Category: Church

This weekend I had a wedding in the coastal town of Kep. It’s unusual because the wedding took place on a hotel beach front. Normally church rules allow weddings only in church buildings but because there is no church in Kep (the nearest parish church is 35 km away), the bishop allowed this wedding outside.

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Sunday

The bride was born in Burma and her family now lives in California.  The groom is from Canada.  Both of them work now in Cambodia and wanted their families and friends to have an opportunity to see some of Cambodia’s beauty as well as attend the wedding.  This afternoon we gathered on the hotel lawn for a rehearsal for the ceremony to take place tomorrow.

 

After the rehearsal some of the wedding party lingered on the beachfront as the sun set.

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Monday

The wedding was at 2:30 PM so I was free in the morning.  One task I had was to pick up the marriage registry, the book where the marriage records are kept.  It is kept in the parish church in Kampot and I really didn’t want to ride 35 kilometers there to get if I didn’t have to.  Luckily, the pastor there was able to arrange for someone to drop it off at the Don Bosco School in Kep yesterday and I went to the school this morning to get it.  This picture is of some of the students there preparing Philippines-style Christmas decorations.

 

Setting up chairs and an altar for the wedding ceremony.

 

Preparing for dinner after the ceremony.

 

The bride and groom going to the pavilion for serving the cake.

The Salesian Vocational Training Center for Girls in Phnom Penh has an annual Christmas Bazaar. It is partly a fund-raising activity and partly an opportunity for the young women to plan and put together a group project.

These young women are offering one of the many food selections available at the stalls set up in the school’s courtyard.

 

These girls were making all kinds of fruit drinks.

 

Sugar cane juice is a very popular drink Cambodia but someone has to scrape the bark off the canes.

 

Here is the dining area where people go after visiting the different food stalls.

 

This little girl is waiting for the afternoon performance to begin.

On 9 December 2016 the Caritas Center for Child and Adolescent Mental Health celebrated their 25th anniversary.  Started and directed by Dr. Bhoomikhumar Jegannathan, it is the only mental health facility for children in the country and has done wonderful work.

 

Every ceremony in Cambodia starts with a blessing dance.  What was unusual this day was having dancers in wheelchairs.  Just as young girls in the United States dream of being a cheerleader, so young girls in Cambodia want to be an apsara dancer but that is not an option for most young women with disabilities.  These women are fortunate to be connected to the Jesuit program for disabilities in Battambang Province.

 

Bishop Kike, the head of Caritas Cambodia, speaks to a young woman who has participated in the church’s program for people with disabilities.

 

After the not-too-long presentations, all the guests and the children at the center with their parents were invited to a lunch served in the center’s well-designed center courtyard.

This past weekend Bishop Olivier Schmitthaeusler, MEP, came to both our Saturday night liturgy at World Vision and our Sunday morning mass at St. Joseph Church.  It was good to have him with us as a reminder that the English-speaking community is part of the Church of Phnom Penh.  Here he gathers with our choir and musicians after mass on Sunday morning.

This evening I had a chance to have supper with Fr. Bob Piche and four of the Cambodian seminarians.  It was a good opportunity to learn more both about them and about their program.  Good guys!

On Saturday, 19 November 2016, Seminarian Sae Sat was ordained a priest for the Kampong Cham diocese at the parish church in Kampong Cham City.  Here Fr. Mark Lopez (R) helps Bishop Kike Figaredo untangle the cross that bishops wear as a sign of their office.  Click here.