A new Chiang Rai diocese in Thailand
With joy and gratitude, we want to share with you the news of the creation of Chiang Rai diocese in Thailand. Previously Chiang Rai territory belonged to Chiang Mai diocese. With the new diocese of Chiang Rai, Thailand has now 11 dioceses.
Pope Francis has erected the new diocese of Chiang Rai, by dividing the existing diocese of Chiang Mai, making it suffragan to the metropolitan see of Bangkok.
The Holy See made the announcement, noting that the pontiff appointed Mgr Joseph Vuthilert Haelom, hitherto vicar general of the archdiocese of the capital, as the first bishop of Chiang Rai.
The newly-established diocese covers 37,839 km² in northwestern Thailand, including four provinces (Chiang Rai, Nan, Phayao, Phrae), as well as Ngao district, Lampang province.
The episcopal see is in Chiang Rai, whose parish church – The Nativity of Our Lady – becomes the cathedral of the new territory.
About 18,000 Catholics live in the new diocese, almost all members of tribal groups, out of a population of more than 2.6 million people, divided into 16 parishes with six diocesan priests, 41 religious and missionaries, plus 51 nuns.
Chiang Rai has only one major seminarian, plus 113 catechists and six Catholic schools.
Mgr Joseph Vuthilert Haelom was born on 17 December 1951 in Lamsai, in the central province of Pathumthani (diocese of Bangkok).
Following his studies at the minor diocesan seminary in the capital, he completed his philosophical and theological studies at the Lux Mundi National Seminary in Sampran before his ordination as a priest on 3 August 1980. He was incardinated in the archdiocese of Bangkok.
After a stint as parochial vicar at the Assumption Cathedral in Bangkok for a year, he served as pastor in two churches between 1981 and 1989: St Teresa in Nongjok and Our Lady of Fatima in Bangkok. In the latter, he was the head master at St Joseph Upatham School and was deputy rector of the St Joseph minor seminary.
From 1995 to 2000, he was director of the Diocesan Commission for Social Works and pastor at the Holy Rosary Church, after which he returned to Sampran to act as rector of the pastoral centre until 2004.
Between 2004 and 2012, the prelate was parish priest at Sacred Heart of Jesus Cathedral in Chiang Mai, where he became vicar general in 2005, a position he also held in Bangkok starting in 2012 until his appointment as bishop of Chiang Rai.
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Pope-Francis-creates-new-Chiang-Rai-diocese-43724.html
The Bishop Joseph Vuthilert Haelom will be ordinated the next July 7th.
From now on, our community of Naan where our sisters Teresa, Antonella, Elizabete and Mireille are living, becomes part of the new diocese of Chiang Rai. We are happy and we thank God author of this gift. Our gratitude to Bishop Francis Xavier Vira Arpondratana, who is leading this great diocese of Chiang Mai, which we belonged to, and with whom we have great collaboration in fraternity. In fact, it was him who provides for our mission in this province of Naan. Worm welcome to the new Bishop Joseph Vuthilert Haelom; we already had some opportunities of collaboration, and with whom we expect with open heart to continue our service for the praise and glory for the Kingdom of God.Top of FormBottom of Form
