Knowing, training and bearing witness Seeds of the mission in Thailand

Описание: Knowing, training and bearing witness
Seeds of the mission in Thailand

In tellng the story of Jesus in Thailand, as a missionary the first important thing I have to remind myself is that I am Jesus, I have to live the life of Jesus, and being like Jesus, I have to remind myself that like me he is from Asia, he has a human heart. Living the life of Jesus is already telling the story of Jesus in whatever place we find ourselves and whoever the person we meet may be, because we are the face of Jesus for everyone. (Fr. Juanito Tamayo -- Bangkok)

Thailand is a country with a thousand faces. The official religion is Theravada Buddhism practised by about 95% of the population. A very positive aspect of the Thai culture is great religious tolerance, and as a result faiths such as Islam (4%), Christianity (1%) and Hinduism live peacefully together. The Salesians have been present in the Province of Thailand, which also includes Cambodia, for little less than a century.
How do you tell the story of Jesus in a context where the majority of the population are Buddhist? How do the missionaries work, dialogue and above all, evangelise?
The experience in Chiang Mai, where the seeds of the Gospel began to grow after some earlier attempts in 1931, is Interesting. The diocese set up in 1965 covers an area of about 90 thousand square km where over 5 and a half million people are living There are about 51,500, Catholics, that is to say almost 1% of the population. More than 15 male and female religious Congregations are working there. Their missionary, pastoral and evangelising activities contribute to the growing number of conversions which take place each year.
The Salesians too, present in the northern part of Thailand for almost a decade, are also involved through various activities but especially by their contribution to the organisations and planning of the local church. In the first place, a knowledge of the cultures of the tribes within the territory is Important. The "Research Centre for Religions and Cultures" enables religious and lay people to meet together, study and understand better what might be the best ways to undertake the evangelisation of the tribes.
An important decision was that of investing in the formation of the laity. From the beginning when the first missionaries arrived in the area of Chiang Mai they made use of the collaboration of the Karen elders as guides, translators and preachers. As the years passed and thanks to the recovery in the Church of an understanding of the role of the laity, the diocesan evangelisation programme made use of the valuable collaboration of lay catechists who with the proper formation become leaders and front line workers in the growth of the Church and in social change.
For this purpose the diocese set up a training centre for catechists, the direction of which in recent years was entrusted to a Salesian: first Fr Eleuterio Tapay and then since 2008 to Fr Andrew Ekasit Talhakultorn. The Centre provides a two-year course of study. The young trainee catechists and the young religious in the area attend the same lessons and help and learn from each other in their daily life.
Not far from the Training Centre for Catechists in Chiang Mai is a Buddhist temple. Between the two religious centres, thanks to the close friendship between those responsible, there has developed a relationship of esteem which can lead to respect and dialogue.
Knowledge, training and witnessing are some of the key issues around which the process of evangelisation is taking place in the north of Thailand,... but the most important is witness!