Author: Charles Dittmeier

Working in a new way

Government regulations to control the spread of COVID-19 have prohibited all church gatherings and meetings. The church wishes to continue to assist the local parish communities, however, so today Bishop Olivier organized an online meeting of the parish priests of the diocese, to discuss what the church can do while still following and supporting the government guidelines. Priests in seven different locations participated in an online conference call. I was with Fr. Damien at the church in Boeung Tum Pun.

PIME Reflection

Today I was at the PIME house in Phnom Penh for a simple reflection. PIME is the Italian equivalent of the Maryknoll mission group based in the United States. Here Fr. Gianluca welcomes me on my first visit to their new center.

Another Anniversary

On 14 April 1975, Bp. Emile Destombes ordained Fr. Salas the first Cambodian bishop. That was the last action of the official church in Cambodian until Easter Sunday, 14 April 1990. That was when Bp. Emile (above, right), after his return, celebrated the first official public mass after the fall of the Khmer Rouge. The mass was celebrated in Chenla Theater and those present said the electricity went off and the only light was the paschal candle. This week is the 30th anniversary of that resurrection of the Cambodian Church

A follow-up…

This is the building on the site of the former cathedral of Phnom Penh diocese. When I first arrived in 2000, a large TV broadcasting antenna was on this site but then it was replaced with this building which is the headquarters of the Ministry of Telecommunications.

Worrying Trend

This is a report from the online edition of Fresh News, a pro-government newspaper in Cambodia. It notes that today for the fifth consecutive day there were no new cases of COVID-19 infection in the kingdom, and of the 122 previously identified cases only 19 remain in hospital. If the trend continues, we will soon be approaching the record of what must be the best health care system in the world–North Korea–which reports no known infections in that kingdom.

Msgr. Salas

Today is the 45th anniversary of the Khmer Rouge entering and occupying Phnom Penh. Three days before, Bp. Emile Destombes secretly ordained Fr. Chhmar Salas as the first Cambodian bishop of the diocese before Bp. Emile was deported. Salas’ last words to Bp. Emile were “Tell the world about us.” Bp. Salas died under the Khmer Rouge two years later.

The cathedral pictured above was destroyed by the Khmer Rouge.

COVID-19 Notes

Six days ago, when postponing the celebration of the Khmer New Year, the government announced an inter-province travel ban to end at midnight tonight. In an attempt to prevent the spread of COVID-19 around the country, no one except authorized and emergency people were to cross provincial lines. I heard early on that people were going through the checkpoints, and yesterday the newspaper confirmed it. Then today the ban was lifted at 6:00 AM. That’s the kind of scenario that frightens me about the period to come if the virus–progressing slowly so far–makes a jump into a significant portion of the population.