Saying Goodbye

Bangkok is a very transient place.  You are for ever meeting people and saying Goodbye to them.  People come and go and they seem to go quicker then ever in a Bangkok.  It is that sort of place.  Some you hardly know, others you know for a short time and others you think you will know for ever but it all comes to an end evetually in my Bangkok. 

For one who hates saying Good bye, this can be a very difficult place in which to live.  I sum up living here as being caught up in an intense micrososm of life. 

A couple of weeks ago I shared my encounter at mass where the French ambassador's wife came up to me after mass to say that I was 'her Fr Dobbo'.  Last Sunday, she came to me to say Goodbye.  She is back to France and gone.  Another lovely and friendly face gone from the cathedral but then another will come. 

I have been here nine and a half years.  For all that time, a part of my scene at Caritas and in my life has been an Irish guy named Patrick who is a lay missionary with a Church group in Ireland.  Well, after nine and a half years together, it was time for him to move on.  His assignment is now full-time in Cambodia.  When it came to his last day last week, the ending was as sudden as it was simple.  It just happened.  Patrick, whose desk has been beside mine, when it was time for him, packed his bag, stood up and announced that it was time to disappear, and that he did.  He just said "Bye!" and left.  That was it. 

But was it that simple?   I don't think so.  There are all the years of his being around and how do you sum them up?  There is the now empty space in the office.  There is another void to fill. 

There is no picture this week as I am not sure how to capture what I share. 

You are my Fr Dobbo

Last Sunday at mass, my homily was about how our faith is handed onto us by real people and real life experiences.  We are who we are thanks to people who matter to us and make an impact on us.  Such people are not dull and boring but people full of life and passion.

Such a person in my life has been (as he is still alive) Fr John Dobson who was the assistant priest in the parish where my family belonged when I was a teenager.  Dobbo, as he is known, is an absolute character.  I know him as always being happy and full of fun.  One could say he is a mischievous type, being able to tell a joke just as easily as he could offer a line of wisdom or compassion.  In his day, he ran the parish youth group and saw that there was always some activity to bring the young together to enjoy good times and become friends.  He was what I would name as the person who kept Catholic culture alive for young Catholics.  He was not just a great fellow but a man of depth, being involved in his community.  He has always been a man of good standing and good values, a  man you could admire and look up to.  I remember as a teenager that not only was he the priest but he was someone you would want around and spend time with.  So he helped make me who I became.  He was my hero when I was 18 and he only cemented my desire to be a priest. 

Yes, we become who we are thanks to real people in our lives.  My faith was formed not by doctrines and tomes but by the Dobbos in my life.  I would think that as people of faith we all have Dobbos in our life.  We should be thankful for them.  The challenge for us is that, in turn, we be Dobbos to others in life and help them grow in faith and stature.

I share all this not to blow my trumpet but because of what happened after mass.  I just thought it so funny. 

The French ambassador to Thailand and his wife are part of our community of faith at the cathedral.  They are just lovely people.  At the end of mass last Sunday, the wife said to me in her very pure and rich French accent: 
"You are my Fr Dobbo".
Not only did she get the message but she left me with a chuckle inside that has stayed all week. 

Happy New Year

Off to war

Stocking up with water bins for the back of the ute.

Yes, it is Songkran festival this week which is the annual Thai holiday season.  It happens each year on April 13 to 15 which are the days for a Buddhist New Year in this part of the world.  This is the only place I have lived where they celebrate three New Years and the last celebration is the biggest.  The three days turns into an orgy of water fights and water throwing in the streets.  Anyone does it and anyone is a target. 

Over my years here, I have gotten to dislike the water throwing and even fear it as there is only so much getting wet one likes at the age of 58.  This year, I decided to go out and enjoy and do it in spite of any fear.  So out I went on Monday to the local main centre which becomes a three day water theme park for the occasion.  Even the fire brigade turns up to make sure there is enough water for the fun.  I joined in with everybody else, young and old, Thai and foreigner, and did it.  I faced my fear. 

