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The Catholic Church in Cambodia.
Once a month, lay missioners from a variety of countries come together for fellowship, discussion, and community. Joining them this past year has been Denis, a seminarian from Kenya. Now he is preparing to leave to return to conclude his studies and the lay mission group gave him a goodbye gift. Miyuki (yellow) presented the gift while Yessica and Clara looked on.
For quite a few years the Pentecost liturgy at St. Joseph Church in Phnom Penh has brought together the English, French, Khmer, and Korean-speaking Catholic communities at one mass presided over by Bishop Olivier. All of these communities have used St. Joseph Church as their base at different times, meeting in different buildings at different times on the weekend. Today we had our gathering and a central part of the ceremony was the conferring of the sacrament of confirmation on 37 mostly young people. Here, dressed in traditional Khmer garb and traditional sitting position, they listen as Bishop Olivier has an opening prayer. Because of the large crowd when all the communities are together, the liturgy was held on an outside stage covered with a light tenting to keep everyone out of the sun.
This year we have an especially large group of young men and women in our English Catholic community who are graduating from secondary school and moving on to universities. At our mass this morning we recognized them and gave them a blessing as they all prepare to depart to other countries for the next phase of their education. From L to R: Charlotte, Bea, Miriam, Mikael, Juliyus, and Manuel. Congratulations to you all!
Today we basically just had mass and breakfast and then everyone took off for points north. Click here for the final retreat pictures.
This was the last full day of the priests retreat and it involved some concluding activities. Click here to view the day.
This third full day of retreat followed the same pattern as the first two except that we had a little less rain. Just as much good food! Click here for pictures of the day.
Today was the second day of retreat for the priests, made different by the rains–sometimes heavy–that fell during the night and day. Click here for pictures from the day.
Today was the first full day of retreat after the travel day yesterday to Kampong Som Province on the Gulf of Thailand. Click here for pictures from the day as the retreat started.
Monday was a day for traveling from all over Cambodia (about the size of Wyoming) to Sihanoukville down on the southern coast of the kingdom. The distances are not actually that great but for some of the priests it is a two-day trip because of the difficulty of travel in Cambodia. This is Archbishop Sebastian Francis, our retreat leader. Click here to see pictures from Monday.
Today was the beginning of the annual retreat for all the priests of Cambodia. It is held at the Catholic center in Sihanoukville and for most of us it was a travel day to this southernmost province in the kingdom. In the picture, Bishop Olivier welcomes everyone to the gathering
The Internet doesn’t reach to my room and I have to go to another building to make these posts so I probably will only get to post things here once a day. On Tuesday I will set up a main page for the retreat which will link to the individual days.