| Every year the Catholic Church of Cambodia provides a five-day retreat for all the priests working in the country. The retreats are held at the Catholic center in Kampong Som, on the southern coast. This year 41 priests and bishops attended the retreat, 80% of the clergy working in the kingdom. |
| The first afternoon when all the priests arrive is always a happy time. Because of the remote areas in which some of the priests are stationed, the only time they get a chance to see each other all together is at this annual retreat. |
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| The ecumenical monastic community of Taize, France has taken a special interest in Cambodia, and brothers from there come to Cambodia every year. Because of that connection, Taize brother Ghislain Mazure was invited to lead the retreat for the priests this year. |
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| Every morning the community of priests and some people from the area around the church came for a liturgy which was celebrated right before lunch. |
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| Brother Ghislain gave two short presentations each day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, and he also offered a brief reflection each day at mass. |
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| The retreat was a silent retreat, even at meals, but some times a quiet conversation was in order. |
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| The center is simple but adequately equipped for a gathering such as this retreat. Here all the bishops and priests gathered in a conference room to listen to the day's talks. |
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| A tent like those set up in the streets to celebrate weddings and funerals was erected as an eating area for the larger-than-usual group of priests, but heavy rains toward midweek forced the meals back inside. |
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| Generally the group gathered in the parish church at the center for morning prayer, then the morning liturgy, and then at night for evening prayers like this one. |
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| On one evening the usual evening prayer from the breviary was replaced with a Taize-style prayer service which involves repeated singing of scripture verses in simple musical settings. |
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| On the last evening, the whole group traveled to the Don Bosco Hotel Training School in Sihanoukville for a final meal together. |
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