Things to come…
Category: Church
The Catholic Church in Cambodia.
It’s going to be different!
We are going to have to move from our present hall where we celebrate mass to this small chapel at St. Joseph Church, probably in a couple weeks. We had planned the move at the beginning of the year but that was before social distancing started, so tonight after our 5:30 PM mass, we moved a bunch of chairs over to the chapel so we can arrange them tomorrow in different configurations to see how many people we can accommodate there with our new reality. [Thanks to all the parishioners who helped us move a chair or two!]
Restarting the English Masses
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This is the third weekend we have offered masses on Saturday evening and Sunday morning for groups of twenty parishioners. Click here for more on the Sunday morning mass.
Health and Spirituality
Today at a priests meeting, Bishop Olivier showed us a new gym or exercise room he has set up at the pastoral center. It will be useful for the seminarians living there and also for all the guests who come for retreats and meetings.
Reopening the English church
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This weekend we had three masses, two on Saturday and one Sunday morning, each with less than twenty people, the first time our English community has met in more than three months. Click here to see some photos from the start of our gathering again.
Sunday of the Spirits
Today is Pentecost Sunday for Christians. Last week on the day of the Ascension, Jesus handed over his mission to the apostles before ascending into heaven. Today Jesus imparts his Spirit to guide and strengthen the apostles in their mission to the ends of the earth.
The Khmer culture attends to the spirits also.
In the pictures above, a dental assistant at a dentist’s office first says a prayer, holding sticks of incense (L), and then she puts the incense (M) in the shrine on the right side of the entrance. Then she puts more incense in the holder to the left of doorway.
White people. Do Something.
An excerpt from a statement by the heads of seven committees of the US Catholic Conference of Bishops:
We are broken-hearted, sickened, and outraged to watch another video of an African American man being killed before our very eyes. What’s more astounding is that this is happening within mere weeks of several other such occurrences. This is the latest wake-up call that needs to be answered by each of us in a spirit of DETERMINED CONVERSION.
Racism is not a thing of the past or simply a throwaway political issue to be bandied about when convenient. It is a real and present danger that must be met head on. As members of the Church, we must stand for the more difficult right and just actions instead of the easy wrongs of indifference. We cannot turn a blind eye to these atrocities and yet still try to profess to respect every human life. We serve a God of love, mercy, and justice.
“Determined conversion” could work….
COVID-19 Notes
From the Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Missouri, Deon K. Johnson:
The work of the church is essential.
The work of caring for the lonely, the marginalized, and the oppressed is essential.
The work of speaking truth to power and seeking justice is essential.
The work of being a loving, liberating, and life giving presence in the world is essential.
The work of welcoming the stranger, the refugee and the undocumented is essential.
The work of reconciliation and healing and caring is essential.
The church does not need to “open” because the church never “closed”. We who make up the Body of Christ, the church, love God and our neighbors and ourselves so much that we will stay away from our buildings until it is safe.We are the church.
Invitation to Reflect….
The COVID-19 pandemic causes much pain and suffering. It may also offer us an opportunity to reflect on who we are and what we do as God’s children, as the church. Maybe we shouldn’t go back to “normal.” Maybe the old “normal” wasn’t so good but was just the path of least resistance, the easiest way to get by.
Women Deacons
In a recent scholarly article, Phyllis Zagano thoughtfully draws out the theological implications of her research, but her main point is historical: There is simply no precedent on which to base the exclusion of women from the diaconate in the Catholic Church.
Zagano continues: The most famous example of a woman deacon comes from Scripture. In fact, the only person in Scripture called “deacon” is named in Paul’s Letter to the Romans, where he addresses the deacon—the woman deacon—Phoebe.