Farewell to yet another Companion from My Bangkok

Goodbye Carlos!

I have been so long here that I keep farewelling ones who have been so much a part of my Bangkok.  This week, it was time to farewell Carlos who has been a great companion and true ally. 

Carlos is off to sub-Sahara Africa, with all of its perils and appeals, where his wife has been assigned with the UN.  Their move arises from the path they have chosen for the sake of working for the good of humanity and reflects just what decent human beings they are.  Carlos is more than a friend.  He numbers among those who make up the characters of my Bangkok.

This city is a hub for everything, both good and bad.  With the comings and goings of all sorts of people from everywhere, it is one of those places in the world where you meet characters. 

What makes a character?  They are the great human beings who bear an incredible story arising out of a life lived with its more than fair share of adventure, diversity, challenge, colour and excitement.  I say that everyone who plants themselves in Bangkok has quite a story that brings them here.  This is definitely so of the characters of my Bangkok and, being in Bangkok, the story only gets embellished more and more.   What I realise living here is that even in Sydney, I would never meet the characters I meet here.  This is part of the attraction of a Bangkok. 

Of course, they are not all like Carlos.  Some are quite naughty.  Still whoever they are, they reflect the richness of humanity and add to it.  No matter their story and how chaotic or disastrous it may be, these people happily make up my life in my Bangkok and bless it with their presence.  They make here what it is, a rich tapestry of life.  They give me so much.  It is my privilege to know them.  I learn from them.  They are my teachers.  I feel sad when they go but more importantly I am ever grateful they are a part of me, making me richer for knowing them.  They never really leave.  They simply make the story that is my Bangkok.  That is true of Carlos. 

Where to in our 101st Year.

Happy birthday to the cathedral!

100 years is a milestone in anyone's life and even in the life of a public building.  So last week, we celebrated the centenary of Assumption Cathedral in Bangkok.  As I read some of the story behind its making, I could see that it was born out of the vision of one key figure - Fr Emile Colombet, the French missionary priest who was at the helm of the cathedral parish for 58 years from 1875.  I do not know much about him but the basic facts I do know tell me that he was an amazing man who surely left a legacy.

It is his legacy that is the real message of the centenary for me and that gives a clue on how to live out the 101st year and beyond.

His legacy to the Thai Church and beyond is encapsulated for me by four key words:   
Commitment
Faith
Simplicity
Vision

I try to put them into a catchy slogan but can't, and maybe that is being too flippant.  So better that I don't.  I then look at the words and see they are not doing words but being words.  They speak of the quality of the man and his integrity as a human being. 

As I say - It is not what we do but who we are that matters.  Who we are gives expression to what we do. 

I am amazed by such a man as P Colombet - at his length of time of service, at his achievements, at the mere context of his being so far away from home for so long at that time in history.  Beyond being amazed, he gives me a life to ponder and a way to inspire.  We truly are inheritors of a great faith that is meant to be lived, not enshrined.  Carpe diem!

Happy Birthday!

Fr Emile Colombet, priest for Assumption Cathedral 1875-1932

This week, Assumption Cathedral here in Bangkok celebrates 100 years of the present cathedral church building.  It really is quite a church.  Still more than a magnificent cathedral what we are celebrating is the faith and the people who built it and make it what it is today. 

An incredible character behind this great edifice is Fr Emile Colombet, who had the vision for such a cathedral church, seeing it consecrated in 1919.  A new church was needed at that time for the expanding faith community.  Fr Colombet wanted to make any new cathedral a true statement of faith but he met opposition as his plans were seen as costing too much money.  So he soldiered on and stuck to his vision and as a result we have what we have today, thanks to this great man and his endurance in the history of the local church.

As we celebrate also this year 350 years of the Thai Church, I am reading its history which I am finding just fascinating and amazing, and for such a small church so much happened. 

It was established in 1669 as a French missionary church and for its first 250 years it was a church run by the Paris Foreign Mission Society.  Over the years, it was not great numbers but significant numbers of French missionary priests of whom many were learned and gifted men.  They came here as young priests and stayed here for the rest of their lives, sacrificing much and working hard within a foreign and difficult environment.  Think about it, for them coming here from France back then would be like us facing life on the moon.

Fr Colombet was one in this line of dedicated men, and what a man, being 57 years at the cathedral, establishing a school, being concerned for the development of the people and their needs, building a new and needed cathedral and much more. He had a vision, remained true to it, lived it and saw it through to fruition.  What he saw as could be became reality for him in some real way.  What he left was a testament of faith that stands until today.

Happy 100th birthday, Assumption cathedral! 

We Need to Talk

A traumatic experience last week highlighted the need to talk - talk for seeking understanding and justice.  The obvious outcome of that true life story was no talk meant no justice.  As this week began, this same need was highlighted yet again but this time in my everyday ministry and life.

The stairway to nowhere

Hence, this has become a week for talking. 

An upsetting issue arose for me through a work email which showed people of the same team working against each other instead of with each other because of the simple lack of courtesy and acknowledgement by one party choosing to act alone.  This needed to be addressed and so the talk that should have already happened is happening this week and with much more agenda and vigour.

It is also a week of talk as my provincial is here and so there is news to share, conversations to unfold and discussions had.   

St Catherine of Siena gets straight to the point as was her way, saying,
"We've had enough exhortations to be silent.  Cry out with a thousand tongues - I see the world is rotten because of silence." 
And talk, she did.