Richie's letters
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The Jesuit Mission in Cambodia has been making efforts from 1991 to cultivate and nurture Cambodian talent through education. They have provided quality classes and published educational materials needed at the departments of Philosophy, Mathematics and Biology at the Royal University of Phnom Penh. Xavier Jesuit School has continued growing since its launch in 2013, which includes kindergarten, primary school, middle & high school, community learning center and teacher training programs.
Dare to Dream of a Brighter Future
To create a happy learning community within a safe environment where all of its members have the courage to discover and choose meaningful life options. It seeks to pursue standards of excellence in its methodology of learning and teaching. It aims to teach students to be loving individuals who care for himself/themselves, others, and Cambodia.
Xavier Jesuit School promotes the integral development of the whole person. Our mission is to form young men and women of conscience with competence, compassion, commitment who will contribute creatively to the building up of a just society while serving and caring for the poor.
Persons for Others, Respect for Khmer Culture & Tradition, Collaboration with Others, Student-Centered Learning, Reflective Capacity, Critical Thinking, Compassion, Care for the Environment
At the Royal University of Phnom Penh(RUPP), Fr. In-gun Kang, SJ gives lectures on the Medieval History of Philosophy to undergraduates majoring in Philosophy and on Asian Philosophy, Religion and Philosophy Paper Writing to postgraduate students. At the St. John Mary Vianney Seminary located in Phnom Penh, he conducts courses in Medieval Philosophy, Philosophy of India, Philosophical Anthropology, and Philosophy of Religion while offering spiritual directions to seminarians. Lectures at Buddhist University of Battambang will be resumed in 2020. He also works with various NGOs, Catholic and Protestant groups, and people of other religions through lectures, seminars, and workshops to promote the importance of youth development and inter-religious dialogue in Cambodia.
Fr. In-gun, Director of MAGGA Institute which he co-established with Fr. Taejin Kim, SJ to strengthen the intellectual apostolate of the Jesuit Mission in Cambodia, continued the Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy project which was launched in 2015. The professors of Philosophy at the RUPP, Mr. Puthesan and Mr. Makara who are researchers of MAGGA Institute, and Dr. Kyunghee Kang and Dr. Kin Yong from Khmer Literature Department of RUPP have been assisting him to translate and proofread a great volume of this dictionary. On 18th November at the seminar held in Phnom Penh, celebrating World Philosophy Day, Fr. In-gun gave a presentation about the publishing plan of the Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy and also presented the draft publication to the public.
“Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy Translation Project has two purposes. First, to give hope to students. Until now, philosophy terms in Cambodian language have never been standardized, so there has been a lot of confusion in using the philosophy terms and concepts. In Cambodia, there are almost none of Liberal Arts books written in Cambodian language. In this environment, we would like to bring the hope of reading proper books to the Cambodian researchers, teachers, and students. Second, we want to show the best practice in Cambodian academia where illegal copies are commonly found, by following international standard of legal contract and procedures for the translation and publication. The concept of copyright is not recognized well in Cambodian society, so we would like to promote the importance of respecting intellectual property by making a formal contract with Oxford and being a good example.”
In 2020, his team finally published the dictionary successfully and it immediately captured the attention of many people not only from intellectuals and scholars but also from the public. He also plans to donate the copies to the universities and libraries around Cambodia so that the poor students and researchers can easily use them.
Fr. Taejin gives lectures on Philosophy at the RUPP and the St. John Mary Vianney Seminary. As a Vice Director of MAGGA Institute, he is working for the research and translation of books related to Ignatian Spirituality, Religion, Philosophy, and Liberal Arts. Since 2018, he also started working as a factory worker to experience factory workers’ lives and to be close to them. This experience led him to open Roum(meaning together) Center, a place for young minor workers who live far away from home and cannot have a proper chance of learning.