The
thoughts of Benedict XVI, especially his Encyclical Caritas in Veritate on social issues, have inspired and inspire Thai
business people, Catholic and non-Catholic, in their professional actions and in
their everyday life, this according to Paul Mary Suvij Suvaruchiporn, a
businessman and former chairman of HMC Polymers, part of Petroleum Authority of
Thailand, who spoke to AsiaNews.
In 1991, Suvaruchiporn established
the Catholic Business Executives Group (CBEG), a network of Catholic business
people open to all, linked to Serra Thailand, an organisation that helps believers
through Biblical groups to bear witness to their Christian faith in society and
pray for priestly and religious vocations.
Via the CBEG, business
people are invited each month to take part in Biblical groups to share their
faith with the help of a priest. Messages and discussions are relayed via
e-mail or social networks to members that could not participate in person.
For Suvaruchiporn, Benedict
XVI had a lot of influence on his business career, a source of help and inspiration
in his choices and concerns.
Faith must be at the
centre of one's conscience, he explained, and Caritas in Veritate played an important role in his life during the
Thailand's
period of political confusion in April-May 2010, when clashes between the
supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra (the red shirts) and
then Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva (the yellow shirts) left the country in a
situation of economic and political deadlock.
In those days, the CBEG
sent excerpts from Caritas in Veritate
to influential people in politics and business, Suvaruchiporn said, for, as the
Encyclical said, "The current crisis obliges us to re-plan our journey, to set
ourselves new rules and to discover new forms of commitment, to build on positive
experiences and to reject negative ones. The crisis thus becomes an opportunity for discernment, in which to
shape a new vision for the future (N. 21)."
On another occasion, another
of Benedict XVI's "social" thoughts was circulated to criticise the lack of
action against the miserable conditions of the poor, namely that "Just as the
creation account de-divinizes the cosmos, Christianity de-divinizes the state."
On the issue of
politics, "we should remember Pope Benedict XVI's social thoughts on the state
and democracy in which he insists on the impossibility of guaranteeing
democracy without any reference to God."
"Such a reference to
God is no one's duty but our own if we want to think, bring and link it to
Thailand's democratic order," Suvaruchiporn added.
Paul M. Suvij
Suvaruchiporn is well known in Thailand. In 2006, he spoke about his own
experience to the Asian Mission Congress in Chiang Mai.
During his address, he explained
how he chose to rely on the Church's social doctrine rather than consumerism
and profit when his business went through a tough time.
The CBEG also helps
Buddhist business people uphold spiritual values in the economy.