Sunday, May 29, 2011

Rebuilding Cambodia

Here is an interesting interview with a bishop who is trying to rebuild the Church in Cambodia.
Bishop Schmitthaeusler: I think in Cambodia, during the Khmer Rouge's four-year reign of terror under Pol Pot, everything was destroyed -- culture and all forms of religion including Buddhism and Catholicism. Then under the 10 years of post-Khmer Rouge Vietnamese Communist occupation, again no form of religion was permitted. Over the last 20 years, the Cambodians have started rebuilding their traditions as well as their religious practices and now, I think, the people are more open than before. This is very beneficial especially for the Catholic Church.

When young people become Christians, for instance during baptism, we invite their parents and grandparents to participate. Two years ago we had a funeral. A funeral is very important for Buddhists and they have this perception that the Catholics are not very interested in the dead and have no respect for the dead, especially the dead parents. They were all waiting to see what I was going to do during the funeral ceremony. They were very impressed afterward. I followed their funeral tradition including the seven days wake in the Buddhist tradition. I tried to impress upon them that we Catholics do not reject the dead, that we have prayers for the dead and that we believe and hope in the Resurrection. It was an opportunity for us to be a witness for Christ and an opportunity for the Buddhists to see what we do.
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