To be honest, it was not just about facing a fear but also to act on my life that I have seen lately as becoming too ruled by work and routine and thereby becoming boring.  I have become afraid that I am becoming too old, too boring, too quickly.  Even if this is happening in the name of good and honest work as a priest and religious on mission, I decided it was time to do something about it and counteract this trend in my life.  Quite simply, I took up the opportunity to go out and join the rest of them in wetting each other and just smile and enjoy, and I did.  You know what is the worse?  Cold water but what is a bit of cold water among friends?

As the annual Songkran festival comes to a close, I have a great sense of achievement, of having made a step in my life.  It may seem a strange way to do it but welcome to Thailand, and it is fun and most inexpensive.   









What is going on here?

 Pictures tell the story.  Well, what is this story? 

It is Easter this week and, at the Easter Vigil at Assumption cathedral, last Saturday, 19 people were were baptised.  One of them was Tun, a young Burmese Karen, and my first convert in my over nine years here.  That is a milestone for me as it says that I am here long enough to be known and to know people such that I can be the connection for having someone realise their dream of becoming a Christian and then wanting to join the Catholic Church. 

I will put this into context.  Thailand is a Buddhist country.  Of its 65 million people, only 320,000 are Catholic.  Christians total less than 1% of the population.  This is more than a simple statistic as this reflects the Thai national identity and mindset.  To be Thai is to be Buddhist and it is part of their psychology.  It is very difficult for a Thai to think of being anything else than being Buddhist.  So Christianity will never make inroads here as becoming a major religion.  Having said that, Christianity has a high profile in Thailand through its schools, hospitals and good acts in helping the poor.  For all this, Thais would appreciate the presence of Christian churches.  Basically, they like having good people around them.  I also have to say that the little, Thai Catholic Church has a huge profile thanks to its big and wealthy schools and other institutions. 

Having said this, who are the Catholics in Thailand?  They are not what I would name as the Thai Thai, or pure Thai, but Thai Chinese, Thai Vietnamese, hill tribes people and other ethnic mixes.  Of course, my convert is not Thai Thai.  He is living here as one of the many Burmese seeking a life that they cannot get in Myanmar.  He has wanted to become a Catholic and was then connected with me through a very good friend here who is part of the cathedral community and English.  My English friend was the sponsor and there he is in the photos right beside Tun.  So I would honestly have to say that this has been not a solo effort or triumph but a community effort, and that is the way it is meant to be. 

Easter, it is.

Who can believe that it is already Holy Week?  For me, the unreal feeling is not just to do with the pace of time but also about the fact of living in a non-Christian country where hardly anyone in your city even knows what Easter is.  Good Friday is a particularly strange day as it has a particular religious significance you recognise while it is just another working day for all around you.  It gives you a funny sense. 

Ther are no Easter eggs to be found anywhere while the shops are full of water pistols in readiness for the real Thai holiday, Songkran Festival, which follows on after Easter. 

Still I do have a four day weekend like back home as Caritas being Catholic closes on Good Friday and Monday is a public holiday in honour of the Thai royal dynasty which just happens to fall this year on Easter Monday.  So it is a holiday time but in a roundabout way for a Christian in Bangkok where Christianity is definitely a minority religion. 

Praying to the spirit house at his work on our Holy Thursday 

The strangeness gives you another experience of the Easter weekend, as you sense the weakness, the vulnerability of being a Christian which is a central theme of Good Friday. 

Being in a big, Buddhist city where so few recognise Easter and go to a Christian church anyway, there is a lack of a 'morale booster' factor for going to church.  You just easily think that you are on your own and so why bother.  That is not true of course but this is a really felt experience when you are a Christian in an isolated setting.  After over nine years here and now becoming so firmly a part of a faith community at the cathedral, that part of being here has faded.  I notice this year that the 'morale booster' factor has returned.  I will go to church for the ceremonies and once again like before at home I so want to go because I belong to a community and am part of people's lives in that community.  So I just want to be there with them and join in the special time. 

Faith really is a shared experience and never a 'go it alone' thing to be simply done in isolation.