Category: Church

This weekend we were able to have our English community masses in person again after a break of many, many months. Click here to see photos of our gatherings.

It’s been almost a year since the old building we used for the English community mass was torn down and now finally some steps are being taken to put up the new church building.

The site was cleared and leveled long ago and then just left empty. Now, on the back side, workers are erecting a row of small rooms to accommodate the construction workers who will live on the site for the year or two it takes to put up the building. That’s the norm in Cambodia—the workers, many coming from the provinces, live on the construction site.

This weekend was a Diocesan Youth Day for the Church of Phnom Penh. Bishop Olivier generates an endless stream of activities and publications and other events to keep the church active and engaged. For this youth day pastoral centers in the lower half of the state gathered their youth together and then all were united with video hookups. Click here to see some of the happenings.

As a child listening to the reading from the Bible’s Book of Revelation about a beast with seven heads and ten horns, I found that hard to visualize. Click here to see how various artists have depicted that scene.

A lot of changes are in store for Maryknoll Cambodia in the months and years ahead and today Sr. Regina Pellicore, acting country representative for Maryknoll, and I had a meeting with Bishop Olivier. We want Maryknoll’s work to be part of the church so it is important for us to keep the bishop informed about what is happening. We had a very constructive discussion. Regina couldn’t get her computer camera to work!

Yesterday we had the funeral for Fr. Toni Vendramin, a PIME priest who was long-term missionary in Cambodia (and Bangladesh before that). He died two and a half weeks ago but because of COVID-19 we were prevented from gathering for his funeral until now. He was a good man and a good friend who would help with our English masses when I had to be away.

During this stage of the pandemic, churches are not allowed to have in-person services so we have started a simple online mass for the English Catholic Community. We use a little makeshift chapel at the Maryknoll office. Here Sr. Regina prepares to proclaim the first reading for this weekend’s mass. Thank goodness it looks much better on the video than in reality!

Normally every year a week or two before Easter, the bishop blesses the holy oils used for Catholic sacraments. This year, because of Covid-19, certainly hasn’t been normal and we didn’t have the chrism mass until today–and with just fifteen representative priests rather than the whole presbyterate as is the long established and revered custom. Here three large silver containers filled with the oils wait for the blessing.

Last week I posted some more ordinary photos of Bishop Olivier in what would be more familiar poses. Click here for some less traditional pictures of a bishop.