Author: Charles Dittmeier

The Triduum

In Holy Week, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday are known as the Triduum (“three days” in Latin). These ceremonies tell the story of our salvation and are the high point of the church’s liturgical year.

Holy Thursday
The washing of feet in imitation of Jesus’ loving service.
The procession with the eucharist to the altar of repose at the end of the service.
Good Friday
Fr. Pedro presiding during the liturgy of the word.
The veneration of the cross of Jesus.

Saying Farewell

Sr. Regina came to DDP this morning to say goodbye to the staff she has worked with over the years.

DDP director Soknym spoke of his working with Regina.
These are the four Maryknollers associated now with DDP: Charlie, Regina, Naa (a former guard at the Maryknoll office, now at DDP), and Julie.

Wednesday Gathering

We stopped our Wednesday gatherings of Maryknoll Cambodia when we closed the NGO, but many of us decided to continue to meet and tonight we had a gathering of nine of us who try to meet every week. Most of us were part of Maryknoll but we have others who are lay missioners on their own or with another group.

Our group meets in the home of our gracious hosts, Maria and Kila.
This was Sr. Regina’s last time to meet with us before she returns to the United States and we also wanted to remember Maria’s birthday so added a cake to the evening.

Redistribution

When students come to DDP for two years of education and a year of job training, we become responsible for almost everything. Most of them are from poor families with no disposable income so we help with even getting them clothing.

Here Sreytin, one of our staff sorts donated clothing we can make available to the youth who are with us.

Palm Sunday Prep

Yesterday I went to St. Joseph Church to pick up the palms we would need for our Saturday evening Palm Sunday service. I found Fr. Chatsirey, the pastor, seated outside with a group of parishioners weaving elaborate crosses from palm.

Lost Things

1. This week I lost Wednesday. I got on a plane in New York at 8:00 PM Tuesday night and flew to San Francisco to change to a plane to Taiwan. I left San Fran at 00:25, a little after midnight, the beginning of Wednesday, and when I got off the plane in Taipei it was Thursday morning at 5:36 AM. I was on terra firma for 25 minutes on Wednesday. Due to 550 MPH ground speeds and crossing ten time zones, the rest of that day was in the air.

2. I had an impressive visit to the 9/11 Memorial in New York City the day before I left and want to feature that here but somehow in transferring the photos from my laptop to the desktop, they disappeared. I have hopes of recovering them for you to see.

New York #7

Most of the time I travel around New York City by subway but occasionally I’m in a bus where you get a whole different perspective. These are some photos from a bus as I was leaving Tuesday afternoon.

A typical Manhattan street corner with typical people.
And very typical of New York are the street vendor carts like this one.
The blue bicycles you pick up in heavy pedestrian areas and they’re good for getting around town, charging them to your credit card. The middle bike is a delivery man with a big-tire ebike.
Ordinary people coming and going on a work day.

New York #6

St. Patrick’s Day
Lunch on St. Patrick’s Day was with the sisters at the Sisters Center in Ossining. Sr. Luise celebrated with green ice cream and a green cookie.
Dinner on St. Patrick’s Day was with Maryknoll priests at their house in Manhattan. Here Fr. Frank McGourn, the cook for the meal, explains how the main dishes match the colors of the Irish flag.

New York #5

More New york friends

Sr. Helen Graham is a scripture scholar who specializes in the Torah and our Old Testament scriptures.
Sunday morning I went to mass at the old seminary building and afterwards had a chance to reconnect with Tom Dunleavy (L), John Barth, and Bill McIntire (R).
Then I came to the Maryknoll house in Manhattan and enjoyed being again with Lionel, one of the staff of the house.

New York #4

Here are some more Maryknoll friends I met with the next day.

Sr. Luise Ahrens told me about an exhibit of famous women from Ossining (where Maryknoll is) and we walked over to an arts center that has taken over the Bethany building which used to be a retirement home for the Maryknoll Sisters and then the headquarters for the Maryknoll Lay Missioners.
For lunch that day I met Adel ORegan, a former Maryknoll lay missioner in Cambodia, and we caught up on what has been happening for us.
Then I went to the Maryknoll seminary building and met with Fr. Tom Dunleavy who was assigned to mission in Thailand and then moved with returning refugees to Cambodia and started Maryknoll’s presence there.