Thursday, February 14, 2008

Parishes of Surat Thani diocese

It might be because of my one detour posting about the ecclesiastic subdivision of Thailand, but checking through the search strings which lead readers here there are quite a lot looking for information about churches in Thailand. While there are several websites in Thai about catholic topics, almost none are bilingual, so I will do little bit more on the church subdivisions in Thailand here from time to time trying to fill that gap a little bit.

The diocese of Surat Thani (สังฆมณฑลสุราษฎร์ธานี) was established in 1969, when it was split off from the diocese of Ratchaburi. It covers all the southern provinces, extending up to Phrachuap Khiri Khan in the north, including the town Hua Hin. As the name suggests, its administration and cathedral (see photo) is located in the town Surat Thani.

The diocese is subdivided into 4 areas (เขต) - not sure if these are actually deaneries or just an informal grouping. The diocese website then lists 41 churches within these four areas. Catholic Hierarchy says there are 39 parishes in 2004, which fits with the church list, as two of the churches are named วัดน้อย (chapel) and thus aren't parish churches.

As listing 41 churches would make the posting a bit lengthy, I only list those in the bigger towns, especially the touristic areas, but leave the complete list to be published as a XML, which I will also fill with the other dioceses later. Right now that file is not much more than the church list linked above rewritten in XML, but it will get expanded with time.
  • Upper area (เขตภาคใต้ตอนบน) - 11 parishes
    • St. Theresa (วัดนักบุญเทเรซา), Hua Hin
  • Central area (เขตภาคใต้ตอนกลาง) - 7 parishes, 1 chapel
    • St. Raphael (อาสนวิหารอัครเทวดาราฟาเอล), Surat Thani, the cathedral of the diocese
    • St. Anna (วัดนักบุญอันนา), Nathon, and a Chapel (วัดน้อยประจำสถานรับเลี้ยงเด็กมารีย์อุปถัมภ์, don't know how to translate it correctly, something about Mary nursery), Bophut, both on Ko Samui
  • Lower area (เขตภาคใต้ตอนล่าง) - 12 parishes
  • Andaman area (เขตอันดามัน) - 9 parishes, 1 chapel
    • St. Agnes (วัดนักบุญอักแนส), Ao Nang, Krabi
    • Our Lady of the Assumption (วัดพระหฤทัยพระเยซูเจ้า), Phuket city, and the Sacret Heart Chapel (วัดน้อยพระหฤทัยศักดิ์สิทธิ์) in Patong
In this Google Map I have marked as many churches of this diocese as I could find the location of, additions or corrections are welcome. Same as the XML, this map will get updated with time.

View Larger Map

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