A small church renovation project in Thailand’s rural Buengkan Province, has been the backdrop for a rejuvenation in parish and community life as well as an opportunity for interfaith dialogue and friendship.

Fr Truong Le SVD arrived at his new parish in Northeast Thailand, near the Mekong River at short notice and with few plans in place, but says that by listening and getting to know the people, a strong community is beginning to grow.

When Fr Rajaskhar Reddy SVD, found himself stranded at home in India during the COVID border closures, he saw first-hand how hard-hit the Indian people were by the impacts of the virus.

Fr Raja was in India for three months’ home-leave at the beginning of this year and was due to return to his parish in Thailand in March, but just a week before his departure, Thailand announced it was closing its borders.

When Fr Toub Anisong Chanthavong SVD took the short trip from Thailand to Laos in December for three months of home leave with his family, it never occurred to him that a worldwide pandemic would prevent him from returning to his ministry for many months.

Toub had been set to take up a new parish assignment as assistant priest in Ban Phongsoung, Thailand upon his return from home leave, but instead, has been keeping himself busy in various forms of ministry and service in Laos.

The SVD AUS Province is to receive a new member as soon as the pandemic allows, with Fr Tommy Lehan SVD due to take up a mission assignment in Thailand.

Fr Tommy was born in Boas, Indonesia in 1990 and raised in Atambua, the main city of the Belu district.

It’s been a time of farewells and new beginnings for some of the SVD missionaries in the Thailand District of the AUS Province, with the Bishop of Udon Thani reassigning them to take on new challenges in a different area of the diocese.

The SVDs had been working in the area of Ban Dung in northern Thailand for some time, taking care of large parishes as well as small, deserted churches in different villages. Their new assignments will take three of the confreres to another province, BuengKan, which borders Laos.

Pope Francis’ visit to Thailand was a great opportunity for the Church in Thailand to invigorate its faith and to fire up the missionary dimension as the people celebrate the 350th anniversary of the Siam Mission, an SVD priest assigned to the country says.

Fr Truong Thong Le SVD was one of 11 Divine Word Missionaries from the AUS Province currently working in Thailand or Myanmar who took part in the events surrounding the Papal visit. They were also joined by an SVD priest from the Vietnam Province.

In asking the Church to celebrate an Extraordinary Mission Month this October, Pope Francis is calling each one of us to live out our baptismal calling to carry forward the mission of Jesus Christ, says Fr Truc Quoc Phan SVD.

Fr Truc is the Mission Secretary for the Divine Word Missionaries’ AUS Province, a job which entails both living and promoting Christ’s mission locally and internationally.

The SVD Thai District recently celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Divine Word Missionaries’ presence in Thailand.

The anniversary was marked during a gathering of the confreres for their quarterly recollection, where, in a spirit of prayer they gave thanks to God for blessing the Thailand mission over the years.

The new Governor of Nong Bua Lamphu in Thailand paid a visit to the SVD’s Mother of Perpetual Help Centre and Villa Marie Hospice recently – to celebrate a special birthday in his family.

Br Damien Lunders SVD says it is a common Thai custom on the birthday of a person, and in this case the wife of the Governor, to take food and gifts to a Centre such as the hospice or a children’s home.

“Joy is all around. I just have to be open to it,” says Fr Truong Thong Le SVD, as he takes up his first missionary assignment in Thailand.

Fr Truong, who was born in Vietnam and raised in the United States, has recently arrived back in Thailand as a fully-fledged SVD missionary priest, after spending time there as a student as part of the SVD’s Overseas Training Program (OTP).