Querida Amazonia 8

Pope Francis has published his apostolic exhortation Querida Amazonia. I will post some of the highlights from the document in which Pope Francis focuses on four dreams.

The Ecclesial Dream

I dream of Christian communities capable of generous commitment, incarnate in the Amazon region, and giving the Church new faces with Amazonian features. (7)

8. “An authentic option for the poor and the abandoned, while motivating us to liberate them from material poverty and to defend their rights, also involves inviting them to a friendship with the Lord that can elevate and dignify them. How sad it would be if they were to receive from us a body of teachings or a moral code, but not the great message of salvation, the missionary appeal that speaks to the heart and gives meaning to everything else in life.” (63)

Closing Kampot Center

Our center in Kampot, one of three, had to close in January because we anticipated there would not be enough funds to continue it through this present year. Last week we went to the center to say another farewell to the staff and to bring back to Phnom Penh some of our equipment there. Click here to see some pictures from the day.

Querida Amazonia 7

Pope Francis has published his apostolic exhortation Querida Amazonia. I will post some of the highlights from the document in which Pope Francis focuses on four dreams.

The Ecological Dream

I dream of an Amazon region that can jealously preserve its overwhelming natural beauty and the superabundant life teeming in its rivers and forests. (7)

7. “Let us awaken our God-given aesthetic and contemplative sense that so often we let languish. Let us remember that ‘if someone has not learned to stop and admire something beautiful, we should not be surprised if he or she treats everything as an object to be used and abused without scruple.’” (56)

Lights Out

This is an all too common scenario on Phnom Penh streets–approaching an intersection and seeing the traffic lights not working. There’s always a question: Is it just the one light facing me that’s out? Are the lights out in all four directions? Are the lights out in the whole neighborhood? That’s not as big a question as it would be in the United States because a good portion of the driving public in Cambodia doesn’t pay much attention to the lights anyway. Stop lights are basically optional: if you want to stop, you do. If you don’t want to stop or wait the full time, you don’t. So this scenario with the light out isn’t much different from the scenario with the lights functioning.

Querida Amazonia 6

Pope Francis has published his apostolic exhortation Querida Amazonia. I will post some of the highlights from the document in which Pope Francis focuses on four dreams.

The Ecological Dream

I dream of an Amazon region that can jealously preserve its overwhelming natural beauty and the superabundant life teeming in its rivers and forests. (7)

6. “In a cultural reality like the Amazon region, where there is such a close relationship between human beings and nature, daily existence is always cosmic. Setting others free from their forms of bondage surely involves caring for the environment and defending it, but, even more, helping the human heart to be open with trust to the God who not only has created all that exists, but has also given us himself in Jesus Christ. The Lord, who is the first to care for us, teaches us to care for our brothers and sisters and the environment which he daily gives us. This is the first ecology that we need.” (41)

Querida Amazonia 5

Pope Francis has published his apostolic exhortation Querida Amazonia. I will post some of the highlights from the document in which Pope Francis focuses on four dreams.

Cultural Dream

I dream of an Amazon region that can preserve its distinctive cultural riches, where the beauty of our humanity shines forth in so many varied ways. (7)

5. “Starting from our roots, let us sit around the common table, a place of conversation and of shared hopes. In this way our differences, which could seem like a banner or a wall, can become a bridge. Identity and dialogue are not enemies. Our own cultural identity is strengthened and enriched as a result of dialogue with those unlike ourselves. Nor is our authentic identity preserved by an impoverished isolation.” (37)

Managers Meeting

Every quarter the middle management of DDP—the managers of the six projects–come together for a two-day meeting. At the meeting taking place this week, Russ Brine presents the latest information on DDP’s child protection policy.

Querida Amazonia 4

Pope Francis has published his apostolic exhortation Querida Amazonia. I will post some of the highlights from the document in which Pope Francis focuses on four dreams.

Cultural Dream

I dream of an Amazon region that can preserve its distinctive cultural riches, where the beauty of our humanity shines forth in so many varied ways. (7)

4. “Here I would like to point out that ‘a consumerist vision of human beings, encouraged by the mechanisms of today’s globalized economy, has a leveling effect on cultures, diminishing the immense variety which is the heritage of all humanity’. This especially affects young people, for it has a tendency to ‘blur what is distinctive about their origins and backgrounds, and turn them into a new line of malleable goods.’” (33)

Fruit to Go

This woman is taking home a load of sugar cane. The stalks get scraped clean with a machete, taking the thin bark off, and then the stalks are run through a wringer-like machine that squeezes out the sweet sugar juice that is a staple drink for Cambodians.
Right down the street this woman is paring pineapples, scoring them and removing the little dots or eyes. She also removes the cores and then offers them as an oh-so-fresh treat on the street!