The church will fulfill pastoral needs of rising number of Bunong Christians in Keo Seima nature reserve, said Bishop Hangly
Bishop Pierre Suon Hangly sprinkles holy water to mark the beginning of a new church for tribal Catholics in Keo Seima natural reserve in eastern Cambodia on Feb. 1. (Photo: Catholic Cambodia)
Catholics belonging to a forest tribe in eastern part of Cambodia cheered as the construction of a new church began in a protected nature reserve upon government permission, says a report.
The new church will fulfill pastoral needs of rising number of Bunong Christians living in Keo Seima nature reserve, said Bishop Pierre Suon Hangly, the apostolic prefect of Kampong Cham who officiated the foundation stone laying ceremony on the first week of February, Fides news agency reported on Feb. 10.
About 150 priests, religious and laypeople gathered to mark the occasion.
The nature reserve spread across the provinces of Mondulkiri and Kratié close to the Vietnamese border is home to ethnic tribal communities including Bunong collectively known as Montagnards found in Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos.
Traditionally animists and nature worshippers many Bunong (also known as Phnong) have embraced Christianity in the past decades.
On June 29, 2022, French MEP missionary Bishop Olivier Schmitthaeusler of Phnom Penh ordained the first Bunong priest John Baptist Bun Prak Hong, at St. John the Baptist Church in Mondulkiri Province.
About 50,000 Bunong live in forested villages and rely on agriculture for a living, Fides reported.
Hangly said the construction of the new church was in response to the growing number of believers in the area. The area has 70 Catholics and 15 catechists and many are expected to join Catholicism in the coming days.
This church will be “a center for the proclamation of the Gospel, a point of light and evangelization to proclaim the love of God to all the people in the area,” Hangly said.
“This small church, but above all the church made up of people, should be a light of God’s grace to those around us, so that they may know Christ and be saved by him,” he added.
The majority of Bunong in Cambodia fled to Vietnam in the 1970s during the deadly civil war and genocidal Khmer Rouge regime. Most returned after the Pol Pot regime was overthrown.
As refugees in Vietnam, some Bunong received support from the missionaries from Paris Foreign Mission Society (MEP) who offered them food and shelter, according to church sources. This act of generosity reportedly encouraged some Bunong to embrace Catholicism.
Father Jean Marie Vianney Borei Phan, a priest looking after Catholics in Mondulkiri province, pointed out that more Bunong started to become Christians in 2009 after some visited Vietnam and found a Catholic community involved in supporting the poor and sick people.
As Bunong in Keo Seima forest joined Catholicism, the local church established a small mission station to offer pastoral care, he said.
The provincial government approved the construction of the church, prompting the church authorities to move ahead, he added. The new church is expected to be completed in a year.
Catholicism in Cambodia dates to the 16th century thanks to Portuguese Catholic missionaries. Until the civil war, there were about 62,000 Catholics in Cambodia.
The church nearly died out due to persecution and expulsion of all foreign missionaries during the Khmer Rouge regime (1975-1979). All local bishops, clergy and most lay Catholics were tortured and killed.
The church was reborn following the return of missionaries in the 1990s.
Today, the Cambodian Church has about 20,000 Catholics served mostly by foreign missionaries. Over the years, the local church has provided 10 native priests and 10 nuns.
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