Category: Mission Journal

Well!

I’m embarrassed… I wasn’t able to access the Internet everyday on my trip to the US for the funeral of my sister Ann, but I was taking photos so I could give a summary when I returned. Well….I’ve returned but I’ve lost the photos! I downloaded them from the camera but I don’t know where I put them on my laptop! I’ll find them… Hang on!

Ann Dittmeier

My sister Ann Marie died today in Louisville, Kentucky. It was rather unexpected. Ann was eating lunch and had a seizure and died. I am the oldest of the eight brothers and sisters and Ann was the oldest of the sisters. This picture of Ann and me is from a Christmas probably in the late 1960s.

Retreat: Friday

I have a lot of good reflections and memories from this year’s retreat for priests. One of the best memories is meeting Archbishop Julian Leow from Kuala Lumpur. He is a Francis bishop and just what the church needs. He renews my hope.

May Lay Missioner Meeting

Every month lay missioners from many different sending groups and different countries meet in a support group in Phnom Penh.

In the meeting today, Maryknoll Sister Regina Pellicore gave a reflection on the rosary. It was both interesting and substantive because most people just start saying the rosary as children and no one ever explains or discusses how to pray with it.

The lay missioners gathered today came from eight different countries.

Maria Montello worked out an activity, actually making individual rosaries as part of a prayer together. The activity was followed by a dinner prepared by Maria and Kila Reimer.

AMD Testing

This is Dr. Long Chhour, an eye specialist, who has been testing and treating me for Age-related Macular Degeneration in my left eye. AMD in my case causes a fuzziness to appear in my central vision in that eye. The electronic unit is for testing with Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT). I have been lucky to find Dr. Chhour in Phnom Penh.

These are the OCT test results. The shallow part of the green curve indicates degeneration of the macula. It is a really interesting testing procedure.

I’m back….!!!!

After almost a one-month hiatus, I finally have access to this website again! The technicians at EsoSoft that hosts my website found two plug-ins that had stopped functioning and disabled them so now I think things will work OK.

This is just a quick test that I can post again and a notice that I should be on the air daily from now on. I’m sorry for the silence! I hope you can come back again!

It’s 7:00 AM Sunday morning here in Phnom Penh. I’ll be back later today.

Taiwan Trip-Sunday

The Maryknoll priests group is having an Asia Region Assembly 13-17 February 2023, and Fr. Kevin Conroy and I were invited even though we are no longer members of the Maryknoll Society. I flew Sunday, 12 February, from Phnom Penh to Taipei.

This is a sign on the desk at passport control when leaving Cambodia. No other country in the world has such a sign because it would be unthinkable to charge for checking a passport but officials in Cambodia thought it necessary to post this sign because in Cambodia officials do charge illegal payments (bribes, “tea money”) for almost every service citizens need.
I went to the Maryknoll house in Taipei and there was met by Henry Wong and Judy Wu, friends and colleagues from Hong Kong who are now resident in Taiwan.
Judy and Henry and their son Dominique then took me to dinner where we had time to catch up.
Then they took me to the Taiwan Lantern Festival, a two-week extravaganza of lights covering blocks and blocks of downtown Taichung.

The lights and displays were spectacular!