Vatican City, May 16, 2008 : Bishop George Yod Phimphisan, C.Ss.R. delivered the inaugural address to His Holiness on behalf of the Thai bishops on their Ad Limina Apostolorum visit.
Your Holiness,
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Thailand pay our respects today through the gracious invitation extended to us. We are most grateful and joyful for this opportunity granted to us.
We take pride and confidence in you as our shepherd for we believe that you are the right man at this crucial time in the Church when both minds and hearts of man need to be won for Christ.
At our country’s level, we can say that we face a similar difficulty. Given a basically Buddhist population, conversion to Christianity is often seen as turning one’s back against being a true Thai. Buddhist values and practices closely entwined within Thai traditions and culture make it difficult to distinguish what is Buddhist from what is Thai. This challenge the Church of Thailand have had to hurdle all these years. Pray with us Holy Father that God’s all consuming love will penetrate all barriers towards making Jesus known and loved in our part of Asia.
We assure you, Most Holy Father, that we are united with you in spirit and we are at your call and disposal for whatever you may wish to do for the Church, to bring the greater good out of mankind in these difficult and challenging times.
We thank you for your care and concern for all of us in the Church of Thailand, and for your presence among us now. May this time be truly graced from on high to give us your servants new strength, new confidence, new minds and new eyes to see what God who is Love want us to see at this point in our life as a Church.
We wish you more strength and confidence, and success in Him who is the Source of all Good and Love.
Thank you very much. |
