Call to Compassion: About the AIDS temple

by Renée K. Gadoua

Thursday November 29, 2007, 2:00 PM

Mike Greenlar / The Post-StandardWat Prabat Nampu Temple in Lopburi,Thailand is 120 kilometers north of Bangkok.

Wat Prabat Nampu temple

In 1992, Alongkot Dikkapanya, a Buddhist monk, founded an eight-bed hospice at a small Buddhist temple in Lopburi, Thailand, about 70 miles north of Bangkok. It has grown to a 400-bed facility that treats and cares for people with HIV/AIDS. Learn more at www.aidstemple.th.org

An excerpt from the Web site:

Lopburi is a sleepy rural town 120 km north of Bangkok. It is steeped in history with civilizations dating back at least 1,200 years. In the mid-1700s, it was briefly the capital of Siam under King Narai. These days it is best known for its legion of monkeys which have turned the town into a local tourist attraction ... and for the AIDS temple.

How to help: Send donations to Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers, Box 302, Maryknoll, N.Y. 10545, Attn: Mission account, Rev. Michael Bassano



The Rev. Michael Bassano
Age: 58.
Hometown: Binghamton.
Career: Ordained a priest in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse in 1975; became a Maryknoll associate in 1987 and a permanent Maryknoll missionary in 1998.
Ministry in Syracuse Diocese: St. Anthony, Utica; St. Thomas, Binghamton; St. John, Utica.
Maryknoll assignments: Chile, Thailand.

Maryknoll: It is a U.S.-based Catholic mission movement founded in 1911. Nearly 1,000 Maryknoll missionaries work in 35 countries. Find out more at www.maryknoll.org.

Listen to an audio interview with Father Bassano.

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Call to Compassion: 'I am their family'

by Renée K. Gadoua

Thursday November 29, 2007, 2:00 PM

Mike Greenlar / The Post-StandardThe Rev. Michael Bassano bathes Nat Sauchan. Bassano often bathes patients. "For me that's where the Gospel comes to life. To wash the feet of another means you put your life at the service of another."

The Rev. Michael Bassano prays during a cremation at Wat Prabat Nampu Temple in Thailand, sole witness to the passing from earthly life of a patient with HIV/AIDS. He does this two or three times a week.

After most cremations, Bassano -- the patients call him "Khun Paw," or "Mr. Father" -- adds a white cloth bag containing the person's remains to a pile of thousands at the foot of a statue of Buddha.

"It's a holy place," Bassano said. "This is a place they will always be remembered."

For four years, Bassano, a Roman Catholic Maryknoll priest who grew up in Binghamton and was ordained in the Syracuse diocese, has volunteered at a Buddhist temple in Lopburi, Thailand, which houses a hospice and hospital that cares for patients with HIV/AIDS.

"Most people, their families have left them or dropped them off at the temple and never come back," he said. "I am their family."

He changes diapers, serves cold drinks, and massages the feet of the suffering.

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Call to Compassion: Photos of a missionary to AIDS patients in Thailand

by Mike Greenlar

Thursday November 29, 2007, 1:45 PM

Mike Greenlar/The Post-Standard

The Rev. Michael Bassano, a Maryknoll missionary who grew up in Binghamton and was ordained in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse, cradles a criticlally ill women brought to the Wat Prabat Nampu Temple by ambulance late afternoon on April 20. A Buddhist monk started the AIDS hospice facility in Lopburi, Thailand, in 1992. It's grown from eight beds to a complex with several buildings that include 400 beds. "A lot of times it's just being present to people, touching them, letting them know you are there," Bassano says.

Click the "Continue reading" link to see more photos.

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