IT WAS a sweet reunion for Rita Niang as she happily posed for photos with two of her childhood friends from Myanmar (formerly Burma) when they recently met up in St. Louis for the national Zomi-American Catholic Eucharistic Congress.
The three are mothers now, all of whom came to the United States as refugees. Niang settled in the Chicago suburb of Winfield, Illinois, while Helen Mang lives in Lincoln, Nebraska, and Mary Khan is in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
They were among nearly 1,000 Zomi Catholics from across the United States who gathered July 4-6 at St. Louis University High School for the fifth congress. The three keep in touch by phone regularly, but the gathering was a chance for them to reunite in person.
Niang said she also hoped her children would learn more about their Catholic faith within the context of the culture and language of the Zomi people, an ethnic group with roots primarily in Myanmar and in parts of India and Bangladesh.
“They go to Catholic schools, but we want to participate in our Zomi community,” Niang said. “I want them to have more understanding (of the culture) and participate and learn more about the Catholic faith, especially the Eucharist.”
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Courtesy: St Louis Reviews
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