Church leaders, nuns, laity and Catholic NGOs in Cambodia reflected on how to journey together, with the joy and challenges of proclaiming the Gospel.
More than 200 people from Phnom Penh Vicariate joined at the Pastoral Center on May 14 to submit their answers for diocesan synthesis to the Synod of Bishops of 2021-2023 with the theme "Communion, Participation, Mission".
“The purpose of the gathering was to submit our comments and ideas for a Synodal Church,” said Bishop Olivier Schmitthaeusler, Apostolic Vicar of Phnom Penh.
The challenges could become a pastoral plan for the Phnom Penh Vicariate, he added.
According to the call of Pope Francis, all Catholic dioceses in the world are to discuss synodality and submit their report to Rome.
In keeping with the pope’s invitation, Bishop Schmitthaeusler on October 17, 2021, officially opened the Synodal process in Phnom Penh Vicariate.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, a gathering was limited to 50 people—2 representatives were chosen from each of nine pastoral sectors, religious communities, Catholic NGOs and other offices.
After the opening ceremony, Bishop Schmitthaeusler sent these 3 questions to all the missions in the Phnom Penh Vicariate:
1. How is this journey together happening today?
2. What joy does it bring? What difficulty and obstacle have we encountered it?
3. In our experience or journeying together in our community, what are the points to be changed, to be converted for the proclamation of the Gospel to our brothers and sisters?
From March to April 2022, each of the nine pastoral sectors gathered with priests and parishioners, religious congregations and Catholic associations to reflect on the three questions.
On May 13, during the meeting of the priests and directors of the youth, catechesis and social communication offices prepared a synthesis.
All the delegates on May 14 reviewed and summarized all the answers and handed over their report to the bishop during a Mass on the feast of Saint Matthias.
The delegates were the ambassadors who are called to be the voice, ears and mouth of each place so that the ideas shared on this day would reach the whole of Phnom Penh Vicariate, said the prelate.
Catholics are called to be close friends of Jesus. This is a special gift from God. Jesus' close friends live in different ways as the disciples in society, the bishop said.
“As the Church, we are walking together, reflecting on how to proclaim the Good News. The answer is: ‘Love each other because God loves us,’” he said.
Taking a page from the sad history of Cambodia during the Civil War and Pol Pot Regime that lasted 20 years, Bishop Schmitthaeusler reminded, saying, “We did not have priests or any religious brothers and nuns. That persecution cut the road to passing the faith to the next generation.”
“It is a challenge for Khmer Catholics to be the first generation of believers in Christ,” he remarked.
All have the responsibility to transmit the faith to the next generation with hope in God, who would bless all to be authentic disciples of Jesus, the bishops said.
He continued that another concern is how to proclaim the Good News far and wide in Cambodian people in their language, culture and tradition.
According to the 3rd question, “how to proclaim the good news by walking together?”, 12 main keys of understanding were listed: personal conversion, catechesis and ongoing formation, a charity in action, communion and unity among Khmers and Vietnamese and more effort of the missionaries to be reborn in Cambodia.
Other factors of reviving missionary dynamism include pastoral care of the families, integral education through Catholic schools, improvement of social communications, promotion of inter-religious dialogue, care for the environment, Catholic identity, community decision-making and collaboration and walking together to find new ways to proclaim the Good News.
“The gathering was meaningful for our Catholic life. As one church, we live and witness our faith together,” said Sorn Meak, a Catechism teacher from the Takeo Pastoral sector.
For him, the meeting allowed listening to others, who share their love. "Our Church will grow if we act on what we have been told and what we have shared in faith today,” he said.
Kanha Khun from Child Jesus church in Phnom Penh said, “The synod helps me to get a variety of ideas to develop the way that we can do together in our parish."
“Previously, we knew some difficulties of other Catholics and today we get more information about joy, challenges, and how to forward as members of the church,” she added.
Bishop Schmitthaeusler acknowledged that the result of this gathering is not only for the action plan of the Church in Phnom Penh Vicariate but for the universal church to reflect on how to evangelize people.
He said that this document will be sent to the Episcopal Conference of Laos and Cambodia (CELAC) and then submitted to Rome. – Kagnha Keo/Cambodia
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