YANGON (UCAN) -- Bishop Raymond Sumlut Gam calls hitting a shuttlecock at his quarterly meetings with priests part of "a new form of participatory Church."

Less that a year into his role as the leader of Banmaw diocese in northern Myanmar, the 54-year-old bishop sees playing his favorite sport, badminton, with his priests as part of an "empowerment" process. This process, he said, involves infusing team spirit and delegating tasks to give priests a bigger role in the running of his diocese.

"A bishop can't carry out everything, so priests are the arms and legs of the bishop," he told UCA News Aug. 21 on a visit to Yangon en route to a seminar in Thailand. He was appointed a bishop along with the creation of Banmaw in August 2006 and ordained in November.

Bishop Gam is one of seven Myanmar bishops set to join 59 other Asian prelates at the seminar "Caring for Priests - Especially Those in Difficult Situations," scheduled Aug. 27-Sept. 1 in Pattaya, eastern Thailand.

Based on interviews UCA News conducted with some Myanmar priests and bishops, prime concerns for priests include effective communication with their superiors, trouble with their own formation and spirituality, and financial worries.

According to Archbishop Paul Zinghtung Grawng of Mandalay, priests also appear reluctant to hand over more control to the laity.

Bishop Gam also spoke about challenges within the Church, though inadequate transportation, communications and education facilities also make ministering to his flock in this Buddhist-majority country difficult.

"I believe there is a problem in every diocese between bishops and priests, and among priests," he said. "At present, I encourage a happy community life among priests by conducting quarterly meetings for two days. At the meetings, we reflect, have Mass together, discuss parish situations and play sports."

He is looking for new ways to build capacity and management among priests to develop the Church.

Like Bishop Gam, Father Luke Hka Li of Banmaw diocese sees the need for better priestly formation. Formators in Myanmar "can give us only lectures," said the director of the diocesan Social Communications Office.

He said he became a priest "not because I wanted to own a car and to eat good food," but because it had been his dream since childhood.

In his analysis, priests are "weak in social interaction " because they lack sufficient "human formation." He regards social interaction among priests and with parishioners as important, akin to "a fine art."

Father Callistus Saw Eh Mwee, director of the national office of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Yangon, told UCA News that priests struggle materially and spiritually. "The main challenge for the priests is they are weak in spirituality," he said. "They are weak in reading spiritual books, saying the rosary and practicing adoration."

The priest from Pathein diocese compared being a priest in Myanmar to being sent on mission, with few opportunities for ongoing formation after ordination. He identified a need for courses, seminars and self-study among priests.

On a more practical level, he said, priests receive no salary and depend on funding from foreign donors passed on by their bishops to hold Mass. They also receive some support from local parishioners, but this may be minimal.

Father Richard Hla Min Oo is a newcomer. Just one year into his priesthood, his focus is on helping parishioners with spirituality. The parish priest of St. John's Church and spiritual director of St. Thomas Pre-Major seminary, in Mandalay archdiocese, said priests should not be competitive and proud.

He suggested that when priests have problems, they should be open with their fellow priests, lest their ministry suffer. When parishioners have a problem with a priest, he said, they do not come to church, "so their soul is lost." So he wants priests to make a determined effort not to "lose souls."

Father Hla Min Oo expressed concern that bishops cannot do enough to help parishes financially, especially in the villages, where priests face problems with food and accommodations. "If priests talk openly about their difficulties and problems, it will be better for both sides (bishop and priests)," he said.

He complained that when priests are assigned to a new parish, "we have to start from the beginning, because the previous parish priest took everything."

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