Thai Children's Trust Annual Supporters Mass

Fr Marcus Stock, Brother Dennis Gervais, Fr Larry Patin

Fr Marcus Stock, newly-appointed General Secretary of the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales, was Chief Celebrant at the Annual Mass for supporters of the Thai Children's Trust, at Holy Trinity Church in Brook Green, West London on Saturday. The concelebrants were Redemptorists Fr Michael Weera, director of the orphanage in Pattaya and Fr Larry Patin who runs the Fr Ray Foundation. They are on a short visit to England and Ireland with Khun Toy, from the Deaf School and Brother Dennis Gervais.

After the Mass there was a reception in the parish hall.

The Trust supports centres across Thailand which provide a home, education and future for more than 1,500 children, and reach out to thousands more, through health and nutrition projects.

Fr Larry explained that in the past year, a new school for disabled young people has been opened at the Redemptorist Monastery in Non Kai, on the Mekong River on the Thai-Laos border. The blind school in Pattaya has been extended. New classrooms have been built at the drop-in centre for street children in central Pattaya, and six new family homes have been built at the children's village outside the town.

With resident housemothers and carers in a cluster of small houses, the village gives children who have lost their parents a new sense of family and community life.

"The children are very excited there at the moment because just the other day, their dog, Chiquita (a Golden Labradour) had five puppies," Fr Larry said.

For more information on Thai Children's Trust, or to sponsor their work, see: www.thaichildrenstrust.org.uk/

To learn more about the history of the projects see: www.indcatholicnews.com/news.php?viewStory=9268