Since the historic elections in November 2015, there has been a wave of optimism for national reconciliation, which may allow for Burmese refugees who fled to camps on the Thailand-Myanmar border decades ago to return.
With the cooperation and support of a considerable circle of lay experts as well as the advice of Jesuit educators in Asia Pacific, the Jesuits in Thailand are embarking on an ambitious education project to serve the poor, especially the indigenous communities in the northern mountains of the country. An assistant professor at Mae Fah Luang University in Chiang Rai has been hired to conduct a feasibility study that will help the Jesuits work out many of the details of the proposed college. It should be completed in August.
Jesuit scholastics are invited to join a four-week programme designed to guide them in examining issues of Asian theology, and understanding interreligious dialogue and the inculturation of the Catholic faith in Asia. They will do this through an intensive experience of Buddhism in the specific context of Thailand, which is predominantly Buddhist.
Now on its 10th year, the 2015 East Asia Theological Encounter Programme (EATEP) will be held from July 22 to August 17 at the Seven Fountains Spirituality Centre in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
The Bangkok Immigration Detention Centre is neither a prison nor a jail. It is the last barrier for non-Thais awaiting deportation back to their home countries, after finishing their prison sentences or paying court-imposed fines.
These detainees have, for the most part, entered Thailand illegally. How long they will be in the detention centre depends on many factors – the regulations of their country’s embassy/consulate, their travel documents, a plane ticket, and whether they are physically fit for the flight home.
In a village in Chiangmai Province sits a new church named after St Willibrord, the patron saint of Luxemburg. Its name reflects how it came to be. It had been built with the labour, heart and financial support of friends from Luxemburg, as well as friends from other lands, and no less than the Archbishop of Luxemburg, Jean Claude Hollerich SJ, presided at its blessing.
At the height of the floods in Thailand in October and November, the Jesuit Foundation Prison Ministry continued to reach out to the many prisoners it has befriended in the country’s overcrowded prisons. Vilaiwan Phokthavi, Director, Jesuit Prison Ministry tells us how the floods affected prisoners in three prisons.
For the members of the Jesuit Prison Ministry team, continuing to visit prisoners took will, determination and faith. The pictures below show the road leading to Pattum Thani Prison, Central Correctional Institution for Young Offenders, on Nov 22.
An estimated 20 million people across Southeast Asia have been affected by flooding since June. Most are in Thailand, but typhoons struck the Philippines in October, and Laos was hit by cyclones in July and August. About 1.8 million people in Cambodia and Vietnam are also suffering from the worst flooding in a decade. Myanmar also is experiencing flooding, though the extent is unclear because little information has been released from the country. Local media there reported some 30,000 people were hit by flash floods last month that killed more than 160.
Fr Paul Kriangyot Piyawanno (TAI) will take his final vows in the Society of Jesus on Saturday, November 1, 2008, at Xavier Hall Chapel, Bangkok, at the Eucharistic celebration at 6:00 p.m.
Vinai Boonlue was ordained by Bishop of Chiangmai, Joseph Sangval, at the Sacred Heart Cathedral of Chiangmai on the 19th of November 2005. The date was chosen because it was Saturday after the 17th of November 2005, the date that marked the 51st Anniversary of the second mission of the Jesuits in Thailand. A Regional Triduum preceded the ordination to end the Region’s Golden Anniversary and to prepare for the Jubilee of St. Ignatius, St. Francis Xavier, and Blessed Peter Favre.