Asian Deaf Catholic Conference 2

National monument

We spent quite a few hours in these three buses this week. On the first full day, after breakfast we boarded them to go the Indonesian National Monument.
Inside building below the large monolith, a guide gave a brief summary of Indonesia history which interpreters relayed in sign language.
As might be expected many school children were at the monument for field trips. These students were waiting their turn to see the exhibits.
The exhibit hall had four walls of colorful, historically accurate dioramas with figures (not paintings) to depict important scenes in Indonesia’s past.
Later, back outside, we ate a box lunch on the monument’s platform before boarding the buses to go to the next stop.

Asian Catholic Deaf Conference 1

Arrival

The Catholic deaf groups of Asia started a conference held every three years to bring the Catholic deaf people together for a time of learning and celebrating our faith together. This third conference, delayed several years by Covid, attracted 150 participants.

Four of us from Cambodia attend ADCC 3 in Jakarta. Here we have arrived at the Samadi Center at 1:30 AM and encountered a Filipino deaf family I first met in Cebu in the Philippines 35 years ago.
In the morning our group was fortunate to encounter Fr. Park Min Seo, a deaf priest from Korea, who is the main figure in the Catholic deaf church of Asia.
The curse of the Internet is that work follows one everywhere. Shortly after breakfast, Julie Lawler and I participated in a Zoom meeting with two technical assistants in New York who are coming to teach interpreter training in Cambodia.
The first formal activity of the conference was an opening mass presided over by Fr. Park Min Seo who welcomed everyone and invited their participation.
In the evening, the South Koreans had not yet arrived but everyone else gathered for an introductory session to explain what would happen during the next five days.

Notable Quote

“If a political party does not have its foundation in the determination to advance a cause that is right and that is moral, then it is not a political party; it is merely a conspiracy to seize power.”
-Dwight D. Eisenhower

Sunday Liturgy

Today our Sunday liturgy was a little bit special. After the homily, Jay, one of our parishioners, received the sacrament of confirmation.

We celebrated the beginning of a new school year by inviting all our students–and even those not yet in school–to come forward after communion to receive a blessing.

Deaf Week

Preparation

Deaf Week around the world is September 17-23, and our big Deaf Day celebration will be on Sunday, 17 September. We are using the Don Bosco Vocational Training school’s outdoor area and a DDP staff team went to look at the site. Upon returning, they gathered to discuss the placement of the various activities.

Plastic Buddha

In the US, especially in the past, many cars had a plastic Jesus on the dashboard. Recently, riding in the newer motorized tuk-tuks in Phnom Penh, I encountered a driver with his plastic Buddha–and a few other figures I can’t account for.

Christian Unity

[Pope Francis] has tellingly spoken about what he calls the “ecumenism of blood”, pointing out that today’s Christian martyrs — and there are many — are killed without regard for their denomination. The persecutors don’t ask whether they are murdering a Presbyterian or an Evangelical, he has insisted, they just know they are targeting a Christian. In this, they understand the reality of our true unity in the Christian faith better than we do. Indeed, by baptism we are already united!

From an article by Robert Mickens