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Click here for photographs from a farewell reception for the departing Kathy and John Morefield. |
| Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe
and Sami Scott's Housewarming
12 December 2008
Maryknoll Lay Missioner Sami Scott spent eleven years in Venezuela before transferring to Cambodia this year. In Latin America, the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe is a major religious and social festival across the various national boundaries. Hispanic people everywhere reverence Mary of Guadalupe who appeared to an indigenous man in Tepeyac, Mexico in 1531. Today Sami invited the Cambodia Mission Team to her top floor dwelling for a liturgy and then a social on the rooftop porch that is part of her apartment.
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 The Cambodia Mission Team of Maryknoll is a close-knit group that is strengthened by a lot of contact and interaction. Most of the interaction is at meetings, particularly the weekly Wednesday meeting for all the Maryknollers, so a purely social gathering like this is refreshing and much appreciated.
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| Human Rights Day
A Celebration of Cambodian Culture
10 December 2008
 Today was one of Cambodia's 25 public holidays, Human Rights Day. Today was also the sixtieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights today sponsored a Celebration of Cambodian Culture. A variety of performances were offered including a modern dance by the group Epic Arts in which three deaf performers were part of the ensemble. Pictured here is Kong Nay, Cambodia's "Ray Charles," who is one of the few remaining masters of the chapei, a traditional stringed instrument. He composed a song in honor of the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Interpreting for him in sign language is Som Vichet, a staff member of our Maryknoll Deaf Development Programme.
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| Catholic NGOs Meeting
A focus on children with disabilities
8 December 2008
 The Catholic NGOs in Cambodia meet every two months to focus on an issue and just to keep in touch so that the public face of the Catholic Church here might be something good and constructive. Today they gathered at the house of the Italian foreign mission group, the PIMEs, and heard from two speakers about children with intellectual disabilities. Stephen (black shirt), an anthropologist, has been living with a family in a village to learn how children are perceived in Cambodia culture. His accounts of the relationships and dynamics within the family were fascinating. Jennie spoke of quite extensive research done by Hagar, another NGO, about children with intellectual disabilities.
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| Advent
Beginning the new church year
30 November 2008
 Today was the First Sunday of Advent and the English-speaking community on Sunday morning began their liturgy with a ceremony of the Jesse Tree which calls to mind the ancestors of Jesus, his predecessors on his family tree. Students put symbols of biblical characters on the Jesse Tree in the sanctuary.
 Another symbol used today was the Advent Wreath. It is not as powerful a symbol in Asia as in Europe and North America because there are no evergreen branches and wreathes are not an accustomed part of the tradition here.
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| Thanksgiving 2008
Celebrating the American holiday in Cambodia
27 November 2008
 Today was Thanksgiving Day and a work day in Cambodia. But in the evening all the Maryknoll crowd gathered at the house of Patty and Mark Munoz for a wonderful dinner. Judy Saumweber was formerly a Maryknoll Lay Missioner in Cambodia who had contact with the deaf community then. Now she is back in a consultancy role, evaluating a program for an International NGO. She came to the Thanksgiving dinner and she and Charlie had a chance to catch up.
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| Priests Prayer Day in Cambodia
Quiet time in the chapel
25 November 2008
 Three or four times a year, all the priests working in Cambodia are invited to what is in effect the cathedral of the Phnom Penh diocese, the former seminary building that has become the center of the Catholic Church in the country after the Khmer Rouge destroyed 118 of the previous 121 church buildings in Cambodia. Today as part of the meeting, there was a prayer time in the old chapel of the seminary. The priests in this picture come from Britain, Cambodia, Canada, France, India, Korea, the Philippines, Thailand, and the United States. This chapel is now used for a new mass for the English-speaking community on Sunday mornings.
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| Ceylan Electronics
Super service!
