First ever Bunog ethnic deacon ordained in Cambodia
Catholics in Buddhist-majority Cambodia are celebrating the first-ever deacon from the Bunong ethnic minority, who are forest dwellers with a strong love for elephants.
According to Vatican's Fides news agency, John Baptist Prak Hong was ordained as a deacon at St. Joseph Church in Kdol Leu, a village in the Apostolic Prefecture of Kampong Cham, on November 30.
Bishop Olivier Marie Schmitthaeusler, the apostolic vicar of Phnom Phen, said the ordination was a matter of "great joy and a great gift for the whole Cambodian Church."
The Holy See established Kampong-Cham as an apostolic prefecture on September 26, 1968.
The seven provinces -- Kampong-Cham, Kratie, Stung Treng, Rattanakiri, Mondulkiri, Svay Rieng and Prey Veng -- belong to the prefecture, with Monsignor Andre Lesouef as its first apostolic prefect.
Church properties were destroyed and many priests and lay Catholics were killed during the civil war in Cambodia from 1970 to 1979.
The prefecture has 3000 Catholics out of a total population of 5,763,685 and has 14 priests in its 27 parishes.
The Bunong community marked the occasion with a passionate and colourful procession wearing traditional dress accompanied by traditional music and the beating of drums.
Bishop Schmitthaeusler spoke of Deacon Hong's religious vocation in the face of numerous challenges. "It is not easy to travel from Busra to Phnom Penh. Hong travelled to attend the theological seminary.
"Today, we are filled with joy and gratitude to God for Hong's ordination. If we look at Brother Hong's path, we see how God loves humanity. God chose Hong from a small village in Busra to come to announce the Good News to the Kampong Cham and Catholic community of Cambodia," said the prelate, a member of the Paris Foreign Missions Society (MEP).
The Bunong are subsistence farmers living in small village communities in the forests of Mondulkiri. Traditionally, everything the Bunong needs to survive comes from the forest and their modest farms located in small areas within the forest.
Central to Bunong culture is the elephant. The Bunong have always shared their lives with elephants, which are treated somewhat like family members.
The Bunong mostly live in Mondulkiri province in the central highlands of Cambodia on the border with Vietnam.
About 50,000 Bunong people in Cambodia. They mostly adhere to the animist faith tradition. A small number follow Theravada Buddhism and Catholicism. According to Mondulkiri Project, they make up about 54 percent of the population in Mondulkiri province
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