Category: Maryknoll

Happenings in the Maryknoll world, especially in the Cambodia Mission Team.

Post-Maryknoll

For almost thirty years, the Maryknoll INGO met every Wednesday. Now that Maryknoll Cambodia is no longer operating in Cambodia, some of those who used to meet continue to do so.

Gathered today for mass and a dinner were Maria, Beth, Julie, and Kila. Good people.

Visitors

A group of us continue to meet on Wednesday evenings for a liturgy and then dinner together. Tonight we were joined by Rachel (L, seated) and her daughter Chenda (2R, standing). Rachel was a Maryknoll Lay Missioner in Cambodia, arriving in the same group with Charlie Dittmeier in 2000.

Welcome, Sami…

Sami Scott is a Maryknoll Lay Missioner who formerly worked in Venezuela and Cambodia and is now assigned to Haiti. Because of the unrest and violence there, she has had to leave Haiti and is now on a visit to Cambodia.

Sami (pink top) joined us for our regular Wednesday afternoon gathering for mass.

Then our group, coming from eight different countries, had a pizza dinner.

Another Farewell

Sr. Regina Pellicore is leaving Cambodia tomorrow to return to the United States. Frequently she has attended morning mass with the Missionaries of Charity at their orphanage, and today we took some pictures to remember her last time there.

Next Year in New York

Things were really busy tonight when we were setting up for the Easter Vigil at the DK Meeting Centre in Phnom Penh. I didn’t get a chance to arrange for someone to take photos but after the service was over, we got this photo of Julie Lawler and me and Regina Pellicore getting ready to leave after her last Easter Vigil in Cambodia.

Saying Farewell

Sr. Regina came to DDP this morning to say goodbye to the staff she has worked with over the years.

DDP director Soknym spoke of his working with Regina.
These are the four Maryknollers associated now with DDP: Charlie, Regina, Naa (a former guard at the Maryknoll office, now at DDP), and Julie.

Wednesday Gathering

We stopped our Wednesday gatherings of Maryknoll Cambodia when we closed the NGO, but many of us decided to continue to meet and tonight we had a gathering of nine of us who try to meet every week. Most of us were part of Maryknoll but we have others who are lay missioners on their own or with another group.

Our group meets in the home of our gracious hosts, Maria and Kila.
This was Sr. Regina’s last time to meet with us before she returns to the United States and we also wanted to remember Maria’s birthday so added a cake to the evening.

New York #6

St. Patrick’s Day
Lunch on St. Patrick’s Day was with the sisters at the Sisters Center in Ossining. Sr. Luise celebrated with green ice cream and a green cookie.
Dinner on St. Patrick’s Day was with Maryknoll priests at their house in Manhattan. Here Fr. Frank McGourn, the cook for the meal, explains how the main dishes match the colors of the Irish flag.

New York #5

More New york friends

Sr. Helen Graham is a scripture scholar who specializes in the Torah and our Old Testament scriptures.
Sunday morning I went to mass at the old seminary building and afterwards had a chance to reconnect with Tom Dunleavy (L), John Barth, and Bill McIntire (R).
Then I came to the Maryknoll house in Manhattan and enjoyed being again with Lionel, one of the staff of the house.

New York #4

Here are some more Maryknoll friends I met with the next day.

Sr. Luise Ahrens told me about an exhibit of famous women from Ossining (where Maryknoll is) and we walked over to an arts center that has taken over the Bethany building which used to be a retirement home for the Maryknoll Sisters and then the headquarters for the Maryknoll Lay Missioners.
For lunch that day I met Adel ORegan, a former Maryknoll lay missioner in Cambodia, and we caught up on what has been happening for us.
Then I went to the Maryknoll seminary building and met with Fr. Tom Dunleavy who was assigned to mission in Thailand and then moved with returning refugees to Cambodia and started Maryknoll’s presence there.