Nearly 1,000 Catholics from near and far gathered to join in the dedication of a new building of St. Paul’s Church on January 18, 2020 in Svay Rieng province’s Bavet town. The ceremony was presided over by the administrator Mgr. Bruno Cosme of the Apostolic Prefecture of Kampong Cham. Present at the ceremony were also many priests and religious females and males. At the beginning of the Holy Eucharist, the administrator, priests and faithful present walked three times around the church. Later, Msgr. Cosme handed the key of the church to Fr. Paul Lay, who is the parish priest. Then all those present were invited into the church and the service continued.
In his homily, the Apostolic Prefect said that originally, Jewish people who had built the church to worship God were large but the church was virtually empty. “But when Jesus comes, He said that the church is inside our body. Wherever we worship God the place is holy. We are the house of God.”
He further said: “We Catholics have another place we can meet God – the church. That is why the Catholic community has a Church building. However, with Jesus, we know that our church building is not all stones, rather the stones of life. It is we who build the church of God.” Msgr. Bruno Cosme added: “Through our presence, the holy altar, priests and in each sacrament God is with us. In other words, there are two main points. We worship the new church and we also worship our place which is holy. Our lives as Catholics, our families are also the place where we can meet God.”
Fr. Paul Lay said that the new building measures 12m by 30m that can house a few hundred people. Nowadays, Catholics who come to attend Sunday Mass, are mostly workers and construction master builders – most of whom are Vietnamese nationals and some Filipinos. The priest gave a brief history of the Church, saying that in 1999, Mgr. Antonysamy Susairaj, the former Apostolic Prefect of Kampong Cham and Sr. Alaing had gathered with a few families. They lived far away from one another and asked for a house where they could gather for prayers. Later, Mgr. Antonysamy and Sr. Alaing asked that a cottage be built on the same plot of land. Number of Catholics kept growing gradually.
In 2009, When Fr. Paul Lay took charge of the Church, and the number of Catholic kept growing more than before. The priest said: “In two or three years, we also got a plot of land. Luckily, we found a plot and built a small zinc-roofed church.” He then said: “Every Sunday, we had an increase from nearly 80 Catholics to more than 100. We could not accommodate all in this small church. The small Church was stuffy and narrow. So, we asked for a permit to renovate it. Catholics from far and near made contributions for the renovation. Their contribution of $ 1,000; $ 500; $50; and $ 20 made this possible.”
St. Paul’s Church is involved in many activities – the parish pastoral committee visited elderly and sick people house to house, help children go to school. The priest added that though Catholic numbers had significantly grown, they had no much time to engage in pastoral activities because they were busy working.
There is a new initiative coming up for the future. The Church wants to focus on the importance of education for children whose parents cannot care for and educate their children at home. A van with a driver will go to receive them so that they will get general education and instructions on the essence of faith. Fr. Paul Lay concluded by saying: “In the future, we will think of children and their schooling. We have extreme difficulty there – children are really scattered. Parents go to work, they leave their children. They leave their children with their grandparents all over Cambodia.” The land for the church measures 10m by 24m. The church carries out its activities here. The priest said that the building is for priests to stay. It consisted of a meeting room or serve as pre-school and catechetical rooms or a place for guests.
