Epiphany Gathering

Every year on the Sunday when Epiphany is celebrated, Bishop Olivier invites parish leaders, sisters, brothers, and priests to a gathering. He gives a talk and updates on what is happening in the diocese, there are some performances, and then all are invited to eat together.

Bishop Olivier addressing the gathered leaders in the hall at the pastoral center.
Always there are traditional dances associated with large gatherings.
This year the bishop gave bags of rice grown in church projects to each of the participants.
The sisters serving in Cambodia don’t get as much recognition as the priests but this year all the sisters present were invited to the stage to sing some Christmas carols for the assemblage. These are the Salesian Sisters (L) and the Missionaries of Charity, the two groups for which I have mass every week.

Notable Quotes

“It is not enough to offer someone a sandwich unless it is accompanied by the possibility of learning how to stand on one’s own two feet. Charity that leaves the poor person as he is, is not sufficient. True mercy, the mercy God gives to us and teaches us, demands justice, it demands that the poor find the way to be poor no longer.”

~ Pope Francis

Outdoor Creche

This year the Church of the Child Jesus in Boeung Tum Pun decided to enlarge their Christmas creche as part of their Christmas awareness outreach for the neighborhood.
They developed a whole village, even with a running stream. Already they are making plans for next year when they want the figures to be larger.

What time is it?

A website called WaitButWhy.com is a quirky little creation that offers interesting facts and viewpoints on a somewhat-regular schedule. Now at the beginning of the “20s,” it offered up this perspective on relative time perceptions.

Slow going…

At the end of the year, many organizations, government offices, and NGOs reported their activities for 2019. CMAC (the Cambodian Mine Action Centre) reported that they had cleared more than 36,000 mines and UXOs in the year just ended. (UXO=Unexploded Ordnance). The front-page article above explained that 67 square kilometers of land had been de-mined. It then restated the government’s commitment to completely clear the remaining mine-contaminated 2,100 sq km by 2025! Having cleared only 67 sq km in 2019 and 72 sq km in 2018, that seems like an impossible goal! (As a footnote to this situation, remember that these mines were put down 35-45 years ago! Mines are insidious and rightfully banned by most of the world. The US is one of the few nations that has refused to sign on to the ban-landmine treaty.)

Mindfulness

In Cambodia there are a couple dozen Catholic pre-schools and kindergartens, many established for Vietnamese community children to help them integrate into Cambodian society and culture. There is no system of Catholic schools in the kingdom, though. The Jesuits have started creating a pre-school to university educational setting in rural Banteay Meanchey Province, and as usual, they do a super job with education. These are some of the primary school students at the beginning of the day when they have a period of silent meditation. There probably aren’t many settings in the United States where that could happen.

What is it?

This morning I was walking back from the Diakonia Center after paying for renting their venue for our Christmas Eve service and I walked past Tuol Sleng, the genocide museum. Along and on the outer wall of the museum, they are building this structure, a simple frame with sheet metal over it. I haven’t any idea what it will be when it’s finished. There is nothing on that northern wall of Tuol Sleng, no gates or anything, and I can’t imagine what this little slanted ledge will do.