The CACD retreat gave many of the church and NGO workers the opportunity to see some of the projects started by Bishop Olivier. One of them is CoCo de Takeo, a social enterprise which makes candy and useful and decorative objects from coconuts–of which Cambodia has an abundance!
Category: Church
The Catholic Church in Cambodia.
Vietnamese New Year
There is not much of visible Chinese Catholic community in Cambodia but there is a huge Vietnamese Catholic community. Yesterday Bishop Olivier celebrated the Sunday mass on New Year’s Day with one Vietnamese parish. Here he is on his way to mass with them.
CACD Retreat #2
As part of the CACD retreat (Catholic Alliance for Charity and Development), we visited a social enterprise center where Bishop Olivier has created basically cottage industries to give employment mainly to people with disabilities and poor women who have no source of income and no possibility of jobs like in the city.
CACD Retreat
Christmas is over…
The church’s Christmas season officially ended last Sunday but we at Maryknoll just took down our decorations today, before our weekly Wednesday meeting. Here (L-R) are Sr. Helene, Hang Tran, Julie Lawler, and Sr. Mary.
Human Trafficking Awareness Day
An interesting perspective
People see former Pope Benedict XVI in various ways, some having a positive appreciation of his work and writings, others having a negative view of his time as pope. Fr. Bill Grimm, a Maryknoll priest based in Japan, has an interesting perspective:
Epiphany 2023
There is a tradition in Phnom Penh of the bishop inviting pastoral workers and parish representatives to a gathering at the pastoral center on Epiphany Sunday. In the past it was a time for the pastoral workers to catch up with each other and for the bishop to disseminate news but now it has become an occasion more for socializing and recognizing different offices in the diocese.
Back on the block…
Fr. Hung Nguyen was an associate priest with me starting in 2001 and then he returned to his diocese of Seattle. Now he is looking at possible Asian mission again and today he and I met with Bishop Olivier to discuss the possibility of Hung’s working with the English community here. I hope so!
Mass on Christmas Day
For mass on Christmas morning, we moved from the small chapel (where we can seat only 100 persons) to the large upstairs church used by the Khmer community. We had to bring in chairs because they sit on mats on the floor and we had to take off our shoes as they do, but it was a very comfortable worship space that enabled us to welcome more people.