Reflection on Preah Vihear Mission

Background

In August 2014, after I came back from my Tertianship in Australia, I was assigned to work with Bishop Kike in the Prefecture of Battambang.  Bishop Kike kindly welcomed me back to the Prefecture of Battambang and assigned me to the new mission territories to establish the Catholic Church in two provinces: (1) Preah Vihear and (2) Oddar Meanchey. In this assignment I received the following job descriptions:

1. To establish the Church’s presence in Preah Vihear and Oddar Meanchey Provinces.
2. To be the Assistant Parish Priest of St. John Catholic Church in Siem Reap.
3. To stay at Mondol Metta Karuna Reflection Center to accompany Sr. Denise. 

The establishment of the Church at this early stage is not to be understood as constructing a building but to live and bring the Good News of the Gospel to the people in these new areas. The presence of God, the Good News that brings love-joy-hope-faith in God, is a more proper understanding of this mission. We visited the Catholic families who live in both provinces. Some came from Kampong Thom, Siem Reap, and Kampot. It was a good encounter and helped us to feel at ease when the local people knew about the Church. 

A year later, we purchased a piece of land. It was truly God’s providence for the Church to own a nice plot of 11 hectares with good natural surroundings and communities. There are two small villages at both ends of this land which can be a good place of encounter and dialogue with the local villagers who live nearby. In keeping with the spirit of Pope Francis’ “Care for Our Common Home” (Laudato Si), it is proper that the Church should focus on the reconciliation between humankind, creation, and with God. Thus, Bishop Kike joyfully agreed that St. Francis of Assisi is named as the Patron of Preah Vihear Church. 

In the year 2016, we were fortunate to welcome Dr. John Ngn and his team of students from the Environmental Science Department of Ateneo De Davao University. In ten hardworking days, they helped to survey the land, do a Conductivity Test and plot the land boundary which was very helpful in knowing the nature of this land in depth and its potential for the future.                                            

During this period, we also sent four students from Chaab District for university studies in Phnom Penh. They received scholarships from the Catholic Student Center. They are the first batch of local students from a remote district in Preah Vihear to come and experience our Catholic faith and the Catholic way of living love and mercy.  In the meantime, tree planting continued in the hope that one day the Forest of Harmony will truly be a forest where we could feel the richness of God’s love in Creation.