The Visit 2003, March

March, 2002 Volume 9, Number 3 MarachJAugune Volume 8, Number 12 Volume 8, NNnnNNNumberVolumNumber 6 6666663

NEWSLETTER OF THE BANGKOK VICE PROVINCE

Vice Provincial Chapter The Electoral Chapter for the Vice Province of Bangkok convened on February 18, 2002, in Pattaya. Father Provincial, Dick Thibodeau, from Denver, opened the Chapter with a homily at Mass and a report on the state of the Denver Province. Another 41 confreres, everyone who was present in the country at the time (three are studying abroad and one is in Korea), joined in the election for the new Vice Provincial and his consultors.

Father John Chuchart Srivichairatana was elected to succeed Fr. Banchong Chaiyara on the 11th ballot. Then, in order, the vicar and first consultor, Fr. Joe Aphisit Kritsaralam, was elected, followed by the second consultor Fr. Jim Thanu Krathong. The senators (EVPC) chosen for this term were Frs. Larry Patin, Paul Nathan, Thiwa Saensirivivat and Phichan Jaiseri.

The chapter proceeded harmoniously and matters concerning the secretariats of Community Life and the Apostolate were discussed at length.

Frs. Joe Meier, Ray Brennan and Mike Shea gave reports on their extensive and impressive work in the field of social works. All the chapter members showed their appreciation for the zeal of these three confreres and what they have achieved.

Reports also came from the secretariats for Finance and Formation.

There was a discussion about changing the status of the Vice Province to become a province. The chapter members showed not much interest in the matter and the subject was shelved for now.

Now the government of our Vice Province will proceed to consider appointments for the coming triennium. The VISIT will have a report on this in next month’s issue.

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“Step two, now in progress, is to replace the old wood strips to which the tiles are attached with steel strips that are a little larger and much stronger. The final step is to remove the old tiles and lay the new. There are 1,600 (160?) tiles per square meter, 200,000 tiles in all. The colors are predominantly green, with yellow and dark red borders, colors distinctive of a temple roof in Thailand.

Vice-Provincial Government Bangkok Father Dick Thibodeau, arrived a few days early for the chapter. He spent his time in Bangkok at Holy Redeemer, of course, but did find time to attend a charity benefit for Fr. Joe Meier’s work for the slums. The benefit was promoted by Jackie Chan, the Hong Kong movie star. Dick also visited RIS along with Bill Bolin¸ a former Redemptorist missionary in Thailand. Bill has taken on the task of raising funds for the work in the slums. Unfortunately Bill was not in Thailand long enough to visit any other places.

Father Charlie Cotant writes of plans to repair the roof on Holy Redeemer church (again!).

“Pieces of broken tile began to fall from the roof, followed by pieces of wooden strips to which the tiles were attached, slightly damaging cars that were parked below in the church’s parking lot. At that point we realized that disintegration was setting in. Slate tiles and wood strips cannot last forever. Fr. Jim Thanu, the pastor, sounded the alarm, and the work of re-tiling the entire roof was set in motion. Step one was to protect not only the church building, but the people and the cars in the church yard below. This required a covering of the entire porch around the church, together with its granite-covered pillars and the ornamental border that projects from the walls. Then came the massive steel scaffolding around the entire church. Workers were then ready to begin climbing the walls, and prepare the roof for the laying of the tiles.

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Holy Redeemer Church (c. 1980) “Time for the total repair is four months beginning in February and working from Mondays through Fridays, with off days on all religious holidays. The total price for repair is set at 5,000,000 baht (c. $120,000).”

Fr. Jim Thanu celebrated the funeral Mass of his grandmother in Chantaburi the day after the chapter ended. Many of his confreres, together with several diocesan priests, joined in the Mass.

Jim’s sister, Sister Srithai Krathong, is the Mother General of the diocesan order of the Lovers of the Cross.

Udon Diocese

Holy Family Church (2002) On February 9, 2002, the parish of the Holy Family in Phonsung village celebrated its annual church feast. It was also the occasion to

celebrate the 25th anniversary of the building of the present church. Brother Corny, of happy memory, was the architect and builder of the church during the pastorate of Fr. Pat Morrissy.

Pat was invited back to preach the triduum preceding the feast.

In the afternoon Bishop George blessed the new mission church in Ban Pak Dong. The monks of the neighboring Buddhist monastery honored the blessing with their presence.

Bishop George is on the go again. Following the church feast he visited the chapter in Pattaya and then was off to Rome on special assignment. He continues to pile up frequent flyer miles!

Nongkhai In his brief stay in Thailand, Father Thibodeau managed to make a quick trip to Nongkhai. He was particularly interested in seeing Fr. Mike Shea’s work for AIDS victims and their children.

Holy Family Church (1977) Bishop George and about 30 other priests concelebrated the Mass of the feast. All the guests marveled at the improvements that have been made of late by the pastor, Father Kamchat. The VISIT offers two photos: one of the original sanctuary of the Church, and the other of the redecorated sanctuary. Now Phonsung has a second parish on the outskirts of the village (Ban Phonsung Noi) and a new parish 3 kilometers away in Pak Dong. The Phonsung parishes are now serviced by two priests, Fr. Kamchat and Fr. Jose who is a Spanish missionary. Two other priests are stationed in the district of Ban Dung to look after St. Jude’s and its several mission stations.

