Author: Charles Dittmeier

One Year of War

Friday marked one year since Russia invaded Ukraine.  This morning at the English mass we had about fifteen people from Ukraine join us for mass.  Most of them were Orthodox.  They were gathered by a parishioner from Ukraine who is a lector and coordinates our church Facebook page.  Last night we invited Ukrainians to come also and had four for that service.

Both times it was a really moving experience.  I welcomed them at the beginning of mass, our Ukrainian lector did the prayers of the faithful, I mentioned them in the homily, and then at the end we brought them all forward and the community blessed them.  I was happy we had the opportunity to support them with prayer and just as happy that our community could have an actual event of expressing care and concern for justice and peace and for the people suffering so much.  The war isn’t just CNN notifications on our phone but real people, individuals and a nation, hurting.

[I was surprised we had that many people from Ukraine in Phnom Penh!]

Lay Missioners Meeting

For more than 25 years, lay missioners from different countries who are working in Cambodia have gathered mostly monthly for friendship, socialization, and mutual support. Covid prevented meetings for two years but today the group met at the Maryknoll office to resume the monthly schedule.

Caritas from Korea (R) was a new member of the group joining us today. Here she chats with Julie.
Marie from Haiti (L), here talking to Kila at the break, was another new member.
Pilar from Spain (R) was the third newcomer to the group.
(L to R): Kylene, Marie, Pilar, and Cristina at the break.

Birthday Surprise

This afternoon I was surprised when most of the staff working in our new building appeared in my office with a birthday “cake” made of sliced fruit. I was out of the office much of yesterday, my birthday, so they rescheduled for today, unbeknownst to me. A wonderful bunch. The two women on the left (next to me) and the two men on the far right are deaf.

Taiwan Trip-Thursday

Thursday and Friday were good days, with more presentations and reports and plans for the future. All in all it was a very good meeting, one of the best of my whole Maryknoll career.

Here are some final photos, of the building and grounds where we met at the Maryknoll house in Taichung.

The front of the Maryknoll center house.
Going around the side of the building to buildings in back.
The Maryknoll language school on the right and an office building on the left.
A glimpse of the Taichung neighborhood setting.

[THE END]

Taiwan Trip-Wednesday (Part 4)

After visiting the bishop’s office, we walked down the street to another building where a program for migrants was explained. The diocese has so many programs helping people! It is really wonderful!

One building housed a food pantry that operates on a large scale. Here one of the staff showed us a storeroom in the center.
The next stop was this center for people with disabilities. It has a coffee shop and also an area for selling bags, soap, handicrafts, and many other items made by the mostly young people with disabilities.
Bishop Martin (R) really went out of his way to welcome us and accompany us as we visited the different offices and programs in his diocese.
Our final stop for the day was a Chinese banquet at a hotel. It was delicious and also gave us a chance to talk more with some of the diocesan staff.

Taiwan Trip-Wednesday (Part 3)

The next stop was the bishop’s office.
The office staff had created a special banner just to welcome our group for our visit.
We toured the building and visited the circular chapel on the fourth floor.
A permanent exhibit on the ground floor presented the history of the early days of the Taichung Diocese and featured many Maryknollers.
Fr. John, one of the office staff, gave an interesting overview of the diocese.
Charlie and friend. This type of statue was featured in the Taichung Lantern Festival we visited Sunday night.