English-Speaking Catholic Community

Holy Week 19-27 March 2016

Palm Sunday (evening) Because we don't have our own church and use the World Vision auditorium on Saturday nights, we need to haul things back and forth and prepare liturgical items on the spot. Here Fr. Bob Wynne puts a red cover on the cross that is used for processions into the church. Each year we order palm branches from a Vietnamese village along the Mekong River. This year they were quite late getting them to us. Here early arrivals at World Vision pick up pieces of palm as they enter the auditorium. Our musicians put in a lot of overtime leading up to and during Holy Week. Here they practice some of the antiphons and songs used for the blessing of the palms. The period before mass begins looks a bit like a palm-weaving class or a handicraft activity at summer camp. Many countries have strong traditions of weaving the palms into a variety of shapes and figures, and the people start weaving excitedly even before they get to their seats. We blessed the palms from the stage at the side of our auditorium where the choir and musicians are based because people can see what is happening on the raised platform. Here Fr. Bob Wynne prays the opening prayer of this first service in Holy Week.

Palm Sunday (morning) On Sunday morning we had an overflow crowd. Receiving the palm brings in people who do not attend mass at other times of the year. Here parishioners pick up palm branches as they enter our hall at St. Joseph Church. Again almost everyone who takes palm wants to weave it into some figure or into a cross. These young girls are studying to become Catholic so all this is new to them as they listen to the instructions offered by Beata. The service this morning started in the back of the hall where we asked everyone to gather. Fr. Bob Wynne repeated the blessing and gospel reading and homily that he used for the same service last night and then all processed to their seats in the hall.

Holy Thursday This evening Fr. Kevin Conroy presided at the Holy Thursday liturgy as we began the Triduum or three days before Easter. After the gospel, he washed the feet of parishioners. Normally there are to be twelve people to get their feet washed. Somehow Fr. Kevin washed the feet of thirteen people. At this mass, enough of the eucharist is consecrated to allow us to offer communion tomorrow on Good Friday when there is no mass. Then at the end of the mass there is no blessing or dismissal but rather there is a procession to the Altar of Repose and the blessed sacrament is put on a small altar and people are invited to remain for a period of adoration.

Good Friday This year we could not use the Korean Center for our Good Friday service so we moved, with some trepidation, to our Sunday venue. The fears were about how many people would come at night and brave the traffic of the St. Joseph Church neighborhood. We shouldn't have worried. WE probably had our biggest Good Friday service. Here a parishioner bows to venerate the cross. One disadvantage of using the St. Joseph Church hall we use for Sunday morning mass is that it is very dark at night because of typical very small light fixtures. But the setting was fine for tonight when the biggest problem was people standing far back from the cross and then taking three to five steps to approach it when their turn came. We had asked them to form two lines like at communion but that didn't happen and it required an overly long time for the veneration. [Photos by Iwan Baskoro]

Holy Saturday We had a large crowd for our Easter Vigil service at the World Vision auditorium tonight. Things went well, though, and we welcomed four previously baptized Christians into the Catholic Church. Here is a picture of Charlie Dittmeier preaching at the end of the extended Liturgy of the Word. Things in Cambodia take on a different flavor or style, and here the Easter flowers are generally lotus blooms like these arrangements. Many people want to bring flowers so we ask them to bring arrangements with white blooms and this year we had a very nice overall setting.

Go to Cambodia Church page
Go to Charlie Dittmeier's home page