A lot happened in a short time

Well, today I received my usual call from my mate, John Larsen, the Kiwi Marist priest in Ranong. He was on about a negative experience he had over the last couple of days with the Thai Church. My line was - That is why they need us here so that they can see another way of being Church.

Then in less than an hour after this call, I had three short experiences which were like responses to John's own dilemma.

Firstly, I spoke with Patrick, my Irish co-worker, about the Thai priests John found so unwelcoming. Patrick said that he experienced one of these same priests as being very shy while being also very kind. It struck me how true. Many Thais don't like to speak English in public as they don't want to make mistakes and appear as being stupid. That is just the way they are. I speak Thai and get laughed at. That is part of learning a language. For Thais, such a way is not the way to go as they don't want to appear silly before others. Yet how else can you learn a language?

Then my friend, Br Anurak, rang me. During the conversation, he mentioned that his Brothers were building a new campus for their Assumption College. The cost he quoted was just staggering. This is a poor Church that needs outside help to do its work!!??? Well this is part of its reality - big business using big money.

Lastly, I went to make a cup of coffee in the office. There were already three at the kitchen doing the same thing, along with the housekeeper. So it was crowded. This meant I got my cup and moved out of the way to the side bench. While putting the coffee powder into my cup, I spilt some on the bench. I go then to put hot water into my cup. While at the hot water pot, the housekeeper is already at the bench cleaning up my mess, telling all the others there in Thai about the mess I made. While I understood what she was saying, she acted as if I wasn't there or didn't understand her. Well, I spoke in Thai saying that I knew there was a mess and I would clean it up but she acted too quickly. My reflection on this simple happening was a "How dare she!!". She ignored me and spoke about me to the others, berating my mess. I find that sort of behaviour to be both arrogant and ignorant. I also reflected that, if I was a Thai priest, she would never have dared to act the way she did.

These are three simple events. They happened one after the other within such a short time. For me, they gave a powerful lived response to John Larsen and his own voiced concerns.

Firstly, all is not what it seems. Thais are shy and don't want to be placed in embarrassing situations - there again, who does? - involved in speaking another language. So they won't speak English with us and then appear reticent and maybe even unfriendly when this is not what is really at play.

Secondly, there is money in this Church. It is not a poor Church while sections of it are. I guess the issue is the inequitable distribution of wealth in the Thai Church, just like in society. Our role here in this Church is not to address financial poverty but ecclesological poverty due to the Thai Church being a young and inexperienced Church, restricted by its own limited history as Church.

Thirdly, there is an arrogance present here that is played against us.

It is all part of the big mix that makes up life in a Thailand. The mix is much bigger than what I experience in any one day - it is made up of the good,the bad and the ugly. That is life. That is the reality anywhere and it all makes up the mix that makes for an exciting life in Bangkok, a life which stretches your imagination; a life where you never stop learning.

What is the underlying lesson of all this is that we are not ruled in our life by our immediate life experiences. Life experience does speak to us and does affect us but it cannot simply rule us. We need to keep our focus, keeping our eye on the bigger picture. Why is it that we are anywhere - because of those good or bad experiences we have in life or because of our commitment to the bigger picture, to life, to the Gospel, because we keep our eye on what really matters to us?