Another First in My Bangkok

The Khokar Family gather for Mum's Funeral

In all my time here, this past Sunday, I had yet another first in my Bangkok.  Believe it or not, it was the first experience for me to be joined at mass by a permanent deacon.  Believe it or not, this was a first for many Thai Catholics.  The reason is that the local church has never approved the ordination of permanent deacons which is an ordained ministry in its own right within the universal Church.  Yes, this ministry had been lost in history but it was reclaimed by the Church following the Second Vatican Council.   

Here this ministry remains lost.  Any deacon known by the locals here is one on his way to being ordained a priest.  So how did we get a permanent deacon our way? 

A dear member of our faith community, Theresa, a Pakistani woman, refugee and mother of Joseph, also of our community, died.  She was a great woman of faith, a strong presence of love and care.  So her family naturally came from the UK to celebrate their mother and mourn her loss, with one of their number being a very active deacon in London. 

He admirably fulfilled his role as deacon in the liturgical rites for the funeral of his mother.  For me, I saw an adult son asserting his role with reverence and love for his mother.  It was both an honour and a refreshing experience of church. He then joined us at mass on Sunday at the cathedral as deacon.  It was a great experience for the congregation and for me, being both educational and uplifting. 

I introduced our visiting deacon, highlighting the rightful ministry of deacon and their place in the Church, while also acknowledging that this ministry does not yet stand in the church in Thailand. 

Why is the latter so?  Being a highly structured and hierarchical society, the church reflects society in choosing that all formal ministry is the realm of bishops and priests, the hierarchy.  This means there is only a limited place for laity in ministry here. 

Then after mass on Sunday, a priest holidaying from the USA, spoke with me on this matter.  He said he has two permanent deacons in his parish and has naturally assumed this was normal practice available within the whole church, as this was the ministry ruled by and for the universal Church.  Having shared in our first at Bangkok cathedral, he said he now appreciated that there is church with a small "c" and not just always with a big "C". 

We always keep having our firsts in life.  We all live and learn.