With the permission of the Master of the Order, Fr. Bruno Cadoré, OP, the house of St. Thomas Aquinas in Nwalawo village, Loikaw, was officially established on November 23, 2013. On the 24th of November, 2013, five Myanmar Brothers from the Province of Our Lady of the Rosary were ordained to the priesthood in Loikaw and out of these new priests; two were assigned to the aforementioned newly erected religious house.
On 1st of December, 2014, Bishop Sotero Phamo, the Local Ordinary of the Diocese of Loikaw, erected a new parish which consists of six villages and let the brothers assigned to the house be in charge of it.
Normally in this Diocese, in every parish, there is a big church for the common liturgical celebrations. However, in this newly erected parish, none of the churches is big enough to accommodate most of the parishioners. The one at the parish center was too small and in poor condition. It was inconvenient not to have a proper and decent church. For this reason, the Province and the Brothers in Loikaw saw it fit that a canonical conventual church be built as soon as possible in order to make the Dominican presence felt and appreciated.
Soon after the Province approved the plan and budget for the building a church of the Order to be used also by the parish, two designs of the church were drafted and proposed but it was the third design that was accepted and approved by the Provincial Council. The present design of the church was drawn up mainly by Bro. Mariano Kai, OP who is a member of the community of St. Thomas House in Loikaw.
The brothers started making preparations in 2016 by buying teaks and other hard woods from the border of Myanmar and Thailand, collecting stones and making bricks. The foundation of the church was laid and blessed in February, 2017. In building this Dominican church, no famous engineer was hired but it was constructed and decorated by the local workers and artists. The statues of the saints were not imported but crafted by a local artist here in Loikaw. After more than a year of continuous work, the church is about to be completed.
On the 3rd of April, 2018 this beautiful church decorated with Dominican emblems will be blessed by the Local Ordinary Bishop Stephen Tjephe. On this same occasion of the blessing of our church, two Myanmar brothers will be ordained to the priesthood, and one to the diaconate.
After 7 years of our official establishment in Myanmar, the Dominicans of the Province of Our Lady of the Rosary are more confident and increasing in numbers. Our presence is succeeding thanks to the apostolate of the brothers assigned to Myanmar and the support of the Province.
The main apostolate of the Brothers in Loikaw are pastoral work in the parishes and giving retreats/talks to different religious congregations of men and women, and to different groups of lay people. In summer, the friars also organize summer courses for the youth and the children to enrich them with catechism, social teachings of the Church and other general knowledge.
