Charlie Dittmeier's Home Page
The Catholic Church in Cambodia.
The Church asks us to understand that Christ, who came once in the flesh, is prepared to come again. When we remove all obstacles to his presence he will come, at any hour and moment, to dwell spiritually in our hearts, bringing with him the riches of his grace.
From Creighton Online Ministries
Yesterday the church crew started setting up a nativity scene at St. Boniface Church. Today I was back there for a mass for the Immaculate Conception and this is what I found. From what I understand, the St. Boniface tradition is to set up stable and manger and then the next week add the stable animals and then the last week before Christmas to add supporting people statues and then the Holy Family on Christmas Day, but it seems the animals were in a hurry to get there.
Advent can feel like a countdown to Christmas and a hustle of preparation for the holidays, when in fact the liturgical season is all about waiting–not for a short-lived celebration but for a person.
On Thanksgiving Day it’s easy to be thankful for the material and economic benefits we have acquired but we need always to think beyond that, to the people and programs who promote better relationships among us sisters and brothers. Pope Francis did that in Fratelli Tutti, #191:
At a time when various forms of fundamentalist intolerance are damaging relationships between individuals, groups and peoples, let us be committed to living and teaching the value of respect for others, a love capable of welcoming differences, and the priority of the dignity of every human being over his or her ideas, opinions, practices and even sins. Even as forms of fanaticism, closedmindedness and social and cultural fragmentation proliferate in present-day society, a good politician will take the first step and insist that different voices be heard. Disagreements may well give rise to conflicts, but uniformity proves stifling and leads to cultural decay. May we not be content with being enclosed in one fragment of reality.
Pope Francis in Fratelli Tutti
I write a column every two months in The Record, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Louisville. It has been about mission with deaf people in Cambodia, but now I have explained my returning to the U.S.
Click here for the link to this week’s article.
My plan for re-establishing myself in the United States is to participate in different church and civic activities, find out what is and isn’t being done in Louisville and how I might help, and basically just trying get around so I can see what my future role(s) might be. One group I encountered is a theology discussion group that gathers to talk about a book on eco-spirituality by a theologian named O’Murchu. I met with them for the first time today and it was great group of people and a wise investment of interest and time.
Every year I have asked the liturgy office of the Archdiocese of Louisville to get various liturgical books for the English Catholic Community in Cambodia. We had books for lectors and other ministers that were quite useful. Now that I am back in the U.S., I picked up the books in Louisville and yesterday shipped them to Phnom Penh via DHL. They have already arrived there, an amazing time since last year another service took 3+ weeks. But shipping the books cost 3 1/2 times their purchase price!
A draft document from the chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Subcommittee on African American Affairs defended diversity, equity and inclusion, saying, “Diversity reaches out to all people. … Equity is the truth of the justice of God applied to everyone. … Inclusion is living the law of the Lord as one.”