Category: Uncategorized

I hadn’t planned on a series of articles about anticipation of the Lunar New Year but it seems each day presents another example of the preparations that have now started in earnest. Here is an example I encountered today:

Most major holidays or festivals in Asia are multi-day, even multi-week events. Even a basic wedding can go on for three days. The official lunar new year day is Tuesday, 5 February, but the new year festival has already started and will continue after February 5th. In the picture above a local man burns imitation paper money and symbols of luxury items to appease ancestral spirits and make them happy as the new year approaches.

Ted Miles, the executive director of the Maryknoll Lay Missioners, and Leslie Lopez, our advancement director, went to the Maryknoll gathering in Hua Hin, Thailand with us. Then they came to Cambodia with us when we returned yesterday. They will spend their time here meeting with the Maryknoll Lay Missioners and visiting all of their projects.

Today was a travel day as all the group left Hua Hin and headed to their homes throughout Asia. Click here to follow the group going to Cambodia.

WordPress has been threatening to change the editor used by people like me to prepare the posts that we publish on our websites. I was happy–mostly–with what I was using before but finally we are all forced now to use the new Gutenberg editor. There were some things difficult or impossible to do with the old “classic” editor but from my point of view, if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it. Gutenberg allows formatting like the colored background to this article—and large “drop letters” like the W above, but it also removes the capability to group posts into categories. I’ve seen there is a plug-in that allows one to use either or both the classic and Gutenberg editors so I guess I’ll have to explore that when I find some time.

 

Many people closed their shops the first day of the Water Festival but in a culture where you live in your shop, it’s not likely you’ll keep things closed up the full three days of the holiday.  Click here to see some people in action on the third day of the Water Festival.

Today the Phnom Penh Catholic Church invited all the different Catholic language communities to come together for a joint Pentecost celebration.  Click here to see some of the scenes from the liturgy.

“Kindness is in our power even when fondness is not.” ~ Henry James

“Our defense of the innocent unborn…needs to be clear, firm, and passionate. Equally sacred, however, are the lives of the poor, those already born, the destitute, the abandoned.” ~ Pope Francis

The changing seasons have brought another fruit to the streets of Phnom Penh, but I haven’t a clue what it is.  It’s bright yellow like a lemon and about the same size but it’s more like a small apple.

 

Holy Week services take a lot of time, preparation, and practice, and all of that was in short supply for our Holy Thursday service.  I was on the phone all day to three countries working with refugees and didn’t have time to organize things like a photographer for this evening’s service.