Maryknoll in Cambodia

Christmas star in Vietnamese village

Liturgy for the Vietnamese

Arey Ksach Village

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Arey Ksach church yard Many Vietnamese have come to live in Cambodia over the years, most settling in fishing villages along the Mekong River. They are traditional enemies of the Khmer people, though, so they are not always accepted and experience a lot of discrimination and suspicion.  This is the entrance to the Catholic church in the village of Arey Ksach, almost directly across the Mekong River from Phnom Penh.

Charlie with ministers before mass Maryknollers have been working with the Vietnamese Catholics for about ten years, beginning at a time when the Vietnamese were basically ignored by the church in Cambodia. The original Maryknoll ministry to these village people has now been broadened to include other priests who make five or six trips to each village a year. Charlie Dittmeier, seen in this picture, will begin serving in the Vietnamese villages in 2001.

Reading the gospel This Christmas Even liturgy (at 3:00 PM because it is not safe to be out after dark) was the first mass Charlie Dittmeier had for a non-English-speaking community. The mass was in English, though, spoken softly while a village catechist read the same prayers in Vietnamese and Khmer. Not a good liturgical practice, but the villagers were overjoyed to have a Christmas mass for the first time in six or seven years.

During the mass Inside the church, the traditional practice is for the women to sit on the left side and the men on the right side, with the children at the front of each section.  In the recent extremely high seasonal floods, this church was flooded to shoulder height by the Mekong.

Praying at a Christmas grotto after mass Outside the church the villagers had erected a large grotto to represent the cave where Christ was born. It was almost as large as the church itself and seemed to be made of piled fish traps covered with plastic rice bags stitched together and spray painted a mottled green.  After mass the whole congregation went outside to pray before the grotto and then to go in to kiss the statue of the baby Jesus.

Vietnamese children at Christmas More than half of Cambodia's population is under 17 years of age, and the Vietnamese villages in Cambodia are no exception to that rule.  The children are a lively and vibrant part of village life. Their happiness in real poverty and simplicity is such a challenge to the conspicuous consumption of the United States and other western cultures.

Arey Ksach village main street in front of the church Most of the people in Arey Ksach make a living by fishing in the Mekong and Tonle Sap Rivers which join at Phnom Penh. It is a hard life and is made more difficult by their unwelcome status in their host country. Too often also they have exacerbated the problem by failing to emigrate into the country and culture of their adopted homeland.  This is the main street of the village.

Arey Ksach seen from the Mekong River These are the homes of Arey Ksach seen from the Mekong River bank. Two months ago the river water was flowing about a foot deep through these houses.

Preparing for the trip back to Phnom Penh Arey Ksach is almost directly across the river from Phnom Penh whose low skyline is visible on the right. The Tonle Sap River and the Mekong River meet at Phnom Penh and then immediately split again to form the main Mekong River channel and the Bassac River.