Scottish Catholic Observer

The Holy Father, Pope Francis, has a clear and simple message for us. So typical of him and a reflection of himself, he repeats the most basic of God’s commandments—that we should love one another. He reminds us constantly of the poverty and injustice in the world and challenges us to do something about it. When he met with the students of the Jesuit schools in July last year, he said: “The times talk to us of so much poverty in the world and this is a scandal. Poverty in the world is a scandal. In a world where there is so much wealth, so many resources to feed everyone, it is unfathomable that there are so many hungry children, that there are so many children without an education, so many poor persons. Poverty today is a cry.”

The Pontifical Mission Societies [PMS] are the organisations charged by the Holy Father to face poverty and injustice in the world and strive to make a difference to the people whose daily lives are a struggle against unimaginable hardship. Working in 170 countries, PMS missionaries face incredible challenges every day trying to change the cycle of poverty, hunger and lack of education in the lives of the world’s poorest.

The stories from PMS missionaries around the world are often harrowing but frequently uplifting and moving. Mission Matters Scotland receives inspiring stories from its PMS partners about missionaries and their work in mission dioceses around the world and is able to share these with its supporters in Scotland. Recent stories from Catholic Mission Australia tell of the amazing work of missionaries in Cambodia and how their selfless efforts are living examples of the Holy Father’s message.

The genesis of a person’s calling can sometimes be intertwined with their country’s history. The recent history of Cambodia and its role in a person’s life illustrates this well. Thirty-eight years ago, the Khmer Rouge came to power in the country and, under the leadership of Pol Pot, proceeded to unleash a wave of terror. In its efforts to create a classless society, the regime attempted to destroy the nation of the communal bonds that held it together. People from various social and religious backgrounds were persecuted and those from the professional classes, including priests and bishops, were especially targeted. Many were killed, others were tortured. Some were never seen again.

The regime eventually collapsed, but the following civil war prolonged the nation’s suffering, the situation only improving in the early years of this century. Today, political stability has returned and the country’s economy is slowly recovering but significant challenges remain. Around four million Cambodians earn less than $2 a day (£1.20) and limited educational opportunities, especially for those in rural communities, prevent many from creating a better life for themselves and their families. One man, however, is determined to show his people the way forward.

Moung Ros is a final year seminarian at the St John Vianney Major Seminary in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh. Over the last several years, the 36-year-old has not only developed his intellectual and spiritual qualities, but has also contributed to the broader recovery of his homeland.

Whether it’s the Catechism and literacy classes that he has held in remote villages or the wells that he has built, it’s the needs of the people that have been his main focus.

“People lack basic facilities,” he said. “They have no money for medicine and the quality of food is poor and many young people have to help their parents with farm work instead of going to school.”

Such a concern for others corresponds with the difficulties he has encountered in his own life. The son of rice farmers, five of Moung’s relatives were killed by the Khmer Rouge before he lost his father when he was six-years-old—his family were unable to afford the medicine that his father needed. Unable to properly care for him, Moung’s mother brought her son to a Catholic school where he spent the formative years of his education.

It was here that Moung encountered the Catholic Faith, his Catechism classes nurturing his spiritual development. By the time he enrolled in electrical studies at a Don Bosco technical school, he had already considered becoming a priest. But several more years passed before he truly acknowledged his calling. After working as a teacher for four years, he studied English for a year at a seminary in Malaysia before returning to Cambodia to enrol in St John’s Seminary.

Moung is grateful for the new life that his Faith has given him. At the same time though, he is mindful of the difficulties that have accompanied his path to the priesthood, one of them being his inability to live according to the customs of his Buddhist background. This was, he acknowledges, something that his mother struggled with for a while.

“At first, my mother was not happy when I entered the seminary,” he said. “In Buddhist culture, it is not the custom to be unmarried. But slowly she has come to understand my vocation.”

