Sihanoukville: “My Success”, the theme of a camp for young scouts in the Diocese of Phnom Penh. The Pastoral Office for Youth and Children of the Diocese ran the seminar three days from 29 September to 1 October 2017. The camp was held at the parish of St. Michael in the city with some 200 children attending.
Fr. Un Son, the priest in charge of the pastoral sector in Kampong Som delivered a welcome speech to all children participating and also thanked leaders of the children for devoting their time to helping the program along with the Church. The priest said, “Our Church is for educating the youth and the leaders of the diocese.”
Fr. Un Son also encouraged them by saying: “Each one of us can have a relationship with God from childhood to death, which is important to know about. It is like all the brothers and sisters who have been called to be leaders of the young scouts in order to serve other children at the parish.”
They also organized a Mass to conclude the camp with Fr. Un Son as the main celebrant. In his homily the priest instructed all leaders telling them to try hard to practice their faith rather than knowing more theory. “May all of us be good at doing things rather than just speaking. Without putting what we have heard into practice, what we have heard would have been fruitless. Don’t forget everything that other people do for you but remember to do everything that God does to you for everyone. All the leaders have to be mindful of the children under the programme for the young scouts,” Fr. Un Son continued.
Mr. Sorn Sareoun, a coordinator of the programme said: “This is the time when all the leaders receive more education on new topics and put them into practice at their parish. This has also continued helping the young scouts, especially children who have been less cared for and children who are free on Saturdays and Sundays.”
The coordinator thanked the leaders for dedicating their time to help the young scouts in the entire diocese through teaching and instruction. The leaders from nine pastoral sectors of the diocese also thanked and said that during the three days of the camp, they had learnt a lot especially in giving instructions to scouts in each place so that the children can be joyful.
Moreover, they have exchanged personal experiences with one another in what they had and received for educating and handling the young scouts. The leaders are determined to put it into practice what they received from the programme and also try hard to lead the children to do things in the programme to always make progress.
The leaders also thanked the Pastoral Office for youth and Children of the diocese of Phnom Penh for making efforts to plan new lessons and topics for them.
The programme for the young scouts of the Diocese of Phnom Penh was initiated at Our Lady of the Smiles parish in Takeo province’s Chamka Tieng village in the year 2003 under guidance of the then-Fr. Olivier Schmittaeusler, the priest in charge of the pastoral sector of Takeo and Kampot.
