"Compassion Broke Forth Like a Healing Stream"

The Catholic news site Zenit (the name is derived from "Zenith"), Archbishop Charles Bo of Burma (Myanmar) tells how people of all faiths formed a partnership to help the struggling cyclone survivors.

Archbishop Bo spoke of a Buddhist monk who swam through deadly currents to save a woman about to be lost to the flood. Elsewhere, a Catholic priest lost his life while trying to reach his doomed parishioners. Christian and Buddhist clergy formed partnerships to distribute aid to isolated villages. Buddhist monasteries, Christian churches and Hindu temples opened their doors to those who had lost homes. Muslim merchants of Yangon distributed food to those who were starving.

"In the predominately Buddhist Country, where Metta and Karuna -- mercy and compassion -- are the major tenets of a great religion, compassion broke forth like a healing stream after the demonic deluge," Archbishop Bo said.

According to the U.S. State Department, Burma is 89 percent Buddhist (mostly Theravada), 4 percent Christian (3 percent Baptist, 1 percent Roman Catholic), 4 percent Muslim, 1 percent animist and 2 percent "other."