The Way Of Life And Religious Belief Of Thai – Vietnamese Christ Prajak Church Community In Bangsai District, Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya Province

Abstract

Thai-Vietnamese Christ Prajak Church Community in Bangsai District, Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya Province has itself a long history in which one side of the story mentions the community facing both positive and negative impacts from Thai Government political policy consistency. However, currently Thai-Vietnamese in Christ Prajak Church Community are officially approved by Thai people and Thai government as “Thai Citizen” in which their freedom in the way of life and religious belief are granted. Throughout history, Thai-Vietnamese in Christ Prajak Church Community was bonded with Roman Catholic. The Christ Prajak Church is a community center and functions as a spiritual center to the Catholics in this community. Even though, the Thai-Vietnamese Catholics in Christ Prajak Church Community had reduced their orthodoxy on the religious code of conduct due to changing of the period of time, they still follow main Catholic Doctrine in their way of daily life. Moreover, the Thai-Vietnamese Catholics in Christ Prajak Church Community also preserve their ethnical identity which is found in the conducting of several religious functions. In addition, there is the praying in Vietnamese language during the Catholic Lent, Easter and the using of Vietnamese traditional coffin and language in the funeral ceremony.