He had the opportunity to meet the staff and all the children of the three hospices. He also visited the home of a young dying woman, Elizabeth Bunpeng. She was in the last stages of AIDS and was thrilled when Dick gave her a blessing and encouragement. She died a week later, right after Mike returned from the chapter.

Dick was in town just two days and drove down to the chapter with Mike, Larry Patin and Bill Wright. The Pattaya community met them for supper at a local Italian restaurant (La Gritta), and enjoyed the latest news from the States.

The Phone Company came to Viengkhuk on the last day of February to check with Fr. Shea about the square plot of land given for the phone system in the Viengkhuk area. They are to raise the plot somewhat with dirt fill before finally putting in the phone system. All the Viengkhuk subscribers for phones have been waiting for the past several years for this service.

Pattaya

Phonsung Church Anniversary

It was a busy month at the Center, but there isn’t much extraordinary news to report. The chapter of the Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions came to an end after four weeks. The Sisters were very impressed with the facilities and the service afforded them, as well as the apostolic works of the C.SS.R. They were disappointed that the swimming pool was shut down for repairs during their stay. (It is back in operation Page 3

now).

Father Wichien held several PRH sessions during the month in Chantaburi and Samphran. Father Phichan gave a talk to a group of university students in Pattaya and a triduum for the parish of Bang Khla in preparation for their church feast. The Sisters of the Holy Trinity have a drug rehab center there for women addicts.

Perhaps the most exciting event in Pattaya was the marriage of Khun Orasa, a secretary at the Center, to Khun Nakhon who is a driver at the orphanage. The bridal couple was very comely as you will see from the attached photo. The marriage took place at St. Nikolaus parish, with Frs. Morrissy, Brennan, Gautreaux, Phichan and Travis concelebrating.

Nakorn and Orasa Ruam Rudi International School The community at RIS in Minburi was tapped for the two top jobs in the Vice Province: Fr. Chuchart, Vice Provincial, and Fr. Aphisit as his vicar.

Father Travis conducted a five-day retreat for the priests of the Ubonrachathani diocese in Ubon. At present Leo is in the U.S. recruiting teachers for the new school year at RIS. Nigeria Page 4

Father Dick Thiele wrote a letter with news of Nigeria back in January but it did not arrive in time for the February VISIT. He sends news that two parishes in Lagos, whose two pastors are now young Nigerian Redemptorists, are in the process of building new churches. Both of them will seat approximately 4,000 people! That gives us an idea of the size and vibrancy of the church in Nigeria.

There are 70 major seminarians now in formation at Redeemer House.

That compares favorably with Oconomowoc in it’s hey-day of the 1950’s.

Father Bill Petersen, the new regional superior, writes about a recent failed burglary attempt at Redeemer House where the novitiate is located.

“Here we go again! Last night, we had another ‘incident’. Four armed robbers tried to break in.

They surprised one of our guards and shot him in the hip. One of the other three guards saw it from a distance and eventually shot into the air, which scared the robbers off. All this happened about 2:30 a.m. We had no electricity, so it was very dark. I grabbed my torch only to find that the batteries had died. We finally turned on the generator and I went out to see the wounded guard, who was lying just outside the guardhouse across the road from the library. He was in pain but was not bleeding too badly. He was conscious and coherent but understandably shook up. I got a towel and had someone press it against the wound.

One of our armed guards accompanied our van as the students took the guard to the hospital.

The doctor tells us that we will have to get a police report before he can operate, if that is necessary. He'll also need an x-ray to see if any bones are broken. Fr. Bob Wirth has already sent a student driver out to search for our lawyer since "doing business with the police" is often more dangerous than dealing with the robbers themselves.”

Dick goes on to write about the up-coming novitiate class. From hundreds of applicants, about 45 are culled for a special live-in experience. They will spend long weekends, 5 boys at a time, to enable us to further evaluate them. In the end, only 12 will be invited to novitiate. In the total list of applicants are young men from 8 different tribes in Nigeria, and one

applicant from Ghana. Nigeria is surely one country that has no dirth of vocations.

Korea Our Thai Confrere Fr. Peter Charoen sends us word of his mission in Korea. He tells of a recent day when he was hearing confessions in the Seoul Cathedral. Outside the Cathedral crowds were gathering for a general strike against the Electric Works and the Subway System. The Cathedral, it seems, is a wellknown place for workers to gather as they go out on strike. It was business as usual in the Cathedral and business went on as usual in Main Street outside.

Peter was planning on attending the chapter in Thailand (he is still a member of the Vice Province of Bangkok) but was unable to do so because he had to renew his alien registration papers. He was anxious for news of the proceedings, which your editor provided him.

Peter writes of attending the funeral of Sister Gloria, a member of the Congregation of Our Mother of Perpetual Help. As Mother Superior of the Order in Korea, she made a trip to Rome in l977. She petitioned the Redemptorists to make a foundation in Korea. It was only 14 years later that the Redemptorists arrived to begin our mission. In the early years she was our constant support, she found us a house for our novitiate, sent us candidates and in l999 her nephew was ordained a Redemptorist priest.

May this good friend rest in the Peace of the Lord.

The VISIT is grateful for the news sent by Frs. Thiele, Charoen, Mike Shea and Charlie Cotant for this issue.

GOD BLESS THE WORK

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