4 November 2008
 I had a third digital camera stolen here in Cambodia last month and so I ordered a refurbished Samsung L85 (the same model as was stolen) from Ceylan Electronics on Amazon.com. My colleague, Fr. Ed McGovern, returning from Maryknoll meetings in New York carried my order with him. But when it got here, I found it was the wrong camera! Much to my dismay, it was an old Samsung L60 (above) without the features that I need. I was really disappointed and started dreading trying to get this situation rectified and getting the L60 back to the States. I wrote an e-mail to Ceylan Electronics explaining the problem and asking what could be done. Within twelve hours I had a reply! First, Gulay said "I'm sorry," those magic words that dissolve a lot of irritation right at the start. And then he said, as for the mistaken camera, just keep it, free of charge! And if you have any questions or concerns, let me know! Wow, what service! I don't know if they felt sorry for me because I'm in Cambodia or what, but I sure appreciate their customer service!
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| Monthly Lay Mission Gathering
2 November 2008
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Catholic lay missionaries from various countries get together once a month to discuss issues and just for fellowship and support. This month's meeting was at the home of Bill Burns (right) who welcomed about 20 people for the afternoon session. |
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This month lay missionaries were present from Belgium, the Philippines, Slovakia, France, the United States, Peru, and Italy. |
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Valeria Spelta (right) reported on accompanying a group of Cambodian youth to the World Youth Day in Sydney, Australia in July. Valeria is from Italy. |
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| Back home...
...for two weeks
1 November 2008
Ed McGovern has been away from Phnom Penh for six weeks, attending the chapter meeting of the Maryknoll priests group where he was elected to their general council, a job that requires him to move to Maryknoll, New York for the next six years. Today he arrived back in Cambodia but will leave in two weeks to take up his new post. On the way back Singapore Airlines required him to unpack one bag which weighed more than 23 kilos and transfer some of its contents to this plastic wrapped bag.
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| Sr. Len Montiel Returns
29 October 2008
 Sr. Len Montiel (red shirt) is a Maryknoll Sister who has just returned from studying for a masters degree in social work at the University of Washington in Seattle. Tonight at our weekly Wednesday Maryknoll meeting and liturgy we welcomed Len back to the Cambodia Mission Team after several years away.
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| Mission Forum
A gathering of missionaries
24 October 2008
 On October 19th, the Catholic Church celebrated Mission Sunday, a day to reflect on the mandate of Jesus to let all people know of the Good News of the gospel. As part of this observance, the Catholic Social Communications office organized a forum on mission in which several missioners from various groups spoke of their experiences and their understanding of the call of Jesus to them as individuals and to all of us as church.
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| Community life...
Good friends and good community
24 October 2008
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Most mission groups encourage their members to live in small groups whenever possible. It provides greater security for individuals and of course is cheaper than if each member had an apartment, but community life is also a good sign of what missionaries are about. It is a lived example of different people intentionally forming a community and making it successful by contributing each individual's gifts and talents while at the same time giving up some of the individual's freedoms and flexibility. In Phnom Penh, one good example of community is the household created by Alice, Lisa, Meding, and Doy. This community is especially notable because Alice, Meding, and Doy are Filipinas, members of the Philippines Catholic Lay Mission group, and Lisa is a Maryknoll Lay Missioner from the United States. They have successfully transcended the language and cultural differences to form a happy household.
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| Murphy's Law
Pre-departure Panic
15 September 2008
The Fourth Murphy's Law says: "If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong. Corollary: If there is a worse time for something to go wrong, it will happen then." Murphy #4 and the Corollary both kicked in today when Ed McGovern (praying in the background) came home at lunch time to make final preparations for his 4:00 PM departure for meetings in the United States. A gust of wind blew his bedroom door shut and damaged the lock which could not be opened. His important meeting papers were on his side of the door but all his clothes were on the bedroom side. Ed and Charlie fought the lock for a few minutes but then remembered how the guards at nearby compounds had helped out in a previous trouble with locks. Ed got Ly (light T-shirt), a guard across the street, to come up and take a look. He said he knew a locksmith, and five minutes later a man appeared and proceeded to dismantle and remove the lock and then even replace the damaged bolt. For this he charged $5, $3 for coming to the house and $2 for replacement part. Can you imagine getting a door repaired so quickly and so cheaply in a developed country? And we were paying the "foreigner discount" which usually means two or three times the price charged to local people. Times like this are when you love Cambodia!