Once he is ordained a deacon in November this year, Moung will move to Battambang Diocese in Cambodia’s west, where he will become a parish priest. As well as continuing his passion for catechism, he will also visit prisoners, as well hospital patients. And, with unexploded land mines still littering the countryside, helping those who have been disabled by the violent past will also be a priority. It is ministries such as these that will bring meaning to his life, as well as those of others. After following the lantern of the Lord’s Word, he will now share its light with his people, leading them from the shadows of their past towards the Kingdom of God.

“I want to live as Jesus—not alone but with the community. I want to touch their lives and hearts… teach them that Jesus is for all,” he said.

Every afternoon, two young sisters—Sreynet, 3, and Sreynuch, 6—are locked inside their family’s tiny 20 square metre rented room. It is located in Pochentong, an industrial area rife with poverty, crime and drugs, on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital city.

The children are often terrified by demands from unsavoury strangers knocking on their door, shouting at them to ‘open up.’ Their parents have told them never to unlock the door for anyone for any reason at any time, other than they themselves, and never to go outside.

Sreynet and Sreynuch’s mother works long hours in a large textile factory, while the girl’s father has been lucky to find a job in construction but their salaries does not always cover their rent payments and other basics such as food, water and clothes.

While at first the prospect of a job seems like a blessing, tragically it comes with a dark side. Due to the low wages and the long demanding work hours, Sreynet and Sreynuch’s parents simply have no other choice but to leave the girls locked inside their small room, while they are working, safe from predators roaming the streets looking for unaccompanied children.

Thankfully, the wonderful nuns from the Daughters of Charity started the Lindalva Day Care Centre, so that the children of the neighbourhood would not only have a safe place to stay while their parents are working but also the opportunity to receive an education. Any child, regardless of their background or faith, is welcome at the centre. As the sisters have discovered, working with the children is an important point of entry in reaching out to entire families in desperate need.

The Catholic Church works to build trust by reaching out to the people in need and sharing God’s compassion through practical, physical and emotional care, as well as through spiritual outreach. Between the hours of 7.30am and 12pm, the girls’ parents can breathe easy and have peace of mind, knowing that their children are safe at the centre. They are also incredibly grateful that the girls now have the opportunity to receive an education.

As the girl’s father, Pheng Chun, said: “I wasn’t able to study myself; the girls will have better knowledge than me, better job, and better opportunities. I am so grateful.”

At the moment the centre can only cater for 60 children, and Sr Eulalia, the director of the Lindalva Centre, desperately wants to help so many more children and to be able to care for all children at the centre all day without having to go home to locked rooms in the afternoon. However, her greatest fear is that, without an increase in funds, the centre might have to close down altogether next year—leaving these children to roam the streets once again. The landlord has already indicated that she wants to increase the rent by $110 per month (£67) when the contract expires next year, money which Sr Eulalia simply doesn’t have.

“It is my dream to have a permanent building for the Lindalva Centre,” she said. “It would mean we wouldn’t have the large cost of rent each month and so more money could be spent on materials for the children’s education. A building of our own would mean we could welcome even more children to the Lindalva Centre.”

These stories from Cambodia are real examples of missionaries responding to the Holy Father’s challenge to love one another as Christ commanded us. And the good news for 2014 is that Sr Eulalia and the Lindalva Centre were the focus of Catholic Mission Australia’s Christmas appeal and the dreams and prayers of Sister Eulalia may be answered sooner than later.

Happily, ‘poverty today is a cry’ is being heard by supporters of the Pontifical Mission Societies around the world and their prayers and generosity continue to bring positive change to those whose lives seem hopeless.

— Mission Matters Scotland is the working name of MISSIO Scotland. It is the only organisation to guarantee support for every one of the 1100 mission dioceses in the world. To support Mission Matters Scotland call: 01236 449774 or e-mail: [email protected]

— www.missionmattersscotland.org

—This story ran in full in the Feb 7 edition print of the SCO, available in parishes.