PHNOM PENH (UCAN): The Office of Social Communication of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences organised an April 25 to 27 seminar in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on the Synod on Synodality.
Catholics at the seminar were asked to foster greater communion and collaboration while making “synodality a living experience” in the country’s missionary context.
Bishop Olivier Michel Marie Schmitthaeusler of Phnom Penh, who opened the programme, urged the participants “to listen attentively to the Holy Spirit to bring to fruition the synod in the pastoral context of the Church in Cambodia.”
The seminar dealt with the processes and different phases of the synod, which has three key themes: communion, participation, and mission.
“It was a moment of re-energising the young missionary Church in Cambodia,” a statement from the social communications office said.
The participants repeatedly stressed the need for “collaboration and joint programmes for ongoing formation.”
All religious practices were banned under the repressive regime of Pol Pot in the 1970s.
The Cambodian Catholic Church is slowly “emerging from the ashes of destruction,” with a renewed resolve for evangelisation, re-building communities and churches, and “fostering unity and collaboration,” among the diverse missionary personnel, the statement said.
Since the 1990s, the Church has started to rebuild itself, attempting to establish institutions like the major seminary and ordinations of local priests. Cambodia has a multicultural missionary background, with personnel from across the globe.
The local Church has 13 local priests, which is “a sign of growth and fruitfulness”, the statement said.
The input sessions highlighted the synodal journey through various states and focused on the importance of living synodality in mission, spiritual conversation, listening, shared leadership, and commitment to the Church’s mission.
The seminar included animated and shared moments of prayer and silence, and fellowship meals, among other activities “which made [the] event a truly lived experience of synodality,” the statement said.
