Death of Jim Noonan

Yesterday morning I woke up to messages that Fr. Jim Noonan had died during the Cambodian night.  Jim was a Maryknoll priest who served in Cambodia from 1991 to 2009.  He and I lived together for several years, and he was one of the finest people and finest priests I know.  We will miss him a lot.  Here we have his picture before the altar as we set up for our liturgy with our regular Wednesday meeting today.

The Nippon Foundation Visit

Today we at the Deaf Development Programme had a visit from Ms. Ikumi Kawamata (second left) from the Nippon Foundation in Japan.  Here she is with our Sign Language Project staff and her interpreter John (far right).

Still Killing

Today the Phnom Penh Post published this photograph and a short article about a bulldozer which was destroyed by an anti-tank mine in Phnom Penh on the weekend.  It turned out the mine was in a truckload of dirt hauled from one of the provinces to be used in a construction project near this Buddhist wat.  The driver was thrown over the wall and suffered serious injuries but survived.

The last mines were put down forty years ago but they’re still killing and maiming.  We average a casualty every four or five days–after four decades.

First Communion

This evening at the 5:00 PM mass, thirteen of our younger children received their First Communion, always a significant marker in a Catholic child’s spiritual development.  Here one of the boys reads the first reading for this weekend’s liturgy.

Quarterly Meeting

Today we had our quarterly meeting of the priests of the Phnom Penh vicariate.  Cardinal Ling from Laos was with us at the diocese’s pastoral center.

Cardinal Ling explained about the state of the church in Laos. He was imprisoned for three years by anti-Christian forces in the government.
After talking with Cardinal Ling and then after a time of prayer in chapel, our group met with all the pre-school teachers of the diocese who were at the pastoral center for a three-day workshop.
The teachers showed us all the educational toys they made for their students in programs where there is no money to buy such resources.