Thai Church leaders call for healing

(May 24, 2010) As calm returns to Bangkok and other cities in Thailand, a bishop and several priests in the red shirt protesters’ strongholds have called for all sides to heal the country. “There is no winner. Everyone has lost,” said Bishop Banchong Chaiyara of Ubon Ratchathani, president of the Thai bishops’ Commission for Social Ministries. “The healing process must begin immediately even though it is hard to imagine so amidst the anger and pain,” said the bishop of the northeastern diocese. He then urged Catholics to pray for peace and all sides to work toward solving problems and healing the country. Arsonists and rioters left many areas of Bangkok in ruins on May 19, after red shirt leaders announced an end to their occupation of a central commercial district. Government buildings in several cities in northern and northeastern Thailand, which are red shirt strongholds, were also torched. According to Thai media reports on May 21, 52 people have been killed in political violence since May 14, and more than 400 injured. “We should not hate each other because we have different political ideologies,” said Father Vithaya Ngamwong, vicar general of Ubon Ratchathani diocese and pastor of its Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, which is 800 meters from the town hall razed by red shirts on a rampage on May 19. “National reconciliation must start now,” the priest urged. Father Vuthilert Haelom, vicar general of northern Chiang Mai diocese, where violence also erupted, said they are praying for unity in the country everyday and hope that things return to normal.