Church Development Work

Furthering New Evangelization in Development Work

I have been away this week at a Caritas Thailand workshop aimed at improving our working together in our shared mission of social development.  As I joined the gathering for three days, I reflected how we so often emphasize our differences because we live in a different culture or country but I wonder how different are we really.  

What I see living here time and again is that our common humanity joins us together much more strongly than any cultural or other differences may be used to highlight our separation due to an inherited sense of uniqueness.  Yes, we are unique but we are also part of humanity and that cannot be undervalued and that is at the root of our identity.  .
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The lesson at hand was to see issues being faced and the way they were being faced.  They were human issues arising from people working together within a history and an organization or community.  This was a coming together of good people doing good in the world but they are people all the same - fragile and vulnerable.  So there are the successes and the joys but also the hurts and felt failures as well.

For my part, I cannot act as if I am divorced from this reality, speaking from afar.  Here I reflect from my experience of Church and people in a number of parts of the world.  The lesson I kept before me this week as we faced issues together was that we are not all so dissimilar.  To appreciate our common humanity is to give a healthy sense of perspective.

As we are immersed in the Church's social development work, so we are just as much immersed in our own personal development work.  The two go together.

What a great spot to consider development..

We are at the bottom of a dam.  Just hoped it did not burst. A sign?

Who's Bob?

Reopening of Erawan Shrine after the bombing

Everyone must know what happened this week in Bangkok.  On Monday evening, a sizeable bomb exploded in central Bangkok at the well known and well loved Erawan shrine, causing death, injury and destruction.  As you can imagine everyone in Bangkok that night has a story.  What is mine? 

Monday after work, I went to Mega BangNa to buy new shoes.  From there, I went to Om's place for dinner.  When it was time to leave Om's and have him take me to the skytrain station for getting home, I saw that he was taking a long time reading messages on Line. 
So I asked - What is happening? 
He replied - It is 'Bob'. 
In surprise, I asked - Who is Bob? 
To which, he replied - No, bomb.
Bomb!  Where?  He then said that people were killed and I realised it was serious.  We went on from there. 

The point of my story is that when one is firmly part of a local community in a Bangkok of today's world, the news reaches you first and with most impact by means of local friendship and social networks using the social media.  This was my first experience of learning a story of such import in this way.  I found this informal channel of communication to be incredibly quick but if it was to be helpful, there was one big question.  How reliable is their message?  I have to say that I found their news shared to be reliable and also effective in then dealing with the question of how best to get home.  When I got home, I checked it out on both BBC and Aljazeera and there it was. 

It was not Bob but a bomb and very sad and very worrying. 

Every cent counts

My father brought me up on a philosophy that every cent counted.  I was reminded of this during the past week when I was on a bus on the way home from the refugee centre.  The Bangkok Refugee Centre is not an accommodation facility but a facility that acts as a base for the offering of service, es to the local refugee population.  So the refugees come to access services and then return home to wherever they live in Bangkok. 

So I get on the bus with a refugee couple who pay their fare but then the husband is looking at his change and questioning what he has been given.  He believes that he was short changed but he was not and what was the amount he was questioning?  One baht. 

I can identify with standing up for a matter of principle but we live in a different world when we start getting upset over one baht.  Still this became for me a symbol of these people's plight.  One baht does matter for them existing on such little income.  Being short changed one baht for them could easily be $10 or more for soemone else in the world.  Yes, it does matter and this simple story is but a symbol of the level of desperation under which these people exist. 

As I reflect further, this could also matter to this man as he seeks to stand up for his rights in a society where they are a hidden underclass, lacking access to their rights, and victimized in many ways.  It might have been a case of just one perceived wrong too many and so it was time to stand up for himself.  They are a truly desperate population and what is their crime?  Seeking a life for their family?     

Life is never so happy

In the last month, I have had quite a round of visitors.  It Is like everyone is coming all at once.  This busy season has made me reflect on friends and I come to the conclusion that being with good friends is the closest experience we have of being in heaven.

Now who are these two?  Yes, they are from my flock of visitors.  Both are American, great characters and so in touch with a healthy spirituality.  They are the sort of people who reaffirm your confidence in humanity.  They have been a breath of fresh air in my life.  They have listened to me and I have listened to them.  We have talked about the good, the bad and the ugly, and it has all been good. 

Meet Fr Bob.  He is the guy on the left.  He is the 72 year old Catholic priest with a pony tail and just has a full tank of energy for life.  He was a chaplain for 15 years in a maximum security prison and then retired because it was what he needed to do in life.  He has not given up living or ministry at all.  He just keeps on keeping on, remaining faithful to his philosophy of a sabbatical every seven years.  So he got his round the world ticket and Bangkok here he was.  Being with him showed me life with different glasses, glasses that looked at life in a deeper and more appreciative way. 

I have found my friends being here to be life-givng and healing.  Bob is but a classic example of what they have done for me and been with me while here for such a short time.  They naturally remind me of a classic song.

"Keep smiling, keep shining
Knowing you can always count on me, for sure
That's what friends are for
For good times and bad times
I'll be on your side forever more
That's what friends are for".