Charlie Dittmeier's Home Page
We had a workshop today to discuss and promote inclusive employment for people with disabilities. It was quite good, much better than what I usually expect from such workshops. Soknym, our DDP director, and I attended to give more voice to the deaf community.
I see that a large winter storm is threatening heavy snowfall over much of the United States in the next few days. Maybe a White Christmas? The weather service here has also been putting out some alerts: The headline above cautions that temperatures could possibly drop below 68ºF! Bundle up!
You could be forgiven for thinking that these sale items on display might be in a grocery store in the US but the photo is from a “supermarket” for foreigners here in Phnom Penh today. Kraft macaroni and cheese, Skippy peanut butter (both creamy and super chunk you’ll note), and Hormel Spam. That’s rather American! (The ketchup bottles at back left are from France.)
This morning I went to the Don Bosco Technical School for a day of reflection for the Salesian brothers and priests who live there. I have always used this gate to get in but today it was locked and no one was around. I waited about five minutes and then noticed a man on the inside of the wall to the left of the gate. He was rather far from this gate so i went back to the street behind me and walked to the left and found they have a second gate that they use only on Saturdays and Sundays. Finally I got in and met with the confreres there.
Today Bishop Olivier had the quarterly meeting with all the priests from the Phnom Penh diocese and he added a Christmas air to it. At the lunch at the end of the morning, he donned a Christmas cap and handed out some simple gifts to all of us. There are now 45 priests in the diocese of Phnom Penh. When I came to Cambodia 22 years ago, there were 32 priests in the whole country.
One is called to live nonviolently, even if the change one works for seems impossible. It may or may not be possible to turn the US around through nonviolent revolution. But one thing favors such an attempt: the total inability of violence to change anything for the better.
Daniel Berrigan
Yesterday was a special day for the English Catholic Community. First, it was Gaudete Sunday, the third Sunday of the season of Advent which has traditionally been celebrated joyfully because of the approaching birth of Jesus the Messiah. Because of the theme of joy, the priest uses rose or pink colored vestments. Secondly, Bishop Olivier was with us. His presence serves to unite our community with the church of Phnom Penh and with our Cambodian Catholic brothers and sisters. And thirdly, Bishop Olivier came to administer the Sacrament of Confirmation to 16 of our parishioners, an important step in the life of Catholic Christians as they receive the Holy Spirit as their guide and strength through the struggles of daily life as a follower of Jesus.
After the scripture readings, Bishop Olivier introduced the actual confirmation ceremony. At one point he extends his hands over those to be confirmed, a symbolic laying of of hands as described in the Christian scriptures.
Then the bishop went down the line of those to be confirmed, anointing them with chrism (holy oil). He also gave them a small medal blessed by Pope Francis as a memento of this day.
This is an unusual photo. As Bishop Olivier and I and all the congregation were singing the final hymn before we processed out, the photographer went up behind the altar and took an ultra wide angle shot of the whole community.