Bétharram Fathers celebrate 75 years of mission in Thailand

The Congregation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus of Bétharram celebrated 75 years of missionary work in Thailand with a thanksgiving Mass at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Chiang Mai on Oct. 24.

Bishop Peter Suphot Roeksujarit of Chiang Mai presided over the Mass. He was joined by Archbishop Peter Bryan Wells, the apostolic nuncio to Thailand, and Bishop Joseph Wuttilert Haelom of Chiang Rai. Priests, religious brothers and sisters, and laypeople from mountain parishes in the Lanna region also attended.

The Bétharram mission began in the early 1950s after political upheaval in China forced the French congregation to leave Yunnan Province. The missionaries moved into northern Thailand, working in the provinces of Chiang Mai and Mae Hong Son. For 75 years, the congregation has served Indigenous hill tribe communities in the highlands.

Very Rev. Luka Kriangsak Kitsakulwong, the superior of the Thailand-Vietnam Region for the congregation, noted that the missionaries initially faced language barriers, unfamiliar cultures, and difficult terrain while traveling on foot through forests to reach isolated communities.