Seeking ways to foster religious harmony in its Buddhist-majority nation has led Thailand’s government to officially recognise three Catholic churches.
The three churches have been waiting 93 years for that recognition.
They were among nine religious places of worship Thailand’s Ministry of Culture officially recognised last week. Six Buddhist temples also received Government approval.
Itthiphol Khunpluem, Thailand’s Minister of Culture, highlighted the recognition of churches as a move to address the need for religious harmony.
“This certification of the Catholic Church is considered a way to promote and foster religions in Thailand, to appropriate them in line with the current situation,” he said.
“The move will encourage people to have places for their religious activities.” Khunpluem sees these places as being available for them to “receive education and instil morals that are correct according to religious principles”.
The three Catholic churches the Cultural Ministry has approved are: Saint Thomas the Apostle Church in Bangkok; Saint Monica Church in Nan Province; Saint Joseph the Worker Church in Phrae Province.
Until 1929, Thailand had recognised only 57 Catholic churches. Since then, none has been approved until last week’s additional three.
In 2021, the Thai Cabinet approved a formal law to enable the approval of religious places of worship.
The decree states that a new parish can be established only if it has a permanent resident priest and a minimum of 200 parishioners who can support the parish.
Under exceptional circumstances, a diocese can request that the criteria – resident priest and the minimum number of faithful – be waived.
Thai law says the Religions Department must release a list of parishes established in this way each year and has up to two years to seek approval for them.
The Social Communication Commission of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Thailand welcomed the new decree in 2021.
The Government’s recognition of the churches addresses the need of “the current situation and provides greater certainty and guarantees for the future” for the Catholic Church in the country, the Social Communication Commission said.
The Catholic Church in Thailand has two archdioceses, nine dioceses and 502 parishes. In 2019, the country had about 388,000 Catholics – about half a percent of the 69 million population.
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