Father Martin Ma Na Ling is among the first priests from Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) to be ordained in the United States. His ordination in July 2022, following years of education funded by Catholic Extension Society donors, was not just a joyous and significant milestone for him but also for the 2,000 Burmese Catholics who came to witness the event.
He currently serves a parish with a sizeable Burmese Catholic population in the Diocese of Owensboro in western Kentucky.
Myanmar has 135 ethnic groups. Seven decades of ongoing fighting among minority ethnic groups and the military have divided the country and stunted economic development.
Father Martin Ma Na Ling is from a small village in the western part of the country, in a mountainous region called Chin State.
Click and scroll on the map to view location of this region.
There are no jobs in this isolated area. Most families live a subsistence lifestyle, growing their own rice, hunting and fishing.
Catholics represent only 1 percent of the total population of the country. Christians are persecuted. Most of them live in Chin State.
In the past few years, tens of thousands of Burmese refugees have come to the United States seeking safety and opportunity.
Father Martin Ma Na Ling serves many of them now at Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Bowling Green, Kentucky. He shepherds the four distinct tribes that make up the parish. This includes the Zo tribe, pictured below:
Together, they are growing in faith.
Like the people he serves, his journey was marked by immense challenges, but his faith and determination enabled him to overcome them at every turn.
A poor boy with big dreams
Father Martin Ma Na Ling pictured himself as a priest from the age of 7. His father was a catechist, a position revered among Christians in Myanmar’s isolated villages, given that priests can only visit them once a year at most. He remembers those occasions during his childhood when a priest would come to the village.
He was in awe.
It kindled a fire in the boy’s heart of one day becoming a priest himself. But it seemed like a far-fetched idea for someone in his circumstances.
When he was 10, Father Martin Ma Na Ling got his first break. He moved in with his uncle’s family to continue studying because his parents, who had eight children, couldn’t afford his education. He ended up in a school that did not have real teachers—only assistants who provided textbooks. It was better than nothing.
After years of applying himself, he traveled to another city to take the high school exam in the hopes of graduating. He prayed for three months that he would pass.
He reflected,
This exam is my life. If I pass this exam, I have a chance to go to the seminary.”
His prayers were answered. He was the first person in his village to ever graduate high school. From there, his life “opened,” he said.
He entered the seminary in Myanmar in 2010 and studied for nine years, moving between different states and seminaries to pursue his education. He began to learn English, his fourth language. He prayed for and passed yet more exams, all “through the grace of God,” he said.
One day, he was called in by his bishop. He was asked to serve the growing population of Burmese refugees in the United States. Bishop William F. Medley of the Diocese of Owensboro needed help uplifting and welcoming this faithful community. The young seminarian had never considered going to another country.
He placed his trust in God and said “yes.”
He came with his friend, Father Stephen Van Lal Than, who in 2020 became the first Myanmar-born priest to be ordained in the United States. Catholic Extension Society supported his education as well.
Father Martin Ma Na Ling arrived in the United States in January 2017, shocked by the cold and snow he had never seen before. He needed to take yet another exceptionally challenging English proficiency exam to enter St. Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology in southern Indiana. The test would be on a computer, which he was barely accustomed to. He said his streak of miracles continued when he passed yet again.
Catholic Extension Society supported his education at the seminary. During his studies, something else extraordinary occurred. After he found out that there were no catechetical books in Burmese, he wrote an instructional catechism manual in 2019 to help Burmese Catholics learn the Catholic faith.
To date, 3,000 copies have been printed in Burmese and other languages, and the manual has spread internationally to Burmese refugee communities in Australia, Canada, Italy and his home country.
Now, the scrappy young man from a poor village with no teachers or previous graduates was a published author. “My faith is burning. I love my faith. I love God,” he said as he recounted the story.
As his ordination approached, he realized he wanted to celebrate it, not just for himself or his diocese but as a national gathering for the Burmese all across the United States. “I wanted to be ordained with these people,” he said. Bishop Medley agreed.
Nearly 2,000 Burmese Catholics came to Kentucky on July 2, 2022, to see, as he described, “the beauty of ordination.”
A priest for all
After his much-celebrated ordination, Father Martin Ma Na Ling set to work ministering to Burmese communities in the diocese. He serves at Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
He works with Burmese refugee families as well as families from Thailand and Malaysia, baptizing many people along the way—elders as well as infants.
His hope is to serve as a bridge between the U.S.-born population at his parish and the Burmese.
He said, “Being a priest is for all, not just the Burmese. I would love to share my faith with everybody!”
In an interview with Catholic Extension Society, he expressed his joy and said he is grateful for Catholic Extension Society’s support:
“It is my joy when I help someone,” he said. “I am so happy. I love talking with other people and working together. I don’t like to just sit on my chair. My life is external, not internal.”
Additionally, the tireless priest is working on more books in Burmese on the Bible and Catholic history. A talented musician, he plays guitar and uses music to express the joy of faith.
He continues to invite more families to the faith through his infectious enthusiasm and energy—communicating in a language of love and joy that anyone can understand.
This story first appeared in the Spring 2023 edition of Extension magazine.
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