The beautiful red ribbon, carried by two women, waits for the chief of ceremony to cut it and allow the waiting people to enter the church in Cambodia.
The occasion is accompanied by a hymn of praise to God from within, seemingly eager to meet outside people on May 1.
The apostolic administrator of Apostolic Prefect of Kampong Cham, Msgr. Bruno Cosme came up to break the ribbon and gave the key to the new church to Father Francois Hemelsdael opened St. John the Baptist Church's door for hundreds of people to enter.
This is a new church for the Khmer ethnic of Pounong living in Busra commune, Pichreda district, Mondulkiri province, about 360 km the Northeast of Cambodia.
In his homily, Cosme said, “Jesus had his plan. Many times, he had already prepared for us, we do not understand, but he did, as in today's scripture” (John 21:1-19).
“When we are weak, we do our best, but Jesus understands our potential. Today, as we are here, we pray together in this new church. It will help us to understand better our ability to work for God,” Cosme said.
"We are weak, but we pray; we are weak, but we are together; we are weak, but we still bear witness to our faith," Bruno said, urging Catholics, “May God continue to guide us, strengthen our faith, give each of us physical and mental strength.”
The 75-year-old indigenous man, who started the church here with nine other families, said the church used to be small and difficult to worship.
People of the area had requested a resident priest from a local bishop since 2000.
"Now that we have the church, we rejoice. It is my dream that came true. My children may continue to grow in faith, that they may worship God, and that they may show to others their faith, solidarity in daily life, and put priorities for each other to move forward,” he said.
"I hope the community grows in the future," he added.
He reminded the past, the church started with less than 20 Catholic families who fled to Vietnam during the Cambodian war and took refuge with the Catholics in Vietnam, who also converted.
He added, “At that time, we had nothing to offer in our ceremony and we saw the lives of good Catholics being respected and (this belief) we could follow, so we adopted from them."
The Mondulkiri community was established after the end of the Cambodian Civil War, with about 15 Catholic families who converted to Vietnam and returned to Cambodia on April 15, 1986.
The five Catholic families settled in Dak Dam and 10 families in Busra. Every Sunday, they used to gather under a tree to pray. Then they began to build a house for prayer.
For nine years the community lived without a Catholic priest. In 1996, there were a series of missionaries until today.
At the present, there are more than 200 Catholics in 124 families, said Brob Pjoch, a parish leader.
He said, “For, me and people here, we are happy to have a new church. The existing church earlier was too small. We do not have enough room to accommodate all in a tiny church. But, now our church is bigger as the number of Catholics has increased. We thank God and supporters for this new church.”
He added, "I hope this new church gives us strong faith so that we can proclaim the gospel to others, teach children, and spread the faith to people, who wish to know Jesus.”
"For me, when there is such a big and new church, it is a place where we can get together as a community,” he said.
The church will help people now by teaching faith and catechism classes for children and elders and for their faith animation and formation, said Ngoum Pheary, a Catholic youth in Busra.
"I used to teach Catholics that the important thing is to build a community. Each person is a rock to build a church, the structural building is secondary,” Father Francois Hemelsdael said.
“Today, the church building is important as it is a sign for other villagers that there are true believers,” he added.
The priest continued, “Here in Busra, we have a large church showing the growing faith of the Catholics over the years. In the church, there is the body of Christ, the tabernacle, and the altar, a symbol of the presence of God, who loves all people.”
According to Father Francois, many Cambodians accept the Catholic faith because Catholics influence and share the faith with others.
"I think this building will help the Punong people understand the value of faith and the value of seeking God more and more," he said.
He stated that this church is for all the Punong people in Mondulkiri, such as Dak Dam Keo Seima, and the whole Prefecture of Kampong Cham because Kampong Cham does not have many big churches.
"I hope that in the future this church will be able to hold meetings for all the people in the Kampong Cham prefecture and that the church is not just a place of worship or administer sacraments, but a place for meetings to build a family of Christ,” he said.
St. John the Baptist Church (Busra) was built in 2021 with the support of various donors.
The parish has a young woman who is now a nun, a member of Lover of the Cross. Another man will be ordained as a priest soon. – With inputs by Kagnha Keo/RVA Cambodia
Radio Veritas Asia (RVA), a media platform of the Catholic Church, aims to share Christ. RVA started in 1969 as a continental Catholic radio station to serve Asian countries in their respective local language, thus earning the tag “the Voice of Asian Christianity.” Responding to the emerging context, RVA embraced media platforms to connect with the global Asian audience via its 21 language websites and various social media platforms.
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