Holy Innocent Catholic Church in Yangon celebrated its 25th anniversary on Saturday, a milestone marked by both thanksgiving for survival and a somber reflection on the suffering of the innocent that gives the parish its name.

His Eminence Cardinal Charles Bo of the Yangon Archdiocese presided over the Silver Jubilee Mass on December 27 at the church in Dagon Myothit Township. The celebration began with the blessing of a new compound gate and tabernacle, symbols of a community that has rebuilt repeatedly after storms and a cyclone.

In his homily, Cardinal Bo thanked the parish’s past priests and benefactors whose generosity raised the church building physically by two feet to combat flooding. “The church looks new and beautiful,” Cardinal Bo said, “but as St. Paul reminds us, Christ is the cornerstone of the Church.” He emphasized that while the physical structure is important, it is the presence of Christ that gives true beauty and strength to the Church.

The celebration coincided with the Feast of the Holy Innocents, which commemorates the children killed by King Herod after Jesus’s birth. The Cardinal drew parallels with the suffering of millions throughout history, including the Holocaust, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the genocide in Cambodia, the victims of 9/11, and those affected by ongoing conflicts in Gaza and Myanmar.

“Jesus himself was a refugee,” he said, referencing the Holy Family’s flight into Egypt.

The parish’s own history mirrors resilience. Established in 2000 with about 1,200 faithful, it grew steadily before being severely damaged by a 2007 storm and Cyclone Nargis in 2008. The community rebuilt. It weathered the COVID-19 pandemic and political unrest, and last year saw a part of its community form the new St. John de Brito Parish.

In his words of gratitude, parish priest Rev. Fr. Albert Myo Lwin thanked the Cardinal, bishops, clergy, and the faithful, reserving special acknowledgment for the donors and volunteers whose work made the jubilee renovations possible.

The anniversary served as a testament to a quarter-century of communal faith, a celebration tempered by the poignant reminder embedded in the parish’s very name: the enduring call to remember and mourn the innocent.

By RVA Sgaw Karen Service