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30 August 2008
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Click here for photographs from a farewell reception for the departing US Ambassador, Joseph Mussomeli, and his wife Sharon. |
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| Visitors from Hong Kong
29 August 2008
 Today a group of Hong Kong Catholics came to Phnom Penh on their way back to Hong Kong after a six-day visit to Cambodia in which they lived with families in Kampong Cham Province. Fr. Charlie Dittmeier met them for lunch to renew acquaintances with Fr. Paul Kam (second right) and Fr. Peter Lo (right) who served in Cambodia as a seminarian. New friends met for the first time today were Anna and Gloria and Deacon Joseph Liu. Their guide today was Hong Kong Lay Missionary Wendy Liu (yellow shirt) who has served many years in Cambodia. They brought back wonderful memories of Hong Kong!
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| Marriage Blessing
Celebrating Anniversaries
27 August 2008
 The Cambodia Mission Team has two married couples: Jim and Roberta McLaughlin and Jean-François and Myriam Frys. The McLaughlins celebrated their 47th wedding anniversary today and the Frys will celebrate 15 years of marriage in September. Today at our weekly liturgy, Fr. Jim Noonan had a special blessing, focusing on hands, for Jean-François and Myriam (left) and Jim and Roberta.
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| Maryknoll in Cambodia
20 August 2008
 Some people were not present last week for the previous photograph of the Maryknoll group but had returned today, and also some people had reflections on their glasses last week, so we took another photo today.
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| Maryknoll in Cambodia
19 August 2008
 Maryknoll in Cambodia identifies itself as the CMT or Cambodia Mission Team, a group that includes the formal members of the Maryknoll priests, sisters, and lay people groups and also those individuals or members of other mission groups that work with Maryknoll as partners. We try to take a group photograph regularly to record who is here in any given year. This is our latest photo, taken in August, 2008. Because we have grown so big, it is almost impossible to get everyone on any given day and five members and partners are missing from this photo.
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| Medical Care in Cambodia
An area needing improvement
11 August 2008
 Medical care in Cambodia is improving but is still unavailable in many areas and still primitive in many areas where it is available. Almost all foreigners living in Cambodia have evacuation insurance and are flown to Bangkok or Singapore for any injury more serious than a simple broken arm. Sr. Luise Ahrens, pictured here with Vin McNamara, recently broke her wrist and was flown to Bangkok to have it set and pinned and then again to have it checked.
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| More Maryknoll Travelers
John Barth
John Barth served in Cambodia for almost ten years before being called back to New York to be on the Maryknoll Society's General Council. He spent his vacation this year in Phnom Penh, brushing up on his Khmer language before returning to Cambodia at the end of the year.
| Bob Wynne 
Bob just returned to Phnom Penh from Maryknoll, NY where he celebrated his 40th anniversary as a priest. Here, after cleaning several weeks of dust from his room, he checks to see if his computer is still working. Before Cambodia, Bob worked in Hawaii. |
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| 1st Communion Sunday
in Phnom Penh Catholic Community
7 June 2008
 Although we are a small community compared to parishes in North America, the English-speaking Catholic community in Phnom Penh every year has enough new young people to have a First Communion class. Here Sr. Regina Pellicore speaks to the nine youngsters who received this sacrament for the first time tonight. The children are from Germany, Indonesia, Ireland, the Philippines, and the United States.
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| Korean Family Dinner
6 June 2008
One of the joys of working as a priest is meeting so many good people who become friends. Recently I have helped prepare two Korean girls for baptism and today they and their mother invited me to dinner at their house with several other friends from the Korean Catholic community in Cambodia. It was a delightful evening!
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| Rodrigo Ulloa
Renewal of Temporary Oath
28 May 2008
 Most people are aware of the oaths or promises that Catholic priests make when they are ordained, e.g., celibacy and obedience to their superiors. Maryknoll seminarians make a commitment to religious life within the Maryknoll community at the beginning of their association with Maryknoll, and while they are still in their seminary formation, they renew this oath annually. Today Rodrigo Ulloa renewed his temporary oath to serve within Maryknoll for another year. Accepting the oath for Maryknoll was Fr. Ed McGovern, holding the oath for Rodrigo to recite.
