“Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared” (Piece of Wisdom from Buddha).
Dear Confreres,
In few months it will be one year that Frs. Mattia, Thiago and I are serving Saint Joseph the worker Parish (actually the Parish is 33 years old). Since our arrival in this parish, our main focuses have been meeting people (our parishioners as well as those who are animist or Buddhist), developing friendship with all, trying to understand the Akha culture (the majority of Catholics in the parish is Akha even though this tribal group is a minority in the area we are serving), and exploring other villages. Last week we discovered 2 villages (one with 200 inhabitants and another one with around 2000 inhabitants, all Hmong). Those villages are near Umpiang which is one of the areas entrusted to our pastoral care.
As our parishioners are mostly farmers thus the life of the parish is greatly influenced by their activities. It means that the parish is fully alive mostly on Sundays with the celebration of the Eucharist at 9 or 9.15 AM in Thai (even though most of the elderly people speak only Akha language), but the Gospel is also read in Akha; after mass there is Coffee hour as an opportunity to know each other, to talk about everything (health, family life, problems or joys of the villages), then there are sometimes meetings (Credit Union or Pastoral Council), once a month we have the BEC. Every Sunday we have Christian formation for children. Also on Sunday, some children and one of us bring communion to the sick.
Furthermore, we also try to reach out to the Burmese groups who live around the territory of the Parish and who are seen as cheap labor, bad people. We are trying to foster a better relationship between them and our parishioners. Twice a week, we go to visit them with some children and young people of the parish.
At the beginning we were offering English lessons for children and adults but at the end the students run away… they want to speak English but they do not want to give time to learn it.
I will not say that between us and the parishioners there is a mutual understanding; I think we are still in the process of knowing and accepting each other (by the way, it is the first time that the parish is been run by foreigners).
One of our difficulties is to make of our parish a real Catholic parish meaning a Christian Community where all feel at home. In fact, our parish for historical and geographical reasons is linked to the Akha group (the official name of the parish is Saint Joseph the Worker Parish Akha) and so it is sometimes very difficult for them to make the difference between their tradition and the Gospel values; also some parishioners who belong to other tribal groups always feel as mere guests within the community.
In our effort to serve this parish better, we have divided our tasks as follow:
- Education of Children and teenagers (Christian formation and English): Mattia and Thiago
- Adult formation (BEC and Catechism for adults): Thierry
- Coffee hour ministry and women: Mattia
- Italian groups or Lay Xaverian: Mattia and Thiago
- Pastoral care of sick and elderly: Thierry
- Burmese groups and villages around the Parish: Thierry
- Interreligious dialogue and ecumenism: Mattia and Thiago
These tasks might look many, but actually they are very simple, in fact we even have enough time to cook, to do the laundry and to take a rest.
From March 15 to 29, 2015 we organized a catechism camp for the children and young people of the parish. During those 2 weeks, we made use of short movies, games, short presentations to talk to them about the Good News of all times which is the Love of God for all.
Before our arrival, there were 7 parish priests who served this parish with great devotion and built a strong Christian community. We believe that our reason of being here is first to continue to nourish the faith of our parishioners as did our predecessors but also to help them to make a step forwards which is to respond to Christ’s call to be missionary. In fact, about 80% of people who reside on the territory entrusted to us by the bishop of Nakhon Sawan are still waiting for the Good News of Christ to reach them,so we hope that our Christian Community will help us to reach out to those people. Our daily prayer is that through the intercession of Saints Joseph, Francis Xavier and Guido Conforti, we might be good intruments and good servants in the Vineyard of the Lord, servants who are not afraid to share God’s love, to go beyond borders, to bulid bridges, to trust the Holy Spirit.
“Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared” (a piece of wisdom from Buddha), our faith grows stronger as we share it with others. Amen
God bless.
Thierry Kengne,sx
For some more information, go to the simple photo-gallery you can find in the .pdf file at the top of this page.
