By Chainarong Monthienvichienchai & Grace Techamontrikul
THAILAND – A Catholic nun from the Congregation of the Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (SIHM) in Ratchaburi Diocese has been honored with Thailand’s prestigious St Francis of Assisi Award for her outstanding commitment to environmental stewardship, inspired by the late Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’.
Sr Monrudee Roekmaneechai, SIHM, was recognized as the sole winner in her age category at the “Good People for the Planet” Morality and Ethics Promotion Project, an annual initiative organized by the Senate Standing Committee on Religions, Morals, Ethics, Arts and Culture in collaboration with the Catholic Association of Thailand.
Now in its fourth year, the project celebrates individuals who exemplify moral leadership in caring for the Earth.
The award ceremony took place at Thailand’s Parliament House on Jul 1, where Archbishop Peter B. Wells, Apostolic Nuncio to Thailand, delivered a keynote address titled “The Environmental Crisis in the Spiritual Dimension.”
“At its core, the environmental crisis is a crisis of disconnection — a broken relationship with creation,” Archbishop Wells emphasized. “Pope Francis wrote in Laudato Si’, ‘We are not disconnected from nature. We are part of it.’”
The archbishop underscored that this ecological disregard stems from a deeper spiritual void. “When our hearts are empty, we tend to overconsume,” he said, quoting Pope Francis: “The emptier a person’s heart is, the more he or she needs to buy, own, and consume.”
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