In the lead-up to the Lenten season, Bishop Olivier Schmitthaeusler of the Apostolic Vicariate of Phnom Penh encouraged the faithful to pay attention to some main points relating to the poor, society , culture , ecology and the development of the Church in a new way. The bishop said this in his homily on 23 February 2020 at St. Peter’s Church (Po Thom), by citing the letter of Pope Francis.

He further said: “Don’t allow our society to divide people…rather it should allow human rights to be equal for all. Even though our Church is small, when we encourage the poor, workers, the sick and those who are ignored by society, we know that at that time we enter into the Mercy of God. That means we have journeyed with the poor so that all people have dignified lives and equal rights. This is the voice the Church has.”

In his homily, the bishop encouraged the faithful to pay greater attention during the upcoming Lenten season for the poor, those who have given up hope and those who have lost dignity in life.

He reminded that the Catholic Church in Cambodia is not a foreign Church, but rather a Church had connected life, joy, sufferings, tradition, culture, region to the way of Cambodians in their daily life “so that Christ’s Will enters deeply into our land and truly make the journey with our brothers and sisters.”

The bishop added: “The way we pray, the way we create relationships, the way we join each traditional feast, is the way that shows that we are one family respecting each other. We accept great traditions, and cultures to also enter into the light of Christ.”

Concerning the ecology, he encouraged them to jointly preserve the creations which God gave us for lives.

He continued by saying: “When we deplete forests, when we deplete animals, we have nothing to feed our bodies any more. We love our nature. Nowadays, in the rivers, we catch less and less fish. This is a result of the way we live day after day that leads us to destroy the creations.”

He also commented: “The faithful, please consider this earth the common home of us all and all humans are one family who love this common home.”

Before concluding the homily, he encouraged them to take more active part in creating pastoral activities including charity and catechism.

Along with the service of the Church and clerical ministries, the Bishop encouraged youths to offer themselves to serve the Church for it to become a genuine Khmer way and live in the society and culture of the Khmer race.