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"Grateful
Children" Awards |
| Bangkok
Archdiocese joining hands with the Catholic Committee on the
Elderly celebrated Day of the Elderly and Presentation of Awards
to the the "Grateful Children" |
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The
Catholic Committee on the Elderly together with the Elderly
Department of the Bangkok Archdiocese and Elderly Group of St.
Peter's church organized the "Day of the Elderly at the
National Level" with the theme: "The Elderly: Chain
of a Genius" and announcement of the grateful children
on 27 May 2006 at St. Peter's church, Samphran, presided over
by H.E. Bishop John Bosco Panya Kritcharoen. Attendance was
about 800 elderly people coming from various dioceses in Thailand.
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| The
celebration was the result of the Year 2000 Master Pastoral
Plan of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Thailand given to
the elderly people in view of the 4th Commandment. A due consideration
has been given to this mandate by the Catholic Subcommittee
for Pastoral Care for the Elderly since its promulgation. This
subcommittee has been trying to organize activities to promote
gratefulness of children to their parents; hence, comes the
"Grateful Children" project. The main task is to coordinate
with all the dioceses to select candidates worthy of being grateful
children at the parish, diocesan and national level. This is
the 6th year of the attempt after the Year 2000 Master Plan.
And finally the objective has been achieved, though there is
still lack of cooperation from some dioceses. |
| On
the occasion of the Bangkok Archdiocese organizing "Day
of the Elderly" at the diocesan level under the leadership
of Rev. Thananyachai Kitsamak with all its 6 diocesan regions
participating, the national subcommittee for the elderly expressed
its desire to join in and make it a national celebration. The
objectives of this celebration are as follows: |
1.
To show the strength of the Catholic elderly people who adhere
to their faith and devote themselves to Jesus Christ with their
dedication towards the elderly, society and the Church.
2. To promote the Catholic elderly from various churches all
over the country to have an opportunity to meet and exchange
mutual experiences. |
The
celebration began by a short report of Rev. Thananyachai Kitsamak
about the
rationale of this celebration to H.E. Bishop Panya Kritcharoen,
chairperson of the celebration. Rev. Chaiya Kitsawat was a resource
person speaking on the topic of "the Elderly and the Bible".
In sum, he said: |
| "There
are records in the Bible that God gives the importance and His
blessings to the elderly and that whenever the children do not
respect their parents and the elderly within the community,
there will be some sort of punishment. The Bible speaks about
the elderly as "gray hair", because one outstanding
characteristic of an elderly is "gray hair", it also
says that "God loves the elderly" which coincides
with the Thai culture that respects the elderly and the seniors.
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| If
one wants to gain respect from the society and neighbors the
only way is to live a good moral life. This is a good occasion
for us to ask ourselves whether we have lived a good moral life
in the past. If we live a just life, it would not matter whether
we have a gray or black hair, the hair on our head will be a
crown of dignity both to ourselves and to our family. |
| For
us Catholics, we should have heard a paragraph of the Bible
about the vineyard owner and the laborers who equally receive
1 talent. One might question if God is just? But God wants us
to make discernment of the word "justice", because
"justice", if not in line with the will of God, our
being human is decreased - and at the end we will not be so
much different from some breathing aggregated object. |
| What
makes "justice" go in line with the will of God is
"love", because when a person begins to love and give
his/her love to others, then he/she will begin to get rich and
be content with "sufficiency". So, real happiness
and richness have the foundation on "love". "Justice"
is good and necessary for the whole life, but above and over
justice we must have love, because "love" never diminishes
"justice" in the least, rather it enriches justice".
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