Category: Church

The Catholic Church in Cambodia.

Too Early

One of the disadvantages of not having our own church and needing to borrow a hall from a school is that we cannot control the environment and the factors that can support good liturgy. Last Saturday I cringed when I walked into the hall and saw they had already erected a Christmas tree, six weeks before Christmas and even before Thanksgiving and Advent!

Listening to Isaiah

Today Couples for Christ, a lay group that tries to put its Christian faith into action, had a conference with a theme suggested by the prophet Isaiah–being a servant in service of God and being a light for others through our service.

First the group had some song of praise and worship together, then Fr. Charlie gave a talk on Isaiah 49:6, and then there was a “boodle fight,” a Filipino creation–eating a line of food (vegetables, rice, fish, meats, spring rolls, etc.) without plates or utensils. Everyone wears two plastic gloves and eats with their hands. An interesting experience for this Kentucky boy!

Raymond Leos Funeral

Last Friday, Dr. Raymond Leos, vice president of American University of Phnom Penh, died suddenly. Today at the school there was a funeral service in English. Tomorrow there will be a Buddhist ceremony at the pagoda. Raymond was a member of our Sunday English Catholic Community.

Different Every Week

We’re still getting used to our new mass center at St. Jude Thaddeus School in Phnom Penh. We use their multi-purpose room (a former warehouse) for masses on Saturdays. They keep changing the room around each week. They have some wooden risers we use for a platform for the altar and always before they were covered in worn red carpeting and were of different heights. Tonight they were covered in green and are all the same height, a big improvement.

CACD October Meeting

The Catholic Alliance for Charity and Development (CACD) had its quarterly meeting today to develop an action plan for the environmental framework we developed several months ago.
Part of the afternoon was working in four small groups according to the mission and purpose of our different NGOs.
Even during the break a lot of work gets done.
It is really edifying to attend the CACD meetings where so many really good people, genuinely committed and wanting to serve, come together to help Cambodia develop.

October in Buddhist Cambodia

Every two months I write a column about life and ministry in Cambodia for The Record, the newspaper for the Catholic diocese of Louisville, Kentucky. The latest column mentioned Pchum Ben, the Buddhist festival of the dead that we are experiencing this week.

For some reason one of the paragraphs of the published version of the article appears to be corrupted so rather than give the link to the newspaper, I’m trying to make a link that will send you my original copy I sent to The Record. See if you can click on this link below:

The-Record-Article-32-Sep2024Download

A Different Look

This is the hall at St. Jude Thaddeus School we use for mass on Saturday night. This photo was on Sunday morning when the hall had been transformed into the site for the foundation day celebration for the school.

Farewell, Brother Tony….

A group of laity and church people, continuing a Maryknoll tradition of gathering every Wednesday, get together every week for liturgy and a meal together. Today was the last day that Bro. Tony Burrows (3rd left) will be with us. He returns to work in Australia on Friday.

Post-Maryknoll

For almost thirty years, the Maryknoll INGO met every Wednesday. Now that Maryknoll Cambodia is no longer operating in Cambodia, some of those who used to meet continue to do so.

Gathered today for mass and a dinner were Maria, Beth, Julie, and Kila. Good people.

New Church Progress

Here is a collage of photos from the new St. Joseph Church a few days ago when the regional director of Couples for Christ met there with Bishop Olivier. Fr. Chatsirey (blue shirt) showed them the progress inside and outside the ongoing construction.