Cambodian Priests Retreat 30 May-4 June 2016

Every year all the priests of Cambodia's three dioceses come together for a week-long retreat at the Catholic center in Sihanoukville on the southern coast.

Day 1 30 May 2016

The priests came from all over Cambodia. Some of their journeys required an overnight stay on the way because travel can be long and difficult in the kingdom. This is the Sorya Bus terminal in Phnom Penh where the Maryknoll priests started off.
There was a social gathering before supper and after everyone had arrived. Here Fr. Bob Wynne catches up with guys he may not have seen since last year.
Then Bishop Olivier Schmitthaeusler introduced Archbishop William Goh of Singapore who is the retreat leader this year.
Bishop Goh is a dynamic and animated speaker and got started with a full talk the first night. This year we are using a large classroom for the gathering rather than an open auditorium we have used in years past.

Day 2 31 May 2016

Archbishop William Goh continued his presentations with a talk at 9:00 AM and another at 3:00 PM. He is also available for counseling after the afternoon talk.
Today's liturgy was organized by the clergy group from the Siem Reap vicariate in the north of Cambodia. You can appreciate how small is the church of Cambodia when you see all the priests of a diocese seated around an altar like this.
Here are three of the Jesuit priests working in Siem Reap diocese as they sing the opening song of today's liturgy.
In the afternoon I had to break the routine of the retreat and run into the town of Sihanoukville to replace a medicine I forgot to bring with me. This is the Golden Lions roundabout, an icon and landmark for this coastal city on the Gulf of Thailand.
Heading back to the Catholic center, I passed this truck full of street children being cared for by a local NGO which probably makes sure they attend school in addition to ensuring they have food to eat and a place to sleep off the street. Sihanoukville is a dangerous place for street children because of the sex tourists.
Back at the retreat center, this lady from the kitchen was spreading ut dishes in the sun to sanitize them after they had been washed and air dried.

Day 3 1 June 2016

Morning prayer this week has been at 6:30 AM in the parish church on the same grounds. The priests pray from the breviary which has been translated into Khmer. I don't have that kind of vocabulary so I pray an English breviary that I have on an iPad while sitting with the others.
The first talk each day is at 9:00 AM. Here a couple of the guys get a cup of tea or coffee before heading upstairs to the meeting room.
The priests at this retreat come from Italy, Nigeria, Argentina, Thailand, Canada, USA, Spain, France, Colombia, Korea, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, and probably a couple other countries. For most of them English is not their first language so some of them get together after each talk to discuss what they think they heard.
Here are two of the kitchen staff, local neighborhood women hired to feed the retreat group for the week. No gleaming stainless steel kitchens here--the norm in Cambodia is to do all food preparation on the floor.
There is a dining room at the retreat center but it cannot accommodate a group the size of ours so we eat all our meals outside under this awning. Actually most groups are larger than the dining room so the awning is a permanent fixture of the center.
Today a secondary tent was set up adjacent to the eating tent. On Saturday Charles Ekuwam from the Yarumal mission group will be ordained a deacon and afterwards there will be a meal for a large group of guests and friends.

Day 4 2 June 2016

We had the liturgies for the retreat in St. Michael Church, the church associated with the Catholic center's compound and the only parish church in Sihanoukville. For an event like this, the diocese brings many albs, the white vestments the priests wear, and we just find one that fits before the service.
While the priests and bishops were vesting, a young woman, one of the parish staff, lighted incense sticks before the altar. In Asia incense is used in most liturgies but it is not the powdered incense that is swung in a metal censer with a chain, but it is incense sticks (sometimes called "joss" by Westerners) that are place in a stationary holder.
Archbishop Goh gave two formal hour-long talks each day plus another formal talk when he preached at the daily liturgy. And today he had a fourth talk at the reconciliation service in the evening. He worked hard this week.
The small desk in my room on the backside of the building was before a window looking out at a retaining wall on the hillside behind the center. All day long there were many millipedes on the vertical wall. Their bite can be quite painful, causing a large welt.
The church compound is on a hillside above the sea and the clouds rolling in from the the Gulf of Thailand sometimes create beautiful vistas. Here is a view looking beyond the church, toward the sea, at dusk.
A major event of the retreat was a reconciliation service led by Archbishop God. As part of the closing ritual for the service, Archbishop Goh and Bishop Olivier ceremonially washed the hands of each of the priests who had approached the sacrament of reconciliation.

Day 5 3 June 2016

This morning's liturgy, after the first talk of the day, was led by a group of the younger clergy in Cambodia.
The rains that had been threatening the last day or so started during the mass and it was a wet walk back to the main building for lunch. Different guys chose different ways to deal with the rain.
There was wind associated with the rain and it was blowing the water under the awning where we normally ate outside so the final meals of the last two days were moved inside into the actual dining room. I had thought it would be crowded but it wasn't.
After the second talk of the day and the last of the retreat, Bishop Olivier presented a wooden madonna and child, carved by a Jesuit program, to Archbishop Goh in appreciation for his time and work with us.
After supper it was time to thank the kitchen staff also. The center has no full time kitchen help but hires women from the community for the different activities and functions held at the Catholic center.
Supper was a little early this evening so we could start an all-night vigil of prayer for vocations at 7:30 PM. Many children and young people participated in the opening liturgy and we wanted to get them home early.

Day 5 4 June 2016

After the formal end of the retreat and after the retreat silence ended, some of the retreatants enjoyed a last meal with Archbishop Goh.
Many young people came to the Sihanoukville church for the prayer vigil for vocations and for the ordination of Deacon Charles on Saturday morning. They ate a little more informally, on metal trays which these young women are washing up after a meal.
Seminarian Charles Ekuam from Kenya has been living at St. Michael Church in Sihanoukville for the past year to gain pastoral experience as part of his studies. This morning he was ordained a deacon in the Catholic Church by Bishop Olivier. Charles is a member of the Yarumal Mission Society from Colombia.
There were many comings and goings today under the new sign marking the entrance to the Catholic church compound in Kampong Som. Fr. Bob Wynne and I were waiting here for a bus to pick us up for the return trip to Phnom Penh.