Author: Charles Dittmeier

Jesuit Ordination

Preparation before the ceremony

Yesterday’s post showed some of the preparations taking place all around the church compound the day before the ordination. These photos today show the immediate preparation as the priests gathered to vest and process to the sanctuary.

About 90 priests from maybe 2o countries came to Battambang for the ordination. Many of them were Jesuits participating in the celebration for a confrere.
Bishop Kike of Battambang and Damo before the ceremony.
All the current deacons in Cambodia (Damo in the center). The others will be ordained priests later this year.
A young man in a wheelchair led the entrance procession.
The procession from the bishop’s house to the ceremony site.

Jesuit Ordination

We arrived in Battambang about 1:00 PM on Friday for the ordination to be held on Saturday morning. Preparations were in full swing.

At the actual site of the ordination, chairs were set up for a reported 2,000 attendees.
Bishop Olivier went over the texts and different parts of the ceremony with the ministers for the next day.
Bishop Kike took photos of the young women who would perform the traditional welcome dance at the beginning of the ceremony.
Musicians with traditional Cambodian instruments accompanied the dancers for the rehearsal.
On another part of the church grounds, sleeping arrangements were prepared for the hundreds of overnight guests coming from far parts of Cambodia.
Then as night fell a simple meal was offered to those who had worked hard and would be staying overnight.

Jesuit Ordination

Yesterday and today, I was in Battambang at the Catholic center there, to participate in the ordination of Chour Damo as a Jesuit priest. The ordination was today. I went there yesterday because it is a 5+ hours drive from Phnom Penh. Yesterday as workers were preparing food, lodging, the church grounds, and the ordination site, I found Chour Damo together with his younger brother, Chour Darong who is the executive director of Krousar Thmey, an International NGO serving children at risk in Cambodia.

Chour Darong (L) and Chour Damo

Birthday

Today was the birthday of one our deaf staff, Sreytin who is one of our teachers. Here some students cut up fruit for a surprise celebration.
Then the staff and students gathered in the eating area outside to surprise Sreytin.
And there was the mandatory group photo!

The planning begins….

The last full week in September is celebrated annually as Deaf Week, a time for deaf people to celebrate their situation, their life, their culture. We celebrate Deaf Week at DDP but this year we are late getting started. Today we had our first meeting about our activities that will start just about a month from now.

New Lay Missioners

Today two new lay missioners (next to Fr. Charlie) from the Japan Lay Mission Movement came to the English mass at St. Joseph Church with the director of their program (L). They are studying Khmer language now and will eventually serve in Siem Reap and Battambang Provinces. Welcome!

Time to go….

Today we said goodbye to two of our student barbers (L2 and L3) who have finished their training. Their families came to pick them up–and a barber chair and a lot of supplies to help them establish their own business when they get back to their home villages. It is rewarding to see them hopeful and excited on their departure, and we wish them all success!

Where to go?

The last full week of September is always celebrated as Deaf Week, and DDP is looking for a venue for this year’s celebration since we moved from our old large office grounds. Today a planning team visited the Don Bosco Vocational Training School for Girls in Tuol Kork to see their layout.

Our site-checking team, beneath a picture of Don Bosco.
Sr. Amanda is the principal of the school and she explained how we might use their outdoor area at the school for our event.