Category: Church

The Catholic Church in Cambodia.

Consecration of New St. Joseph Church

Before a Catholic church is used for worship, the building is blessed and the altar is consecrated for sacred use. On May 2nd the new church at St. Joseph Church was consecrated with a long ceremony.

The ceremony, attended by perhaps 800-900 people, began outside with a procession that would around the new church building.
Once inside, Bishop Olivier presided, accompanied by the other two bishops in Cambodia and a new bishop from Thailand who is a former missionary in Cambodia.
Before the altar was consecrated, Bishop Olivier inserted relics of saints into the top of the altar–a tradition from the early days of Christianity when masses were celebrated in the places where martyrs had been killed.
Next the top of the altar was smeared with holy oil and then pots of incensed were arranged on it during a special prayer.
Finally altar cloths were put on the altar and it was ready for celebrating the mass of dedication.

On the road again (Phnom Penh 4)

For most of the past 25 years I have had morning masses once a week for the Salesian Sisters in Tuol Kork and twice a week for the Missionaries of Charity (Mother Teresa’s sisters) at their orphanage. Now this week I have renewed those contacts. First I went to the Salesians and, blessed with an abundance of fruit from their mango trees, I went home with a box of sliced mango (my favorite fruit). Then the next day I had mass for the MC Sisters and they noted the occasion on their mass board.

The fork is a disposable bamboo utensil from my Eva Airlines (Taiwan) flight to Cambodia.

What’s New in Archlou

The Archdiocese of Louisville has a podcast every month about people and activities in the local church. It’s a half hour program that is also televised. Yesterday Sr. Susan Gatz, a Sister of Charity of Nazareth, and I were interviewed by Dr. Brian Reynolds, the chancellor of the diocese. He asked us about our ministry experiences as missionaries outside of the United States. Our program was taped yesterday but will be broadcast in May.

Trump’s threats–War Crimes

President Donald Trump threatens that “a whole civilization will die tonight” unless Iran strikes a deal with the United States by 8 p.m. Eastern on April 7.

The National Catholic Reporter quotes Leo XIV as calling the threats “truly unacceptable” and said that such attacks would violate international law. In some of his strongest comments yet against the war, Leo urged Americans and others to demand that political leaders reject war and work for peace.

“Today as we all know there was this threat against all the people of Iran. This is truly unacceptable,” Leo said.

NCR reported further that “theologians, priests, academics, authors, media personalities, bishops and others took to social media platforms April 7 to warn that military strikes on civilian targets and infrastructure in Iran would constitute grave evils and violate the Catholic Church’s just war tradition.”

This is not primarily a matter of politics but of morality, of right and wrong, of sin and evil.