Charlie Dittmeier's Home Page
The Catholic Church in Cambodia.
When the Maryknoll NGO was here, we met after work each Christmas Day for a meal together. They were always great. The Maryknoll NGO is gone now but some of the former group of lay missioners and others got together for a Christmas lunch today.
Tonight we began our celebration of the Christmas season with a 6:30 PM mass on Christmas Eve. We had a lot of people we don’t usually see and it was a good group. Here Fr. Charlie and the thurifer (incense bearer) bow as they approach the altar in the entrance procession. A Christmas nativity scene is set up before the altar.
On Sundays we have our second English mass at St. Joseph Church. Yesterday their workers were setting up a stage and decoration for a large-scale mass on Christmas Eve that will attract many from the neighborhood.
Come Jan. 20, on the inaugural day of his second term, President-elect Trump has promised voters that he will begin a massive deportation effort. It is a deeply menacing threat without any indication of how matters of due process, human rights, respect of persons, respect of families and other matters of human dignity, justice and mercy will govern the deportation. And though we see indications that some Republicans will try to tone down Mr. Trump’s threats, many members of the party that will take control of every branch of our government on that day have not taken any evident steps to address the massive deportation itself.
I, for one, am not waiting for Inauguration Day. I think the threat of mass deportation needs to be urgently addressed by bishops, teachers, theologians, politicians and preachers. We cannot wait to see what happens, especially since the President-elect insists that he means business on that day.
James F. Keenan, S.J., in America
Last night the Don Bosco Vocational Training Center in the Tuol Kork area of Phnom Penh had a fund-raising dinner. That is the school where I go for mass early Monday mornings with the sisters and some of the students. The school teaches hospitality skills like food preparation, and it was good to see the students dressed up in their uniforms and serving the meal. A number of people from our English parish were in attendance.
This Caritas Cambodia mission statement is probably the shortest and most power mission statement I’ve seen. I’m proud to be part of the organization.
Not all priests should offer the sacrament of reconciliation (confession). Not all priests should preside at mass. Not all priests should preach. Just because a man is ordained doesn’t mean he has the training or the skill and ability to do those things well.
Most priests (I hope) spend time preparing to preach. But those who do prepare have different styles. I know a couple priests who write out their homilies word for word. Myself, I use bullet points in an outline. The photo above shows how another priest prepared for preaching today, the 1st Sunday of Advent. His notes above would not help me but they helped him give a really good homily. Different strokes for different folks….
The Catholic Church is one of the major actors in providing schools for children in Cambodia with autism. Today the Church of the Child Jesus in the Boeung Tum Pun area of Phnom Penh had a benefit concert to raise money for an enlarged school building on their campus. Performing was a professional ensemble of singers and musicians from Japan.
This morning at our Sunday liturgy, we had a special blessing, a remembrance for Raymond Leos, our parishioner who died three weeks ago. His brother Greg and Greg’s wife Kristen and their daughter Alexandra came from the United States and celebrated Ray’s life and death with us. I think it is very important for a parish to mark the special and important events in the lives of our church family like this.