Dear everyone  -

A Christmas letter.  The cart – or one like it –pulled by their donkey –(not shown)   that carried Pregnant Mary with St Joseph walking alongside  from Nazareth to Bethlehem, those nine days,  where Jesus was born – protected by the Angels/ witnessed by the Magi & the Shepherds    


I guess  you’d call it (show picture of empty 3 wheel cart ) call it ‘a long distance cart… or a traveling cart ….  St Joseph knew they had to travel to Bethlehem and Our Blessed Mother Mary was Pregnant & maybe riding their family donkey – even ‘side-saddle’ that nine day distance from Nazareth to Bethlehem outside Jerusalem wasn’t your best idea… and he didn’t have the money for anything fancy – so their sturdy cart it had to be…safe and where Our Blessed Mother was somewhat  comfortable on their journey & could sleep in the cart,  with St Joseph  on guard just outside, beside the cart,  during the dark hours of the night on their way to Bethlehem

And our adults here in Klong Toey didn’t notice anything, but the children said … that day … they saw the Holy Family pass by  in the cart  - the Star rising in the East, / it was early morning & the poorer kids,,,, scrouging with their grannies    for thrown away  tin cans and  used plastic bottle’s to sell for breakfast money, so they could eat before they went to slum kindergarten school  - said they saw the cart and the Star.  .  Seems Our Lady slept in the cart with St Joseph & their faithful dog sleeping on the ground,  - guarding Our Pregnant Lady as she slept,  -then at dawn, St. Joseph buying an early morning bowl of rice at that shop along the rail road tracks….

I didn’t get to see them - & guess, maybe you didn’t either – but who are we to doubt the solemn word of 5 & 6 year old slum kids -  especially the  poor for what they see on the early morning pathways.  No,  they didn’t talk, as  St Joseph asked them to be quiet, as Mary was sleeping – and so quiet they were.  

It was a ‘long distance cart’ – that if it broke down, St Joseph could fix it – stories say he was a carpenter, but really, he was a ‘handy man’  . could fix almost anything…

And St.. Joseph’s dog, friendly – not snarl or fight with our klong toey slum dogs – and his dog stayed close to their cart. Keeping watch over pregnant Blessed Virgin Mary . I mentioned three wheel car – long distance … or traveling cart – no Joseph & Mary were not that poor, but also they were not rich & a sturdy cart was what they could afford.  It ‘fit the day’ as a Christmas crib.  

So it’s Christmas in Klong Toey for us here & in the Slums & for you in your homes. 
True, old Fr. Joe wasn’t honored to see Our Blessed Mother & St Joseph in their long distance cart on the way from Nazareth to Bethlehem where Baby Jesus was soon to be born  - but if you see them along the way – or the empty cart, &  know they are near-by &  have stopped for a bowl of rice.  stop look them up – if you can -– say hello – pay your respects – ask if they need anything.  Maybe you might be honored to walk a ways along side  St Joseph & the cart.  I wouldn’t dare do that by myself,  but that’s what our kids have asked me to do,  And so I ask you –may we all meet at the crib in Bethlehem.    

SINCE THAT DAY ….   our beloved Sister Maria first began teaching mostly Catholic kids  in a long, but never used  holding pen for pigs here we began our first school. . Maybe our modern version of the original Christmas cart of St Joseph ……I think Blessed Virgin Mother Mary would approve – 

No, Jesus never went to kindergarten there.  Things didn’t work out that way, but I am sure our Blessed Mother Mary would have been proud to send her young son Jesus to our slum  Kindergarten – maybe even to teach our kids.  But as I say, things didn’t work out that way – neither for time nor place.     Maybe you also would have been proud to go to kindergarten there also. Our version of the original Christmas cart now a school for the poorest of the poor Catholic children. 

Modeled after the original Christmas Cart - our beloved Sister Maria traveled each morning , no not by cart, but by city bus,  from her Convent  as we began our first kindergarten for slaughter house slum kids, teaching them about Christmas & Baby Jesus, mostly Catholic. Unwanted kids hungry to learn how to write their names & how to say the “Hail Mary” & who dearly loved Sister Maria, now today, as I write this, well & strong at 90 years of age.


Those early times were difficult. Me, a foreign priest, our kids still laugh as I stumble bumble through the Thai language, so I just smile.  Do the best I can. Today, now 50 years later, true, our Slum kindergartens might be called ‘slum beautiful’ but still not easy. A slum is always a slum. A salvage place drenched in Mercy. A place where the clocks never run on time.  And we wouldn’t exchange our slum kindergarten children for all the gold in the world.  Never have.  Never will. Nor have our slum kids ‘ever walked away.’

And this Christmas, when the world is filled with war, our slum kindergartens are places of safety & peace & learning. Replicas of that original Christmas Cart. We say our prayers each morning, both Catholic & Buddhist.  We & our children ask you to share your lives with ours,  as I know you want to.   Please walk with us with St Joseph and the Christmas cart on the way to Bethlehem.