I sure am back

This is my first Sunday back in Bangkok and I had 10am mass at the cathedral.  I was joined by an annual visitor to the cathedral. 

He is Fr Peter, a Thai Redemptorist, assigned to Korea.  He returns home every year and comes to mass at the cathedral to thank a Thai woman in the congregation for the help she gives him.  It seems that he is her personal project. 

Well each year, I ask him to speak at the end of mass and each year he uses that time to thank her personally in front of the whole congregation.  We all know who she is as he publicly names her.  This year, he also named that she gave him 2.1 million baht which is something like $70,000.  This is nothing to be sneezed to be at. 

The whole happening is so expressive of Thai culture.  I would thank someone publicly but never in the way it is done here, personally naming and glorifying the person in front of everyone and naming the amount.  I would find that embarrassing and crass.  To do this back home would be bad taste in the extreme but here the woman just loves the attention.

A cultural factor at play is that a wealthy, Thai Catholic may happily give a Thai priest 2.1 million baht but would never think of giving even one baht to help poor Burmese or other poor foreigners in their midst. Thai Catholics have this overriding sense of seeing the Thai Church as being for Thai Catholics and as only helping poor Thais.  There is a lack of a missionary sense in this Church.        

Another cultural factor is that Thai Catholics remain so Buddhist in their practice.  By giving to the priest, they are making merit.  In doing so, they favour Thai priests.  In the Buddhist tradition, they will favour giving to the poor by giving to the priest who can then give to the poor.  I hear it said that the way to Nirvana is via the saffron robes of the monk. In the Church, that is applied to the priest.    

Don't get me wrong.  Fr Peter is a lovely guy.  I enjoy his annual visit.  In many ways, he is so full of life.  He is just being gracious as a Thai in a Thai way.  Meanwhile, I sit there and cringe as I hear him speak.  What is at play is culture and I appreciate that. 

Today's experience told me that I am truly back in Thailand.  Good to be home with its many challenges and questions for me. 

It's back home to Bangkok

My long awaited stay back home is over.   I knew that it was to be a special and needed time following my parents' death.  I just didn't know what that meant in reality.  So I guess it all unfolded and I definitely could not have planned my time any better.  There have been stages to it as it evolved but it has come now to a natural end. 

It has been more than a holiday.  It has been a journey, truly for me a pilgrimage through which I feel better connected to my roots and myself and significant others. 

Lourdes, it is not, but Australia is quite a place.  What has come back to me is how Australians are so naturally and outwardly friendly.  It is a great way to be and makes one feel right at home.  While being here, I have experienced such kindness and generosity.  It all does warm the heart and renew one's soul.

Living in Bangkok, I was struck by the blue skies and sunshine of Australia, even in a bleak but lovely Melbourne.  The quietness was also a welcome change.  There is much that is so good about Australia and Australians.  It makes you wonder about the many problems and nearly hang-ups facing Australia.  I just ask - Why is it going the way it is when there is so much going for it? 

Roll on Bangkok!

Greetings while on pilgrimage

Guess who went to meet the Pope?  Yingluck Shinawatra, the Prime Minister of  Thailand, is seen here meeting Pope Francis.  She met him on September 12 while in Rome.  I guess that is her little pilgrimage and I share this as I am also having my little pilgrimage and we are both from Thailand. 

Ever since mum and dad died last year, I have known that I have needed to come home, and here I am.  Now After two weeks in Brisbane, I can name my time here as my personal pilgrimage.  

As I look at my time away so far, I see how it has naturally developed into steps or stages.  I have had my time with my family and saying Goodbye to mum and dad.  Then there is the local Church time through being at Corinda-Graceville parish at weekends.  I am now into my time with my Province and then there come the friends.  I can see how each step has been important and has been about reconnecting, healing and reconsolidating. 

I could not have planned this.  As I look at my trip home so far, I find it amazing and definitely God planned.  Like any pilgrimage, it will end and that will be with my return to Bangkok.  From there, I am not sure where this God trodden path will lead me but I am sure all this has a purpose and is life giving.  

More to follow as the pilgrimage has not ended and the journey is ongong. 

Touching base

Guess where I am?  Yeah, back home in Australia for three weeks.  It is time to go back to my roots and see what that has to say to me. 

 A year ago, mum and dad had died and since then I have felt a need to come home and touch base.  I can't explain it as it has just been something I have felt inside of me.  I have wanted to see their grave and Jack Murray Place (a park named after dad).  I have wanted to see again where I come from and meet some of those people who formed me in some way.  Maybe I don't have to explain.  So here I am. 

As my time for returning to Australia came closer, I saw other more pressing themes at play.  My Bangkok and my context for ministry in the Thai Church were becoming crazier.  I could see how I needed to stand back from my reality for a bit so as to look at what I am in the midst of and reassess.  Imagine having urban refugees banging at your door continually and wondering what to do in response to such desperately presented levels of need.  Imagine ever having to deal with ways of others acting in the Thai workplace that just keep producing the same unwanted results and how tiring that gets. 
 
This is a short and gifted time to touch base and personally regroup and see where to in a more productive and life-giving way in my life and mission in Thailand.  This is a special time.  It is good to be back here.