Here are some photos of the construction of the new St. Joseph Church at the beginning and end of April, 2022.





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The Catholic Church in Cambodia.
Here are some photos of the construction of the new St. Joseph Church at the beginning and end of April, 2022.
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….
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.
The English Community celebrated Holy Week together. Click here for photos from Holy Thursday and the Holy Saturday Easter Vigil.
Our friend and lay missioner Bill Burns died here in Cambodia and his funeral was held 24 March 2022. Because of new environmental regulations, most cremations are prohibited within the city boundaries and even the ones on the edge of the city can only be held at night when the ashes in the air are supposed to be less of a problem. Bill’s funeral was held at the Church of the Child Jesus in the morning but the cremation was delayed until 6:30 PM in the evening at a Buddhist wat.
Bill Burns was a lay missionary who spent the last twenty years of his life in Cambodia working with the Maryknoll community. He died 15 March. Click here to see photos from his funeral mass.
There are two oddities about this photo of the front of the property of what today is known as the Municipality or City Hall. The beautiful old colonial building can be glimpsed through the trees. The first oddity is the display celebrating the ruling political party and the 43rd anniversary of the prime minister. Does that belong on a government property with the city hall for all the people? The second oddity is the fence. Notice the crosses in the fence. Before the Khmer Rouge when the government confiscated all property, the building was the headquarters of the French Missionary Society for Indochina (Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos). It’s rather obvious to whom the property belonged. Any thought of returning it to the church? Not really….