Lawrence Khai Saen-Phon-On (Thai: ลอเรนซ์ คายน์ แสนพลอ่อน, (1928-08-17)August 17, 1928 – (2007-07-24)July 24, 2007) was archbishop of Thare and Nonseng in northeast Thailand from 1980 till his retirement in 2004.
Born in Ban Thung-Mon, Mueang Sakon Nakhon district, he became very sick as a young child and his Catholic mother begged God that he might live and promised to offer him to the holy priesthood should he survive.
At another time police officers showed up at school, placed a loaded gun in his mouth, and threatened to shoot if he did not renounce Jesus.
This led to the martyrdom of seven Catholics in the village of Songkhon in north-east Thailand who were beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1989[citation needed].
Japan invaded Thailand in 1941 to secure bases to advance into Malaya and Singapore, and the Thai government signed an alliance that lasted until the Japanese were defeated in 1945.
In this tense atmosphere preceding the Japanese invasion the usually tolerant Thais found “the foreign religion” an easy scapegoat[citation needed], although Catholicism had been in Thailand for over three hundred and fifty years.
Fr Lawrence Khai was appointed Archbishop of Thare and Nonseng on March 6, 1980, and consecrated on July 16, 1980, by his predecessor Michel Kien Samophithak.