PHNOM PENH (UCAN): Father Pierre Suon Hangly, a native Cambodian was installed on October 1 to lead the apostolic prefecture of Kampong Cham Catholic, a first since the end of Khmer Rouge rule some five decades ago. “This ordination and installation is an important step… and is a joy for the local Church,” said Bishop Bruno Cosme of Paris Foreign Missions Society [MEP], apostolic administrator of Kampong Cham, for the past three years, calling it “a historic event for the local Church.”
Archbishop Paul Tschang In-Nam from South Korea, the apostolic nuncio to Thailand, Cambodia and Myanmar until July, presided over the installation Mass, joined by some 60 priests from Cambodia’s three dioceses.
Father Hangly, who is 51-years-old, is the first native Cambodian appointed to Kampong Cham, one of the three ecclesiastical jurisdictions of the country. The other two are the apostolic vicariate of Phnom Penh and the apostolic prefecture of Battambang.
Born in 1972, Father Hangly was ordained a priest in 2001 in Phnom Penh. He studied with the MEP in Paris from 2007 to 2015 and in July 2015, Pope Francis appointed him to Kampong Cham.
The prefecture covers eight provinces in eastern Cambodia: Kompong Cham, Kratie, Stoeng Treng, Rotanah Kiri, Mondol Kiri, Svay Rieng and Prey Veng.
“At the beginning of evangelisation in Cambodia, the Paris Foreign Missions Society were always in charge,” Bishop Cosme said.
Between 1955 and 1975 the MEP formed local clergy, ordained seven Cambodian priests, including two leaders of the local Church—Monsignor Paul Tep Im Sotha as apostolic prefect of Battambang, and Monsignor Joseph Chhmar Salas as the first and only Cambodian to head the vicariate of Phnom Penh. However the two monsignors died under the Khmer Rouge regime
The MEP missionaries returned in 1990 and “everything had to be rebuilt” in these dioceses. Since then “there were three foreign ordinaries in Cambodia. We now have a new Cambodian prefect, and this is a historic turning point,” Bishop Cosme said.
Before his installation, Father Hangly said that “people are happy with this appointment of the first Khmer prefect in Kampong Cham. This is an important step. It is a joy for the local Church that we can govern our Church.”
He said he first wants to get to know the local communities. “Here, it’s very simple, we meet every month, we pray together. There are many priests and religious ready to help me with this new mission,” adding, “I would like to help the prefecture to evangelise in the provinces where there are ethnic minorities, like in Rotanah Kiri, where the community could grow quickly.”
The prefecture has 21 priests including Cambodian priests, and missionaries of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions, Lazarist and Mill Hill Mission. There are also some Korean, Italian and Indian priests, as well as an Ecuadorian and a French Fidei Donum priest.
Several MEP missionaries continue to be part of the local clergy such as Bishop Bruno Cosme, Bishop Antonysamy Susairaj [apostolic prefect until 2019], Father François Hemelsdaël, Father Gérald Vogin and Father Guillaume Pingat.
*This is an adapted version of an article that appeared in Eglises d’Asie [Churches in Asia], a publication of the Paris Foreign Missions Society.
