Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Fides Service) - During his pastoral visit to countries in South East Asia, yesterday 24 November, Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples Crescenzio Sepe, visited Assumption University in Bangkok. During a ceremony attended by academics and authorities the university conferred an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Law on the Cardinal. In his address Cardinal Sepe said he was grateful for the honour which he considered not only for himself but also for the activity of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples and the Pontifical Mission Societies. The act was also recognition for the valuable contribution offered by the Catholic Church in the field of education in Thailand with many institutes and religious congregations which, faithful to their charisma, continue their mission in the educational and intellectual field.
Cardinal Sepe gave a talk on “Catholic education in Thailand”, in which he underlined that “education has always been an important field of service for the Catholic Church since the Middle Ages” as it can been seen by the many religious teaching orders founded in view of education of youth, especially the poor otherwise excluded from instruction. Catholic education started in Thailand in 1665, when King Narai the Great gave a piece of land to the first missionaries of the Paris Foreign Missions on which to build a College. The Cardinal said: “Reliable sources narrate that the French missionaries ran a school of theology, a school for boys sent by the King and a small school for Christians. The school was called ‘General College’. It was the first Catholic college in Thailand. Later parishes and parish schools were opened in many provinces”. The annual Catholic Mission report 1908, speaks of 50 Catholics schools, with about 4,000 children all over Thailand.
In 2003 the Church in Thailand was providing education in 279 schools of all grades with 21,480 teachers and 431,818 pupils; 20 technical and professional schools with 1,105 teachers and 10,806 students; two high schools with 99 teachers and 828 pupils; two universities with 1,182 teachers and 21,540 students. In this context the Cardinal said that Assumption University has students from 65 different countries.
In his address Cardinal Sepe mentioned the post synodal exhortation Ecclesia in Asia (n. 37) and Pope John Paul II’s call to Thai Bishops during their ad limina visit in November 2001, to support the Church’s work in this field which aims to offer all children without exception “high level education, making a valuable contribution to the life of the Church and society”. “Catholic institutes of education- the Cardinal said- at the service of children of all religions, promote the integral development of the human person... In this way Catholics schools serve not only the Church but the whole of society, forming young people to be responsible and honest citizens”. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 25/11/2004; righe 37; parole 504)
