Category: Church

Many of the international schools in Phnom Penh are giving final exams to their students in May, and in the religious education program for the English-speaking Catholic community, we had our final class this past weekend.  There weren’t any exams but rather we had a farewell for Ms. Beata Pratiwi (far right) who has been a coordinator for the program but is now returning to Indonesia.

Today we had our Easter morning liturgy at St. Joseph Church with a very large crowd and coffee and doughnuts afterward.  Click here to see the pictures, but scroll down to Easter Sunday Morning.

Tonight was the culmination of the church’s liturgical year with the Easter Vigil celebration of Christ’s rising from the dead.  Our English community gathered at World Vision.  Click here for more and then scroll down to Holy Saturday.

Today was both New Year’s Day for the Khmer people and Good Friday for the Christians.  Because it was a holiday the traffic was much less for those traveling to St. Joseph Church but then many people also left town for the long new year holiday.  Click here and scroll down to Good Friday to see the service.

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Today is new year’s eve for the Khmer New Year but is Holy Thursday in the Christian calendar.  Only one liturgy is allowed for a parish community on this day and we gathered in the evening at St. Joseph Church.  Click here to see pictures from the ceremony. [The link is still not working properly so scroll down to Holy Thursday after clicking.]

Palm Sunday is one of those days that traditionally many Catholics try to attend mass. Although longer than usual, the service is different in a way that attracts people and holds their attention.  Click here for photos from Palm Sunday in Phnom Penh.

[The link is not functioning completely so click on it and then scroll down to Preparing the Lenten Environment to read today’s post.]

Lent is a very meaningful season for most Catholic Christians and it is taken seriously.  Our English Catholic community tries to celebrate the different events of Lent in a way that invites people to participate and that supports them in their struggle to live as followers of Christ.  Click here for pictures from Lent in 2017.

One of the Catholic services connected with Holy Week and Easter is the Chrism Mass, a special mass in which the bishop blesses the oils used throughout the coming year for the sacraments of baptism, confirmation, anointing of the sick, and ordination.  It is also an occasion for the priests to renew their promise of obedience to their bishop.

The chrism mass today was preceded by a  meeting for all of the 55 or so priests of the country.  Here Fr. Chatsirey, the chancellor of the vicariate, explains some of the forms and procedures for people who want to marry in the church.

Shortly before the mass was to start at 5:00 PM the rains really started pouring and the wind blew it right against the glass doors–and under them.  There was a half inch of water in the main entrance and the tiles were unbelievably slippery.  Apparently that has happened before because the mops were readily available and a PVC pipe cut in half length-wise was use to push and scoop the water toward and out the door.

In 1617 St. Vincent de Paul began forming groups, mostly of women, to serve the poor in his region of France.  He was joined by St. Louise de Merillac and their ministry spread, not only throughout France but around the world.  Now more than 260 groups trace their origin to St. Vincent de Paul  and basically every Catholic parish has a St. Vincent de Paul Society group to serve their local area.  This is a large number of the St. Vincent de Paul Society members in our English-speaking Catholic community in Phnom Penh—a wonderful group of committed Christians filled with compassion and love for those who need help.  This month the Cambodian Catholic Church has been celebrating the 400th anniversary of the Vincentian movement.