Easter Vigil Celebrations Signal Revival Of Cambodian Church

Posted: 30th March 2005

Easter Vigil in Phnom Penh, 28 catechumens were baptized

CAMBODIA - PHNOM PENH (UCAN) -- Catechumens sealed their determination to serve the reborn Church and society in Cambodia with their Baptism at Easter Vigils, held in the capital for only the second time in three decades.
At St. Joseph's Church in Phnom Penh, 28 catechumens, each wearing a traditional white Khmer scarf crossing his or her chest, approached Bishop Emile Destombes one-by-one to receive the water of Baptism on the night of April 26. The congregation of about 500 remained silent throughout this ritual, praying for the Holy Spirit to come upon each new Catholic.
Sok Ban, 22, her head still wet, had a deep smile. "It is very emotional for me to have been accepted as a new member of the Church," she told UCA News.

The woman was one of 174 catechumens received into the Church in Cambodia this Easter, 90 of them in Battambang and Kompong Cham prefectures. All had gone through three or four years of preparation.
Phnom Penh vicariate is the other Church jurisdiction in the country. There, besides those baptized at St. Joseph's by Paris Foreign Missions Bishop Destombes, head of the vicariate, another 52 received Baptism at vigils in other churches.

"In former years it was not possible to have evening celebrations for security reasons," Father Un Son of St. Joseph's parish told UCA News.
The vigils were held last year for the first time since the civil war in which the Khmer Rouge came to power in 1975. By the time Vietnamese troops forced the radical communist group from power in 1979, the institutional Church had ceased to exist in the country. No native clergy or Religious survived the rule of the Khmer Rouge, during which up to 2 million Cambodians died.

Despite the formal restoration of religious freedom in Cambodia in 1990, vigil services were not held in Phnom Penh due to the poor law and order situation. Some local people told UCA News that until a few years ago, people would have been reluctant to venture out at night for fear of gangs and criminal activity.

Church leaders cited improvement in the security situation as the main reason the resumption of evening services.

"This is a sign of hope not only for the whole country but for the Catholic Church as well," commented Father Un Son, one of five Khmer priests now working in Cambodia. The Khmer are the predominant ethnic group.
Not only hope but also joy was evident at St. Joseph's Church the night before Easter. The church, a minor seminary before the war, was colorfully decorated for the occasion, and the solemn Baptism ritual and vigil service was followed by noisy sharing among the 500 old and 28 new Church members.

In his homily, Bishop Destombes spoke about the meaning of Baptism in the context of the revival of the country after many years of misery.
"You become Christians, not only because you have persevered in the catechumenal process, but especially because of your personal acceptance of Jesus Christ as your Savior," the bishop said. But he also stressed the need for the new Catholics to join the efforts of the Church in building a society based on the Christian and human values of love, compassion, justice and peace.

"There is still a long way to go," he said, "and we, as Christians, from our Catholic tradition, have a contribution to give to the Cambodian society."
Before the ceremony began, catechumen Teng Hak Seng, 21, expressed his feelings to UCA News. "After three years of preparation as a catechumen, I really want the ceremony to start now. I want to become a Christian," he said.

Seng, an employee of a Chinese newspaper, told UCA News reporters that as a member of the Catholic Church he would feel united with millions of Christians all over the world.

Doung Savong, who trains catechists in the vicariate, told UCA News that most of the new Catholics come from families with a Buddhist background. More than 90 percent of Cambodians are Buddhists.

"I was a Buddhist myself, and I was baptized in 1995 after a long journey searching for the truth in my life," Savong said. He noted that everyone baptized at the vigils had gone through three-to-four years of training.
Yoo Pracot remembers Church life in Cambodia before the 1970s. She told UCA News that almost 1,000 Catholics lived in the area of St. Joseph's Parish. "In those years the Catholics were very faithful and strict in following the traditional way of the Church. We used to fast a lot during Lent and it was forbidden to express happiness," she added. Missioners implanted Catholic traditions when Cambodia was a French colony, and Catholic families carried them on.

Nowadays, however, as Savong pointed out, most Catholics come from families with a Buddhist background.

Sok Ban, baptized at St. Joseph's this year is one of them. "Though my family still cannot understand my Christian faith, they accept my decision to become a Catholic. I hope one day later on they will understand better," said the women, a cook at a local professional training school. Echoing Bishop Destombes call, she added that she wants "to live a life of love for others."

Article Source: UCAN NEWS and C.S.C. Catholic Social Communications - Catholic Church Cambodia