CAMBODIA : Catholic Leaders Assess Church Position In Political Reality

Posted: 8th March 2005

Father Francois Ponchaud having lunch with a group of Khmer Catholic leaders

PHNOM PENH (UCAN) -- Amid political tensions, the head of Phnom Penh vicariate says the Church has no particular position but cannot be divorced from politics altogether.

"If we understand politics in a general sense, it is obvious that the Church cannot avoid it. Every time the Church talks about peace, justice, forgiveness and social equality, for example, we can say that we touch the center of the political life of a society," Bishop Emile Destombes told UCA News recently.

During the past decade, he said, the Cambodian Church has worked to build a peaceful society based on social justice, forgiveness and reconciliation. "These evangelical values are not far from what most of Cambodians are longing and looking for," the Paris Foreign Missions bishop added.

Citing Pope John Paul II as teaching that "there cannot be peace without justice, and no justice without forgiveness," he said the local Church tries its best to educate Catholics along those guidelines.

Asked about the political influence of the Church in Cambodian society today, the bishop replied that the local Church never has had any political influence and does not pretend to have any, especially if understood in terms of political parties.

Cambodian politics took a sudden turn Feb. 3, when the National Assembly lifted parliamentary immunity from prosecution for the leader and two other members of the Sam Rainsy Party, the only opposition party in the country.

Sam Rainsy, accused of defaming Prince Norodom Ranariddh by alleging that the prince took bribes to join the ruling coalition, has left the country. Chea Poch, accused of the same offense, is thought to be in hiding. Cheam Channy, accused of organizing an illegal armed force, has been arrested.

Bishop Destombes' only direct comment on these developments was that "these political particularities are not of our incumbency."

On the other hand, his confrere Father Francois Ponchaud says, "The fact that the National Assembly has stripped the three opposition party members of their parliamentary immunity is a step toward a dictatorial regime."

Father Ponchaud, director of the Catholic Cultural Center in Phnom Penh, told UCA News, "The opposition party's voice is being silenced and rejected inside a democratic society." The priest explained that it is known the ruling party did not allow Sam Rainsy Party members on any of the nine National Assembly commissions. "We cannot forget that Sam Rainsy's party is representing more than 1 million votes," he pointed out.

Concerning religion and politics, Father Ponchaud said Prime Minister Hun Sen's comments last month at Wat Langka in Phnom Penh, in which he warned monks to stay away from politics, are correct from a Buddhist point of view. About 95 percent of Cambodia's 12 million people are Buddhists.

However, an important value of Cambodian Buddhism, according to Father Ponchaud, is that Buddhist monks have helped the country build peace and prosperity through democracy. He cited an incident in 1942, during French colonial rule, in which 250 Buddhist monks demonstrated to protect the Khmer alphabet and literature.

"We can clearly say it was a political action," the French missioner said. "If Buddhist monks cannot have any political influence, how shall we understand that the supreme patriarch of the Mohanikaya Buddhist sect, Venerable Tep Vong, is a renowned supporter of the ruling party?" he asked.

As regards foreign priests, he said the situation is different and they definitely cannot participate in politics. "We do not have any concrete political participation, (but) we still have the freedom of expression, because the Gospel has no chains," Father Ponchaud continued.

"We can reflect with the Catholic faithful about what is wrong or right, where there is justice or injustice. By this way we contribute to their spiritual growth as Christians," he said. However, "it must be clear that we as priests have no right to force or influence people toward a concrete political party or political opinion," he added.

"We should remember that Jesus Christ put himself on the side of the poor -- the prostitutes, the sick, those rejected by society, the children, the weak in one way or another. The Kingdom of God will be realized through politics," he said, reminding Christians to pay attention to the present political situation. "We should join hands together against social injustices, but we do not do it by going against the government," Father Ponchaud insisted.

Hout Soklet, a Catholic university student, told UCA News the international community "must keep its eyes open to the suffering of Cambodian people." He called for fellow Cambodians "to wake up now that the clock is ticking, and let us be united to rebuild our country and our Church."

The local Church was destroyed in the political strife of the 1970s, which few Catholics and no native clergy or Religious survived in the country. Up to 2 million Cambodians are believed to have died from forced labor, starvation, lack of medical attention and extrajudicial killings during the rule of the radical communist Khmer Rouge from 1975 until 1979, when Vietnamese troops forced it from power.

Article Source: UCANEWS