Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - “In this ad limina visit we have celebrated Mass at the tomb of Saint Peter. We have experienced the close bond which exists with the Church of Rome and we have lived and shared fraternal charity within the universal Church. As Bishops of communities which are distant from Rome, we have experienced profound communion with the Pope, the Cardinals and the whole Church in Rome". This statement was part of an interview kindly given to Fides by Bishop Emile Destombes, Vicar Apostolic of Phnom Penh, Cambodia and president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Laos and Cambodia CELAC, presently in Rome for the five yearly ad limina visit to pray at the tombs of the Apostles Peter and Paul and to have meetings with Pope Benedict XVI, as individual bishops and as a Conference.
Bishop Destombes could you tell us briefly how the Catholic Church in Cambodia began and developed?
Recently we celebrated the 450th anniversary of the evangelisation of Cambodia. Today the local Catholic Church is a small community but with a long history. The history of Catholic missions began in 1554 with a visit by the Jesuit priest Fernandez Mendez Pinto. The first communities were founded in the 17th century by Jesuits, Dominicans and Franciscans. In the mid 1700 the Catechism was translated into Khmer by the priests of the Paris Foreign Missions Society MEP, and in 1850 the Apostolic Prefecture of Cambodia was created. The first Cambodian born priest was ordained 1957, but in 1975, with the coming to power of the Red Khmers, all foreign missionaries were expelled and the activity of the local Church came to a standstill. Only in 1990 were Christians granted freedom of belief and worship.
What were the principal obstacles for missionary activity?
The greatest difficulties were experienced under the Red Khmers regime (1975-1979) which dehumanised the country and tried to remove all trace of the faith. Later the government gradually allowed public worship and practice of Christian religion. Naturally, during the period of terror, the flame of the Christian faith continued to burn in the hearts of the faithful although it could not be lived in the open. In later years when Cambodia began to open to the world again the local Church was able to reorganise herself.
What is the situation today? How large is the Catholic community?
According to official estimates today there are 22,000 Catholics of whom one third are Cambodian and two thirds are of Vietnamese origin. It should be said that in the past there was tension and animosity between these two peoples of different ethnic origin, language, customs, culture and religion, Cambodians being mainly followers of Theravada Buddhism and Vietnamese mainly Hinayana Buddhism. However faith in Christ makes it possible to have unity in diversity. The mentalities of these two ethnic groups are quite different but our task is to find unity.
Today the Church in Cambodia is formed of small active and well organised communities. We strive to follow and implement the vision and the spirit of the Second Vatican Council: the Church is not just the Pope and the Bishops, it is the whole people of God each with different functions, charisma and roles.
What are the main priorities? Do you have vocations to the priesthood?
One urgent priority is formation, formation of priests, formation of the community, to help the laity assume greater responsibility. At present we have only 5 Cambodian born priests, formed after the period of the Red Khmers. We have 96 missionary priests of whom 8 are diocesan and the rest belong to various congregations, and we have 102 women religious.
We are forming special Commissions to animate each parish: a Liturgy Commission (to prepare liturgies, hymns etc); a Catechesis and Education Commission, which is a task not only for priests and religious; a Commission for Charity work and social service, to provide assistance for the poor, the abandoned, people with AIDS. We wish every community to have these three commissions.
How does the Church live in relation to the country's social and political life? How is the Catholic Church seen by the authorities and by the man on the street?
The Church is present not in word but in action. Christians take an active part in public life. For years the Church in Cambodia was a Church of the “catacombs”, today it has public recognition and esteemed by the people and the civil authorities especially for its service to the poor and the needy and its efforts to promote the values of charity, peace and solidarity in every sector of society. We strive in particular to implement Vatican II's extraordinary Gaudium et Spes document: the Church assumes and makes her own the joys and sufferings, the anxieties of the world. Catholics hope to win the solidarity of all the Cambodian people and wish to be present in economic, social, cultural and political life of the country to offer their specific contribution and serve the progress and development of the nation. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 6/9/2007 righe 43 parole 439)
