Category: Mission Journal

Buddhist wats or temples tend to have muted yellows and browns as the primary colors of their buildings; nothing too dramatic.  But today, going past this wat on the riverfront, I was surprised to see the white and rather garish red colors that have appeared on the gateway arch and on some of the stupas in which famous monk leaders and other dignitaries are buried.  I’ve never seen anything like the white and red paint in a wat.  I’ll have to ask what it means although it could be something as plebeian as an undercoating to prepare for later more traditional coats of paint.

On the day after Thanksgiving, the Maryknoll team was invited to the Sokha Hotel for their Christmas tree lighting ceremony, the beginning of the hotel’s holiday season.  We were invited because one of our former students is now working at the hotel.

The program began with some Christmas carols sung by the children in blue shirts, from a children’s organization that had its roots in Maryknoll fifteen years ago.  The Christmas tree was set up in the main lobby of the hotel which is quite impressive because of its size.

 

Other music was provided by a professional tenor and then the songs sung by the choir above, most of whom are Filipino choir members from the English Catholic community.

The English-speaking Catholic community borrows a hall in an old building at St. Joseph Church on the north side of Phnom Penh.  We had been leery of making any renovations because the plan is to tear this building down to build a real church on the rear part of the church compound.  Earlier this year, though, we learned that the planned demolition will not happen for several years so we are going ahead with plans to air condition the hall as cheaply as we can.

One of the first steps was to cover over the ventilation slots you can see at the top of the wall.  They allowed air–and birds–to flow through freely.  We also had to add more lights now that we are having some night-time services here.

This is a picture in mid week when the workmen are getting the room right before adding stand-alone air conditioning units along the walls.

Today Mr. Paul O’Callaghan, the CEO of Caritas Australia, came to visit the Deaf Development Programme in Phnom Penh.  Caritas Australia has supported DDP for quite a few years but Paul had not had a chance to visit us until today.  This evening we took a dinner cruise on the Mekong River and Paul spoke to staff and leaders of Caritas and of the organizations they fund.

Today when I had mass for the Salesian Sisters at their Teuk Thla community, I was surprised to see there Mabel Chan who was formerly a Maryknoll Lay Missioner in Tanzania.  Mabel has now committed to one year of service as a volunteer at  the sisters’ vocational school.