Daily saving of 100 kyats (less than one US cent) by each parish household raised 12 million Kyats (US$ 12,000) over 27 months, said pastoral council member U Peter Mya Win.
U Mya Win, a retired engineer, said that he gleaned the idea for the savings scheme from Momeik paish in Lashio Diocese where he once worked.
The parishioners there are poor but their savings efforts are paying off to build the church, he said.
“So I suggested this good idea to St. Michael’s parish. We started to save 100 Kyats daily in August 2008 and we finally raised 12 million Kyats,” U Mya Win added.
Parishioners’ contributions will help cover expenses for the centenary including meals, entertainment, alms for clergy and nuns as well as invitation cards, he explained.
The parishioners raised another 2 million Kyats (US$ 2,000) from a Lucky Draw program.
The parish also built an adoration chapel with private donations while other donors from across Myanmar and abroad helped finance the rebuilding of St. Michael’s Church, parish sources said.
Archbishop Paul Zinghtung Grawng of Mandalay blessed the rebuilt church and concelebrated Mass at a pre-centenary event on Nov. 26.
“There are no businessmen and no rich people in St. Michael’s parish but their contributions are so generous,” Father John Aye Kyaw, a native of the parish, who is now parish priest of Mandalay’s Sacred Heart Cathedral, said in his homily during the Mass.
“They have to work hard for their livelihood and saved donations for this great celebration,” Father Kyaw said.
The next day, Archbishop Grawng led the centenary thanksgiving Mass in front of a crowd of 500.
“Everybody in the parish contributed to the centenary celebrations and the rebuilding of the church,” said Ma Nu Lwin, vice-secretary of the parish pastoral council.
As a spiritual preparation for the centenary celebration, the parishioners held a series of retreats. They also worked for 15 days to clean the church compound, Ma Nu said.
There are about 280 Catholic families in the parish, she added.
In 1898, Catholics who lived near Sacred Heart Cathedral compound in Mandalay moved to Thantewin ward where they built a small wooden church.
As numbers grew, the then parish priest, Father Francis Paul Boe Han, and his parishioners built a new church which opened on Nov. 15, 1911.
The parish has produced four diocesan priests, one Religious priest and four nuns.
In 1995, the parish also started a day adoration program, which was the first such program in Myanmar.
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