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Charlie Dittmeier's Home Page
Happenings in the Maryknoll world, especially in the Cambodia Mission Team.
Today was the day I made the transition from Kentucky to New York for the final part of my US journey.
Last weekend the Maryknoll Sisters officially made their exit from Cambodia, returning to the Sisters Center in Ossining, New York. For more than thirty years, Maryknoll Sisters did wonderful work in a variety of projects but the sisters here were starting to feel the years and their congregation does not have the new members to build up the sisters community here, so it was decided to end their presence here.
Today was the second of three full days of presentations and activities for the retreat.
For 30-something years, the Maryknoll Cambodia Mission Team met every Wednesday for a business meeting, a liturgy, and then a meal together. Now that the Maryknoll Cambodia NGO has been closed and we no longer have an office to meet in, it was decided that those who are interested could continue to meet and Maria and Kila volunteered their apartment as a venue.
The Maryknoll Cambodia NGO closes down this week, and today we vacated our office building. I was living there and moved to a flat a couple miles away in the Boeung Tum Pun area of Phnom Penh. I still have way too much stuff to move. I’ll have to get rid of a lot of it before my next move but at least for now it’s all in the new place, even if it’s all in boxes still.
This week the Maryknoll Cambodia office will close and I had to find a new living space. That wasn’t too hard but then I was faced with the daunting task of packing up for the move. Luckily, two Christmas elves in the neighborhood appeared and did a fantastic job of getting (cramming?) all my stuff into boxes, bags, and suitcases. Thanks, Maria and Kila!
Maryknoll Sr. Ann Sherman returned to the United States today after ten years of ministry in Cambodia. She regularly attends the masses I have with the Missionaries of Charity and today at the end of mass we said goodbye and took a group photo–with some of the orphans who come to the mass.
Since 1991 when Maryknoll first came to work in Cambodia, all the Maryknollers in the kingdom have met on Wednesday afternoons for a meeting, a liturgy, and then a dinner together. When I first came in 2000, there were 25 to 27 people gathered in the living room of the Maryknoll house every Wednesday.
Everything has changed now and Maryknoll Cambodia, the International NGO, will cease to exist in a couple weeks, and today we had our last Wednesday meeting forever. The Maryknoll priests and sisters just don’t have the personnel to send to Cambodia. The Maryknoll Lay Missioners will continue here with four members. A sad day.