Thai Church to care for interfaith families, sexual minorities

Catholics marrying baptized people and increasing same-sex relations are among the challenges, says synod report

The Catholic Church in Thailand needs to plan better to offer pastoral care to increasing inter-faith couples and sexual minorities in the Buddhist-majority nation, says a report on the Church’s synodal consultations.

The national report, a synthesis of reports from two archdioceses and nine dioceses, acknowledged that marriage between Buddhists and Catholics has become common in Thailand, where Christians form just 1 percent of the nation’s 70 million mostly Buddhist people.

In Thailand, “many Catholic families are married with disparity of cult,” the synod report said using a canonical expression used for a baptized Catholic marrying a non-baptized person in the Church without both changing religions.

The situation demands better pastoral care of family life and ongoing formation “to instill faith, devotion and understanding of the roles and duties, strengthening the relationships and the unity in the family,” the report said while explaining the general need of the Church.

“In addition, the increasing phenomenon of same-sex Christian couples reminds the Catholic Church in Thailand of the necessity to provide appropriate pastoral care for them,” the report said about another need.

The report was sent to Rome two months ago and made available to UCA News recently. It forms part of the preparations for the synod of bishops in Rome scheduled to conclude in 2024. The report of the national synod marks the national-level preparatory phase, which began in 2021. 

The 16th Synod of Bishops commonly referred to as the synod on synodality, will continue the preparations in 2023 with continental-level gatherings.

It was scheduled to conclude in 2023.  However, Pope Francis in October extended it to 2024 “in order to have a more relaxed period of discernment” in seeking ways for more participation and communion of people in the mission of the Church.

The report from Thailand said the synodal process was inclusive and participatory. Every diocese ensured the participation of the bishop, priests, religious, lay men and women, children and youth, catechists, the poor, the disabled, the LGBTQ+, vulnerable groups, and various other groups such as farmers, laborers, immigrants, urban and rural poor including people of other faiths, it said.

Church officials estimate most Catholics, who opt for non-Christian partners, get married in the Church after obtaining the necessary dispensation but their faith life becomes adversely affected.

Catholics married to non-Christians tend to visit the church less frequently, most often not to offend their partners. On the other hand, in the Thai culture, the Catholic partner is likely to follow the religion of the non-baptized partner, the synodal process found.

A mixing of faiths and religious relativism, which considers Christ as one of the gods, is seen frequently among interfaith families. It is not surprising to see people following several different religious traditions at the same time in Thai society, the synod was told.

The Church allows a Catholic to marry a non-Christian on the condition that their offspring will be brought up in the Christian faith. But this condition is often violated in Thai society, particularly in the case of boys.

Thai Buddhists consider it of immense merit to ordain a son as a Buddhist monk, even for a shorter time. The dispute over the son’s ordination divides the family, which can even lead to divorce.

“Importance must be given to the preparation for marriage, with an appropriate time, content, and process to learn the principles of Christian life and each other’s religious experiences for mutual understanding and respect for differences,” the synod report said.

The Thai Church also considers pastoral care for same-sex relationships, as the number of such relations continues to come in open.

“The increasing phenomenon of same-sex Christian couples reminds the Catholic Church in Thailand of the necessity to provide appropriate pastoral care for them.”

The LGBTQ+ Catholics neither suffer from discrimination nor hatred from the Thai Catholic community, even though the Church does accept same-sex marriages, said a Thai LGBTQ+ Catholic who prefers to remain anonymous.

“The Church has its own conditions: it only accepts a union between a man and a woman. So, if we do not meet those qualifications, the Church would not receive it. That’s it. No Catholics can have all the sacraments, anyway, ” he said.

“I don’t think we need to call for a change in the Church policy so that the LGBTQ+ members have equal rights. The lack of sacrament of marriage does not impact our Christian life,” he continued.

The Church wants to ensure that the children of interfaith parents are raised in the faith, and yet they freely decide whether they will join the Church permanently once they become adults, the report said.

Finally, the Thai Church is more concerned about “the unity in a family and the future of the family, the foundation of God’s plan for humanity.”

The synodal process also emphasized the need for pastoral care to other groups including catechumens, foreigners, the ethnic group, children and the youth, and the vulnerable, such as the abandoned, the poor, the elderly, the disabled, the sick, those who wait for opportunities, drug addicts, immigrants, migrant workers, and refugees.

The church at the grassroots level is encouraged to have regular and continuous dialogue within its structure, to create a network, and work as a team at the parish, diocese, religious congregations, and bishops’ conference. The parish community needs to become a platform to meet and consult the faithful, it said.

While Christians in the countryside live scattered, the communities in cities face the challenges of mingling with diverse groups of foreigners and migrants from other Asian nations – Filipinos, Vietnamese, Myanmar, Laotians and Cambodians, with different traditions and cultures, including also tourists.

“Therefore, Christians are challenged to open their hearts to dialogue and accept each other’s culture based on love, justice and peacemaking, with the help of sharing,” the report noted.

The migration of Catholics to big cities and abroad also poses new challenges for the Church, it said.

Some Christians have distanced themselves from the Church for various reasons such as migration, and other impediments connected to marriage, conflicts, and scandals.

“Most Christians are living among brothers and sisters of other faiths, and some may have been swallowed up by them, making Catholics’ attention to religious and cultural values even more neglected,” it noted.

The Church in Thailand also needs to support ethnic Christian communities that live mostly scattered in remote areas of northern Thailand with their own diverse lifestyles, customs, cultures, and languages, the report said.

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