Charlie Dittmeier's Home Page
The Catholic Church in Cambodia.
The priests of Cambodia came together today at the Catholic center in Kampong Som on the southern coast for a week long retreat. Internet connections were almost non-existent so I have had trouble getting online. I think I have found a workaround so now I will be able to follow up with daily posts.
Above is Archbishop Julian Leow, the bishop of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, who will be guiding our reflections through this week.
This week saw the arrival of Archbishop Peter Wells in Cambodia. He is the newly appointed nuncio (ambassador) from the Vatican to Cambodia. Yesterday he had a liturgy and dinner with lay and religious leaders of church organizations. He is from Tulsa, Oklahoma so he and I had a common bond.
Today the nuncio and his assistant, Bishop Daniel (L), met with all the priests of the diocese of Phnom Penh for discussion of his role and for answering questions we asked. It was off the record and was a useful forum for exploring issues like the Vatican’s role in seeking peace in Ukraine and Pope Francis’ seeking negotiations with Patriarch Kiril in Russia and other topics.
The new Vatican nuncio (ambassador) to Cambodia is Archbishop Peter Bryan Wells who is from Tulsa, Oklahoma in the United States. Today he met with King Sihomani at the royal palace to present his credentials.
I think I would be happy with a little less of the fancy dress and diplomatic niceties on the part of the church. We could probably carry out the mission of Jesus of loving each other without all that.
Today, Seminarian Nguyen Do Thanh (standing at left by window) was ordained a deacon, the first sacramental step toward becoming a priest. He is part of the Jesuit community here in Cambodia.
Currently the Southeast Asia Games are taking place in Phnom Penh, and yesterday the Philippines team that is participating came to our Sunday mass. We wish them good luck in their competitions!
Every month lay missioners from many different sending groups and different countries meet in a support group in Phnom Penh.
In the meeting today, Maryknoll Sister Regina Pellicore gave a reflection on the rosary. It was both interesting and substantive because most people just start saying the rosary as children and no one ever explains or discusses how to pray with it.
The lay missioners gathered today came from eight different countries.
Maria Montello worked out an activity, actually making individual rosaries as part of a prayer together. The activity was followed by a dinner prepared by Maria and Kila Reimer.
It was quite and interesting and informative afternoon!
A group of lay missioners from various countries tries to get together in Phnom Penh almost every month for socializing and talking shop and just being together in a place away from home.
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!]