Foreign missionaries working in Thailand gathered in Chiang Mai recently to share experiences and to discuss ways to be more effective in their mission in the country.
At least 50 missionary priests and nuns attended the three-day gathering in Chiang Mai from September 28 to 30, according to a report on Radio Veritas Asia.
The Church in Thailand still needs foreign missionaries in the many places that the local clergy are not able to reach, said Italian priest Adriano Pelosin of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions and superior general of the Thai Missionary Society.
The priest said the gathering was a venue to discuss directions to their missionary efforts.
“I believe that we should develop a more spiritual approach to evangelization,” said Father Pelosin.
“We have to keep our people in touch with Jesus and his word,” he said, adding that the “spiritual dimension of proclamation is essential” and “all other strategies will follow.”
Bishop Francis Xavier Vira Arpondratana of Chiang Mai said he is “always impressed by the foreign missionaries’ work.”
“They reach the remotest and impervious areas of the country to bring the Gospel of Jesus,” said the prelate, adding that it is “a great achievement and an example of dedication and unwavering commitment.”
He thanked the foreign missionaries, saying they are needed in the country.
The bishop said he hosted the meeting of the missionaries “because a gathering of so many engaged and motivated men and women can be an example for my young clergy and can stimulate them to have a deeper missionary mentality.”
He said he expects the missionaries to be “more engaged in youth education” because the youth are “the future of the church, and in Chiang Mai, the population is still very young.”
The gathering also celebrated the 400th anniversary of the Congregation of the Evangelization of the Peoples, now known as the Dicastery for Evangelization.