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| Samnang's Wedding
24 May 2008
 Today I had two weddings. The first was for two expatriates living in Cambodia and the second was for two deaf people. The latter was unusual because this is only the second time that two deaf people have been married with the full Buddhist ceremony. Both the bride and groom have been part of the Deaf Development Programme, and I have been almost like a father to Samnang, the bride, who came to us with no family, no home, not even a name. We put her in our education program and she was the first deaf person in our hostel. When it was time for her to marry, she brought her future husband and his father to me to ask my permission and approval for their marriage since she had no parents to take that role in her life. More pictures and story will follow.
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| New York City/Bangkok/Phnom Penh
Ed makes it home!
21 May 2008
 Ed McGovern, the Maryknoll priest who lives in the same house with me, just returned from the United States tonight. Less than an hour after he arrived after a 17-hour flight from New York and a bit bedraggled, he was soon at the computer to check e-mail before heading to bed.
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| Dr. Tom Heller
Getting out the message about PMTCT
7 May 2008
 Tom Heller (yellow shirt) is a doctor from the United States, a partner of Maryknoll, who has been working for several years in the rural areas of Cambodia with HIV/AIDS, especially in Prevention of Mother-to-Child transmission of the virus. As part of his efforts, he has produced a thirty-minute drama about two couples infected with HIV that conveys the essential message in a compelling and interesting way. Today he showed the film to the Maryknoll community and answered questions about it.
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3 May 2008
 The Catholic Church managed to regain control of the property that used to be the French-run seminary in Phnom Penh after the Khmer Rouge were defeated, and today it is the site for St. Joseph Catholic parish, until a few months ago the only Catholic parish in the capital city. This small chapel was the seminary chapel. Today it is used for small services because the congregation for the Khmer parish has grown and uses a large upstairs hall for their Sunday liturgies. This picture was taken during a priests' prayer day recently.
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| Maryknoll Cambodia
Together at prayer
30 April 2008
 Every Wednesday Maryknoll Cambodia meets together from 3:00 to 5:00 PM, and then at 5:00 PM we have a liturgy together, joined by another 10 or so friends who appreciate the opportunity to celebrate mass together in the middle of the week.
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| A sad scene:
Old people on the streets
27 April 2008
The sign on the fence behind the old man announces a new era of luxury and prosperity for Phnom Penh, the advent of the city's first skyscraper, the 42-story Gold Tower. Right now it is just a hole in the ground as construction begins. It will be a reality far removed from this old man, plopped down on a busy street corner with all his possessions probably because he's just too tired to go farther--and maybe because he hasn't any place to go. Some of the saddest scenes on Phnom Penh's streets are the elderly people, often a husband and wife together, begging for food and assistance.
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| Phnom Penh English-speaking Catholic Community
Our worship space in World Vision building
21 April 2008
 In the late 1990s, as the first few foreigners started to trickle back into Cambodia, they were all forced to stay in one hotel and the first Maryknoll priest had mass for a handful of Catholics in his hotel room. Now the English-speaking crowd has grown to more than 400 persons who meet every Saturday evening in the auditorium of World Vision. There are few venues big enough to accommodate such a group that also provide security, parking, and are affordable. This auditorium is full to overcrowding now every week so we are looking for another venue we can use on Sunday mornings, adding a second liturgy for the English-speaking community.
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| More picture possibilities
...courtesy of Bill Carmean
19 April 2008
 I use my digital camera a lot here in Cambodia and have it with me all the time. I have carried a backpack everywhere I go mainly to keep my big camera with me and ready for all the interesting sights and scenes Cambodia provides. But still there were many times when it was too much trouble--or too slow--to get my camera out for an inviting shot, so I ordered a new, smaller camera online that I can carry in my shirt pocket. This Samsung S85 was my choice, a compromise of large megapixel count, digital zoom, image stabilization, and price. 
I usually order my cameras online because it's cheaper, but then getting them to Cambodia presents a problem. The problem this time was solved by Bill Carmean (center) who was traveling with his son Elliott (right) to Phnom Penh to visit a family friend and Maryknoll lay missioner, Adel O'Regan. Bill graciously consented to carry the camera with him and I was able to start using it this past week.
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| Bernadette Duggan and Bob Wynne
Half a century of commitment
9 April 2008
 50 years ago Bernadette Duggan (with statue) entered the Maryknoll Sisters congregation and Bob Wynne entered the Maryknoll seminary to begin his studies for the priesthood. Today the Maryknoll Cambodia Mission Team celebrated their anniversary with them and presented them with wood carvings of a madonna and child done by disabled artisans at the Jesuits' Banteay Prieb skills training center.
