Catholic Church in Cambodia

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The Catholic Church in Cambodia is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome. Throughout the Church's history in Cambodia, Catholics made up a small percentage of the country's population, and a majority of adherents have been ethnically Vietnamese; in 2005, around two-thirds of the total number of Catholics in Cambodia were Vietnamese.[1][2]

The Church in Cambodia was slow to develop during the 20th century, with the first native Cambodian priest being ordained in 1957, and was nearly destroyed by the Khmer Rouge's severe communist rule which banned the practice of religion. Beginning in the 1990s, the institution was gradually rebuilt with the reestablishment of a major seminary and the first ordination of a native priest in decades.

History[edit]

The Catholic church in Chong Knies

Early presence[edit]

The first known Christian mission in Cambodia was undertaken by Gaspar da Cruz, a Portuguese member of the Dominican Order, in 1555–1556. According to his own account, the enterprise was a complete failure; he found the country run by a "Bramene" king and "Bramene" officials, and discovered that "the Bramenes are the most difficult people to convert". He felt that no one would dare to convert without the King's permission, and left the country in disappointment, not having "baptized more than one gentile whom I left in the grave".[3] Despite the French colonization in the 19th century, Christianity made little impact in the country.[citation needed]

Slow growth and near extinction[edit]

Protestant missionary Arthur L. Hammond wrote and published the first Khmer-language translation of the New Testament in 1934, and finished his translation of the entire Bible by 1940, though the latter would only be published by 1954.[4]

The first native Cambodian priest, Simon Chhem Yen, was ordained on November 7, 1957,[5] followed by Paul Tep Im Sotha and Joseph Chhmar Salas in 1959 and 1964 respectively. According to Vatican statistics, in 1953, members of the Catholic Church in Cambodia numbered 120,000, making it at the time, the second largest religion, estimates indicate that about 50,000 Catholics were Vietnamese. Before the repatriation of the Vietnamese in 1970 and 1971, possibly as many as 62,000 Christians lived in Cambodia.

Large numbers of Vietnamese Catholics emigrated upon the start of Lon Nol's military junta (the Khmer Republic) in 1970, with Cambodia's major seminary closed indefinitely, though Catholics in general were tolerated by the government.[6][7] In 1972 there were approximately about 20,000 Christians in Cambodia, most of whom were Catholics, and many of them were Europeans-chiefly French and Eurasians of French descent.[8] From 1975 to 1979 however, the communist rule of the Khmer Rouge nearly extinguished Catholicism in the country; two-thirds of the remaining Catholics in Cambodia perished in forced labor camps,[6] including Chhmar, while others were executed for indiscriminate reasons, such as Paul Tep Im Sotha.

Gradual revival[edit]

In 1989, the new constitution of the Vietnamese-occupied Cambodia allowed freedom of religion, although the preaching of Christianity was still forbidden by the Council of Ministers. In March 1990, the Cambodian government gave its approval for a group of Catholics to celebrate Easter Sunday, the first time Catholics in Cambodia worshipped in public in 15 years.[9]

Efforts were made in 1990 to restart the seminary within the refugee camps of Khmer people in Thailand, and by next year the seminary was officially reinstated; teachings were delivered entirely in the Khmer language for the first time in the Church's history.[7] In 1992, the seminary was transferred to Cambodia in the city of Battambang by four seminarians and Fr. Bernard Dupraz, the latter renting a private house for use.[7] As the city lacked many items needed for the seminarians' training, they had to retrieve educational materials covertly provided in sacks by Fr. Francois Ponchaud and Sr. Gilberte Masson at the Thai border without alerting guards.[7] On 25 July the same year, Yves Ramousse was appointed vicar apostolic of Phnom Penh,[10] and by December was appointed apostolic administrator of Battambang.[7]

Bishop Ramousse later recounted that Dupraz in 1993 managed to purchase the land previously occupied by the Battambang Parish before 1970, and had the responsibility of rebuilding the Church while being the lone priest in an area one-third the size of Cambodia.[7] The seminarians had to act almost like vicars to Dupraz as they continued their training, being sent to remote areas of the country such as Serei Saophoan and Siem Reap to produce reports about their situations.[7]

On March 25, 1994, Cambodia finalized its diplomatic relations with the Holy See.[11] In July 1995, Pierre Sophal Tonlop became the first native Cambodian to be ordained a priest in more than 20 years.[12][13] A new ecumenical Khmer translation of the Bible was published in June 1998, made to improve upon Hammond's more literal 1954 translation,[14] and later in October, the seminary headed by Dupraz was moved to Phnom Penh and officially named the St. John Mary Vianney Major Seminary, as chosen by the seminarians.[7] In 2001, the four original seminarians who remained since 1991, including Dominique Nget Viney, became the next natives after Sophal to become Catholic priests.[7]

