“I invite everyone to imitate the Mother of God in her most outstanding qualities,” Mgr Francis Kriengsak Kovithavanij, CBCT vice chairman, said during the function. She was a “woman who accepted all of God’s plans, a loving woman for whom God came first in life, someone who took care of others. If we are to follow Mary, we must struggle for a better society based on love and service to others.”

At the end of the celebration, Mgr Louis Chamniern Santisukniran, CBCT chairman, presented the CBCT plan.

“This plan is not entirely new. It follows the path laid down by the ten-year plan adopted in 2000, the Jubilee Year. This is why it has the same vision, that of the people of God united as one in the love for Christ . . . seeking, following and proclaiming Jesus Christ.”

“The main goal is to develop parish communities and turn them into communities of living faith, where each faithful follows Jesus Christ and lives according to the commandments of His love, bearing witness to the New Word. Our wish is to achieve this by creating Basic Ecclesial Communities or BECs.”

The latter constitute a new “way to be the Church”, communities where the faithful are actively involved in evangelisation, youth education, interfaith dialogue and help to society. It also follows in the footsteps of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences, which began setting up BECs years ago.