Baptist service is more fun and has more singing and guitar playing.
The pastor asked me to address the congregation, and I reminded them of David and Goliath. Although the people of Burma are small and weak in comparison to the Burmese army, which is armed by Russia and China, the people have faith, and since the coup, they also have unity. As David Eubanks told me, “The army is stronger than the people. But it is not stronger than ALL the people if they work together.”
On the day before Easter, I was staying in a hut with the soldiers when a batch of new recruits arrived, and they just looked so young to me. I was 17 when I joined the military, but as we get older, young people look like children to us.
On Easter Sunday, looking out at the congregation, I saw so many bright young kids who were just about military age, many of whom would soon be joining the fight. It made me sad that they would never have a prom, never get a driver’s license, never have a part-time job at Wendy’s, and some of them would be killed, and soon.
Karenni Army recruits, photo by Antonio Graceffo
After the Baptist service, I was walking back to the house with the soldiers, feeling I had been given an amazing blessing to have spent this most crucial religious holiday with these wonderful and resilient people. I had found a moment of happiness in war and hoped to write an inspiring article about faith and happy endings.
When I reached the house and got a cell signal, I began receiving live feeds from the Free Burma Rangers, documenting the Easter massacre of the civilians at the monastery in Karen State. David Eubanks sent a message saying that in addition to the other casualties, the head monk’s body had been torn in half.
And just like that, I had no idea how I was going to end my story. What was I meant to take away from this experience?
The words of Htay Ree, the 25-year-old assistant pastor at the Baptist church, came to mind. He said, “God is love. God is for our spiritual health, not our physical being. We can get sick or even be killed.
God only guarantees our spiritual life; if we believe in Jesus, we can get eternal life.” He went on to say that God never said it would be easy. “But people who blame God for their physical suffering just do not understand. And this is an opportunity to teach. So, for me, it is not a problem,” he concluded.
Karenni Catholic cross damaged by bomb blast, photo by Antonio Graceffo
The people of Burma have lost everything — their homes, their freedom, their money, their food, their loved ones — and some even lose their faith. But the assistant preacher didn’t see any of that as a problem, just an opportunity to teach. And now I can pass that lesson along to the readers.
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