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| Korean Mission Society
A youthful presence in Cambodia
6 April 2008
The Maryknoll mission group helped the Korea church found their own Korean Mission Society to work in mission outside of Korea. This evening the four members of the Korean Mission Society in Phnom Penh invited the Maryknoll priests over to their house for supper, a delightful evening. Two of the four lived in our Maryknoll center when they first arrived in Cambodia and we have maintained a close and friendly contact with them.
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| Day of Recollection
23 February 2008
Every month the Italian lay missionary group has a half day of reflection, usually at the Salesian School in Teuk Thla. This morning I presented two reflections to the group on the subject of the eucharist in our spirituality. Here a couple of them take some time to reflect privately in the time between the two reflections.
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| Ramesh from Singapore
Demonstrating a mime's skills
19 February 2008
 Next week is the Spotlight Festival of inclusive arts for disabled and non-disabled people in Asia. The festival will have performances in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap. One of the acts is Ramesh, a deaf mime from Singapore. Here he performs a little skit at the DDP Deaf Community Center to show the appreciative deaf audience what they can expect next week.
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| Global Democratic Primary
First time to vote in Phnom Penh
9 February 2008
Click here to read about the Democratic Global Primary voting in Phnom Penh.
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| Kathy Morefield
Returning to the US
2 February 2008
Kathy Morefield (right) is a Maryknoll Affiliate from Seattle. She and her husband John spend about six months of the year in Cambodia, John as a trainer of school administrators and Kathy as a teacher and spiritual director. John left earlier this week and tomorrow Kathy joins him in Seattle. We anticipate seeing them again later this year but tonight at the English-speaking mass, Lisa Pirie, Helene O'Sullivan, and Alice Marianito said goodbye.
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| A work visit to Kampong Cham Province
and great hospitality at the Catholic Church there
25 January 2008
 Today three of us from the Deaf Development Programme made a quick trip to Kampong Cham Province to meet some education officials where we are going to open a new deaf classroom and to talk with one of the deaf people there. We met at the Catholic Church in Kampong Cham and were graciously invited to lunch even though we arrived unannounced!
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| Association of the Blind Cambodia
Inauguarating a new project
20 January 2008
 The Association of the Blind Cambodia is an independent disability group that began with Maryknoll's help about ten years ago. Bun Mao, seen speaking here with a Japanese interpreter taking notes, is the president of ABC. Visitors from the Nippon Foundation in Japan came to ABC to inaugurate a new phase in their massage training project.
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| Welcome to Cambodia!
18 January 2008
 Sue Moore (center) is the president of the Maryknoll Sisters, working in New York, but she attended the retreat and meetings in Thailand and then came to Cambodia for a visit. Today was her birthday so she was included in the celebration to welcome Sami Scott (right) to Cambodia. She has transferred from Venezuela. Lisa Pirie (left) was part of the welcoming activities.
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| China Disabled People Performing Arts Troupe
...an amazing performance!
16 January 2008
UNESCO is having a three-day workshop on inclusive education here in Phnom Penh, and tonight they sponsored the China Disabled People Performing Arts Troupe in a two-hour extravaganza that was superb! There were deaf people, blind people, and physically disabled people in a variety of performances that were exquisitely staged. The troupe is something that China can justly be proud of and it has been named a UN Artist for Peace. This photograph is of a deaf group in the opening dance number. Truly amazing!
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| Wat Phnom: Cambodia's Spiritual Center
Buddhist nun tying ritual strings on children
1 January 2008
 Many Asian cultures tie strings on the wrists of people in rituals with various purposes. Here a Buddhist nun ties ritual strings on young boys' wrists at Wat Phnom, the temple in Phnom Penh which is the spiritual heart of Cambodian Buddhism.
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Justin Hart is a member of the English- speaking Catholic Community and asked me to help prepare him and his fiancee, Chen Chansotheavy, for marriage, especially to help Theavy understand about marriage in the Catholic faith because she is Buddhist. We worked together for two months and today they were married. A formal church wedding will take place in Australia in 2009.
