Author: Charles Dittmeier

Two years ago…

Recently we went over to World Vision to get some things out of our storage cabinets there that we could use for Holy Week. We had our weekly Saturday evening mass there for years. When I opened the missal for mass over there, it was set for the Second Sunday of Lent–the last Sunday we had mass in World Vision, in March 2020. After that mass the government closed all the schools, churches, etc. We haven’t been able to go back since then….

Phnom Penh pastoral center

Bishop Olivier has been a builder in his twelve years as bishop of Phnom Penh Diocese. He had to be because there wasn’t much church infrastructure when he took over.

One site he acquired and has developed is the diocesan pastoral center on the edge of the city. It has accommodations for retreats, rooms for meetings, and is a good place for the diocese to concentrate services and activities.

Here are some glimpses of some of the surroundings there.

New Director of Missions

Maryknoll Lay Missioners this month got a new Director of Mission, Ms. Elvira Ramirez (top left). Because she is responsible for all the lay missioners in the field, she is beginning her tenure by meeting everyone online and then she will start visiting the actual mission sites. Today she had a Zoom call with missioners in Cambodia and Haiti.

Teacher Training

Our students are still on their Khmer New Year break but the teachers were back at DDP, participating in teacher training. This session was led by lay missioner Julie Lawler.

So good but so many!

This is the mango season and this year they are wonderful–and plentiful! Too plentiful. People have so many mangoes that they don’t know what to do with them. That’s lucky for me because many of them are given to me and I love them! Today I was at an office and in their parking lot there were six beautiful mangoes that had fallen and were just left there. I hated to see so many luscious mangoes go to waste!

New Year’s Day

I made a mistake yesterday. I was thinking tomorrow (Friday) is New Year’s Day, but it is actually today, Thursday. Going to church for Holy Week there are few people on the streets. They have all gone to their home provinces. The stores are closed with just their new year decorations and signs still up–and a couple ladies arranging lotus blossoms.