Yesterday turned out to be a very interesting Saturday. President Biden flew in on Air Force One in the morning for the ASEAN summit meeting held in Phnom Penh this weekend. He is Catholic and I had read that he tries to go to mass on Sundays wherever he is, so I was not too surprised when the US Embassy here asked me to have mass with him yesterday. The time for the mass changed three times during the week but finally we had a morning mass at the Raffles Hotel where the United States delegation was staying.
President Biden is a very warm and personable person, a good human being guided by gospel values. We had a group of ten people for mass, staff from the White House and the Phnom Penh U.S. Embassy. At the end of mass, noting that it was lunch time, President Biden invited me to eat with them!This is The Beast, the vehicle used to transport President Biden on the ground. It rated its own separate enclosure on the grounds of the Raffles Hotel. I was hoping they would offer me a ride home in The Beast but I had to settle for the usual tuk-tuk.The U.S. delegation took over the entire Raffles Hotel and made many adjustments. Here the main lobby and reception desk is blocked off by partitions erected to move people like me through security. Secret Service personnel were everywhere!
This year Bishop Olivier invited the lay missioners working in Phnom Penh to attend mass with him on Mission Sunday. There are not nearly the numbers of lay missioners we had before.
After mass Bishop Olivier blessed the ashes of two veteran lay missioners who died here in the past year.
Then the lay missioners met for more than an hour with Bishop Olivier as he discussed his thought and plans for the diocese and for the missioners.
On the morning of the final day of the MKLM retreat, we had another session with Beth Goldring.
Then we had a closing liturgy. Beth introduced it with a Buddhist chant wishing the well being of all living things and all creation.
We then continued with a simple mass.
The rooms at the center are simple but quite adequate.
The environment cooperated for this retreat. There were a few rain showers but the weather was not uncomfortably hot and we didn’t miss air conditioning. There were some mosquitoes but they were contained by repellent and the mosquito nets.
It’s late and I am out of time so here’s just one photo from today at the MKLM retreat in Siem Reap. This is our group photo after our closing mass in the chapel in the backgroun.
For this retreat, the Maryknoll Lay Missioners were served all their meals in this dining area at the rear of the property instead of in the big dining hall. This is Friday breakfast.
Jesuit Refugee Services (JSR) is one of the leading actors in the campaign against landmines, both in Cambodia and in 50 other countries. This Metta Karuna Center also provides jobs for people disabled by landmines and so all the buildings are accessible. Here a long wheelchair ramp provices access to the second floor.
Beth Goldring (R) presented in morning and afternoon sessions about precepts and ideas from Buddhism and there was much discussion about how they could apply to our lives and our ministries and how they relate to nonviolence.
These are two of the Khmer-style statues found on the center grounds.
This evening we watched an hour-long video on the peace marches of 300 Buddhist monks walking through former Khmer Rouge territory to support and inspire the people in the aftermath of the Pol Pot regime.
While the Asia Area Director, Steve Veryser, is in Cambodia, the Maryknoll Lay Missioners here are having a short retreat experience in Siem Reap where Angkor Wat is located. Today was a travel day.
A pleasant initial surprise was how well organized and clean the Larryta bus service is! Their terminal is really well planned and their staff very helpful. Here a manager in a tie assists an elderly woman to a seat in the waiting area.
There were two stops in the six-hour ride to Siem Reap. At this first site, Cambodia’s obsession with heavy, immovable, impractical tables and stools made of luxury wood was obvious, but the restaurant was most pleasant and friendly.
Another characteristic of Cambodian travel spots are the men’s urinals open to public view.
At the second stop, two hours beyond the first, it was again spacious and clean and very well organized.
Another feature of every stopping place on the trip is the ubiquitous spirit shrine, this one quite large.
Julie Lawler and I traveled together in the van above. Here at the Larryta terminal in Siem Reap, Julie negotiates with tuk-tuk drivers for a ride to the Jesuit reflection center.
Finally we arrived at the Metta Karuna Center. It is a delightful and most accommodating center for retreats and reflection groups with spacious grounds filled with all sorts of meaningful layouts and statues and thought-provoking arrangements. Here is a statue of Jesus washing the disciples’ feet.
Beth Goldring is a Buddhist nun who is leading our reflection, working from her Buddhist studies and experience to help us develop a theme of nonviolence.
Asia Area Director Steve Veryser had his hair cut at the DDP barber training shop today as part of his visit to the deaf program and to the Maryknoll Lay Missioners group here.
Today Stever Veryser joined the Cambodia Mission Team for their weekly meeting and liturgy and meal together. Afterwards he and Julie Lawler planned his visit to the Deaf Development Programme tomorrow.
There are four members of the Maryknoll Lay Missioners in Cambodia, and in an odd turn of events, the Asia Area Director is Steve Veryser–who lives in Kenya. Today Steve arrived in Cambodia for an official visit.
Kylene Fremling (L) and Julie Lawler greeting Steve Veryser at the Phnom Penh airport.
The Maryknoll Sisters seems to be on four or five acres of land, and with an environmental focus, the sisters are shifting away from grass and lawns that need to be watered, changing to cactus and other succulents that need much less water.
