by Weena Kowitwanij

To counter individualism, Mgr Philip Banchong Chaiyara emphasises the principles of "justice, charity and solidarity." The Year of Faith and the Second Vatican Council are an "opportunity" to re-launch the Church's "social doctrine". The prelate also calls for solidarity towards the sick, the elderly and the needy.

Bangkok (AsiaNews) - Christian values of "justice, charity and solidarity" are the answer needed against the growing materialism that characterises our modern societies, said Mgr Philip Banchong Chaiyara, bishop of Ubon Ratchathani, a diocese in the east of the country. The prelate, who is also president of the Episcopal Commission on Social Work, includes Thailand, once famous for its "spiritual and peaceful" character unconcerned by differences of race and religion, among the societies at risk,

In his message, issued for last Sunday, when the Thai Church marked National Human Rights Day, the prelate called on Catholics and others to look upon their fellow men and on nature, without the growing "individualism" that is undermining traditional values.

Expressing his support for sustainable development and 'green" policies that protect the environment, Mgr Chaiyara insisted that "charity and solidarity" are "slowly but inexorably disappearing from society." This is especially true in the big cities, because of "selfishness caused by excessively rapid changes" and growing "materialism".

The former are fuelled by "advertising and marketing campaigns" that focus on high tech products and social media like "mobile phones, computer games, twitter and Facebook," which become ever increasing "forms of runaway individualism," even within the family.

For Thailand's Catholics, the Year of the Faith and the celebrations marking the 60^th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council provide a "great opportunity to re-launch the social doctrine of the Church" and its teachings.

Indeed, the encyclical Gaudium et Spes calls upon us "to look around to see our neighbours," and help "those who are in need, the less fortunate, those marginalised" by society: the elderly, immigrants, abandoned infants, the hungry and anyone who "is hungry for love."

"On the occasion, the Thai Catholic Church marks National Human Rights Day, I want to invite all the faithful in Christ to find a moment of peace, and of detachment from material life and the anxieties of every day," Mgr Chaiyara said.

In concluding, he said he hoped that every Catholic "might be able to create an atmosphere of love and pass it on to others, especially Christian families who have always been the builders of peace and society," the promoters of "brotherhood," so that we may have a true "world of peace".

• thailand
• year
• of
• faith
• human
• rights
• day
• philip
• banchong
• chaiyara