One incident of violence during the Church's revival was a grenade explosion at Banteay Prieb, a Jesuit school for the disabled, in Angk Snuol District, Kandal Province on October 17, 1996.[15] A Cambodian student and former soldier named Soram threatened to throw a hand grenade to a class full of students after school staff informed him that he has been expelled due to his disruptive behavior. As Soram approached the classroom, 26-year-old Filipino Jesuit seminarian and missionary Richard "Richie" Fernando grabbed and restrained him to prevent his throwing the explosive, which caused Soram to accidentally drop the grenade and trigger it. Fernando died from the explosion, but Soram survived the blast as Fernando fell over to protect him.[16][17] A television documentary film about Fernando's life titled Greater Love: In Memory of Richie Fernando, SJ was produced in 1999 by the Philippine-based Jesuit Communications Foundation.[18][19]

Statistics and jurisdiction[edit]

Estimates for the actual number of Catholics in Cambodia has varied over the years. In 1994, UCA News stated that the population was thought to be around 25,000. Later in 2005, parish priest Bob Piche mentioned that the number was 25,000, indicating no change.[20] According to Ramousse in 2015, there are around 20,000 Catholics in Cambodia, or 0.15% of the total population.[7] Peter Ford of The Diplomat, however, wrote that the number has reached 75,000 by 2017.[2]

There are no dioceses, but there are three territorial jurisdictions – one Apostolic Vicariate and two Apostolic Prefectures.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Post Staff (25 March 2005). "Vanquished in the 70s, Catholic Church still on the mend". The Phnom Penh Post. Post Media Co. Ltd. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  2. ^ a b Ford, Peter (14 March 2017). "Cambodia, Catholicism, and Cauliflower". The Diplomat. Kien Svay District, Cambodia: Diplomat Media Inc. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  3. ^ Boxer, Charles Ralph; Pereira, Galeote; Cruz, Gaspar da; Rada, Martín de (1953), South China in the sixteenth century: being the narratives of Galeote Pereira, Fr. Gaspar da Cruz, O.P. (and) Fr. Martín de Rada, O.E.S.A. (1550–1575), Issue 106 of Works issued by the Hakluyt Society, Printed for the Hakluyt Society, pp. lix, 59–63
  4. ^ Ravasco, Gerard G. (March 2004). Towards a Christian Pastoral Approach to Cambodian Culture (PDF) (Thesis). South African Theological Seminary. p. 19. Retrieved January 4, 2021.
  5. ^ Descallar, Blas; Ange, Mary. "Msgr. Paul Tep Im Sotha" (PDF). Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic Parish. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
  6. ^ a b Hinh, Thien-Huong (2017). Race, Gender, and Religion in the Vietnamese Diaspora: The New Chosen People. Palgrave MacMillan. p. 110. ISBN 978-3-319-57168-3. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Senechal, Vincent Yves. "Priestly Formation in the Asian Contexts: Application of the Church's Teachings to the Church and the Society in Cambodia" (PDF). Catholic Theology and Thought (Special): 145–153. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  8. ^ "Church in Cambodia". UCA News. ucanews.com. Retrieved 12 July 2020.
  9. ^ Post Staff (25 March 2005). "Vanquished in the 70s, Catholic Church still on the mend". The Phnom Penh Post. Post Media Co Ltd. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
  10. ^ "Apostolic Vicariate of Phnom-Penh". UCA News. Union of Catholic Asian News Limited. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
  11. ^ "Diplomatic Relations Between Cambodia and Holy See Finalized". UCA News. Union of Catholic Asian News Limited. March 29, 1994. Retrieved 9 January 2021.
  12. ^ "Cambodians See First Religious Profession in 20 Years". UCA News. Union of Catholic Asian News Limited. 12 September 1996. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
  13. ^ "Ordination d'un évêque coadjuteur à Phnom Penh". Missions Éntrangères de Paris (in French). 18 March 2010. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
  14. ^ "New Ecumenical Khmer Bible Brings Together Catholics and Protestants". UCA News. Union of Catholic Asian News Limited. 9 June 1998. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
  15. ^ Vittachi, Imran (31 October 1996). "Death returns to the House of Doves". The Phnom Penh Post. Post Media Co. Ltd. Retrieved 9 January 2021.
  16. ^ "The story of the 26 year-old Filipino Jesuit on the road to sainthood". Catholic News Agency. Manila, Philippines: EWTN News, Inc. 2 August 2017. Retrieved 9 January 2021.
  17. ^ "Grenade blast kills RP priest in Phnom Penh". Manila Standard. Phnom Penh: Kamahalan Publishing Corp. Reuters. October 20, 1996. p. 6. Retrieved 9 January 2021.
  18. ^ "Lenten shows from the Jesuits". Philippine Daily Inquirer. The Philippine Daily Inquirer, Inc. April 19, 2000. p. B10. Retrieved April 15, 2022.
  19. ^ JesCom (October 16, 2018). Greater Love in memory of Richie Fernando. YouTube. Google LLC. Retrieved April 15, 2022.
  20. ^ Berthiaume, Lee (4 April 2005). "Catholics in Cambodia Mourn Death of Pope". The Cambodia Daily.

Bibliography[edit]

External links[edit]

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