25 years of presence in boeung tompun

A short history of the Child Jesus Catholic Church

General story of the church

The beginnings of the community

The recent history of the Catholic Church in Cambodia

Before looking at the history of the Catholic church of Boeung Tompun, it is important to have a short reminder about the recent history of the Catholic Church.

In 1970, just before the coup from General Lon Nol and the civil war that followed, the Catholic Church in Cambodia had around 65,000 faithful. Most of them were from Vietnamese communities, but also some were Khmer, with around 20 local priests (from Vietnamese and Khmer communities) for a total of 61 priests. Six months later, only 6500 Catholics were still living in Cambodia, as most of the Vietnamese faithful had fled to their home country or had been killed.

But still, it was nothing in comparison with what happened later. The 1st of January of 1975, the Khmer Rouge started their final conquest of the country, taking Phnom Penh the 17th of April 1975, only three days after the ordination of Msgr. Joseph Chhmar Salas, the only Khmer bishop. During the four years of the Khmer Rouge regime, all the Khmer people responsible for the Catholic Church died (the missionaries had been expelled from the county or had been killed), almost all the churches (except four of them) were destroyed, and the few Catholics still alive were left alone without shepherds to guide them.

At the end of the Khmer Rouge regime, Vietnam occupied the country until 1989, severely controlling the faith of the population, and not allowing any missionary priest to stay in the country, although the Catholic Church was still active within the refugee camps of Thailand where hundreds of thousands of Khmer refugees lived. Then in 1990, the 14th of April, for the first time, Catholics in Cambodia were officially allowed to celebrate Easter again. Following that, there was the re-establishment of the diplomatic relations between the Holy See and Cambodia on the 25th of March, 1994. This was the beginning of a new era for the Catholic Church in Cambodia, even if a few missionary priests had already returned back to the country.

The creation of the Parish

In the early 1990s, after the terrible genocide of the Khmer Rouge and the many years of civil war and political instability, Cambodia gradually returned to more stability, and individual and religious freedom. Many Khmer refugees were then able to come back from the refugee camps on the Thai border.

Among them, some Catholic families found their home in the swampy area of Boeung Tompun, in the south part of Phnom Penh City, in August, 1993. At the same time, the new Cambodian Constitution was allowing freedom of religious worship again. Those Catholic families started to have spiritual gatherings and common prayer times. The Mass was occasionally celebrated in this kind of ‘domus ecclesiae’. On December 11th, 1994, the first Pastoral Council was elected, an event considered as the historical foundation of the parish of the Child Jesus in Boeung Tompun. A first church was fitted out, in the upstairs of a traditional Khmer house. Since the beginning of the Catholic presence in the Boeung Tompun district, special attention had been paid to children and young people, in particular those from the nearby rubbish mountain of Stung Meanchey, supported by the NGO PSE (Pour Un Sourire d’Enfant). Even though there were very few Catholic families present at that time (almost 10 families in 2000), there were already some activities in the parish. Special mention should be given to the wonderful pastoral work of the Sisters of the Providence (particularly to Sister Agnes), for the deployment of the community.

In 1996, a sewing class was created in order to help some poor young women to have some skills; also some students started to live together in a room under the church (the future Saint Francis Hostel for students), and a small kindergarten was opened on the property of the Providence Sisters, on the other side of the road (the future Saint Lucy Kindergarten from the parish). In the years that followed, the nascent Christian community of Boeung Tompun experienced a kind of ‘little Pentecost’ and an increase of the faithful.

Until the construction of the new church in 2008, there was no priest living there. Father François-Xavier Demont (serving as a vicar at the Saint Joseph Church / Phsar Tauch, the only parish of Phnom Penh at that time), and Father Omer Giraldo (spiritual director at the Saint John-Mary Vianney Major Seminary), used to come to celebrate the mass on Sundays. Father François-Xavier Demont in 2002 was the first one to plan the construction of a new church, but it could not be built at that time.

Arrival of father Mario and construction of the new Church

Arrival of father Mario Ghezzi

Father Mario Ghezzi, PIME, arrived Cambodia in 2000. He started to work for this community in September, 2002, coming to celebrate the mass on Sundays, as his predecessors did. At that time, he was living at the Saint John-Mary Vianney Major Seminary, still learning Khmer language for a third year. In September, 2003, Bishop Emile Destombes appointed him as the pastor of this community.

On Christmas, 2003, the Eucharist was put into the tabernacle for the first time. Father Mario started to come to the church also on Wednesdays, in order to celebrate the Mass at 6:30 PM, offering the possibility for the Providence Sisters and the few parishioners to attend a second Mass during the week. Relatively quickly, Mass on Friday mornings was also added. In 2004, a Year of the Eucharist was announced by Saint Pope John Paul II, asking each Christian community around the world to properly celebrate the Feast of Corpus Christi, and according to the possibilities, to institute a weekly time of silent Eucharistic adoration in each parish. Following the call of the Pope, Father Mario instituted a time of Eucharistic adoration every Wednesday, one hour before the celebration of the Mass. At first, there was almost nobody attending this adoration except the sisters, but little by little some people started to come.

The new Church

Many children from the NGO called “PSE” (Pour un Sourire d’Enfant, founded by Marie-France and Christian Despallières in 1996), were coming to the church, and also students from the Catholic Church Students Center (CSCC, founded in 1999), and the building reached its capacity. It was no longer able to contain the assembly (about one hundred persons) who came to attend the Sunday Mass.

The church building was first enlarged a little and strengthened, so that it could accommodate about 120 people, but a few months later, Bishop Emile asked Father Mario to think about the construction of a new church. The first step was to contact some architects to draw up a plan for a new church, but also to think about how to reorganize the whole space of the parish. The second step was to find the funds required for the construction. The ceremony for the blessing of the first stone of the new Church of the Child Jesus (It was so named because of the presence of a lot of children at Mass) was held on the 30th of June, 2006. The construction was achieved on the 15th of December, 2007. During the construction, the old church was still in place for the celebration of the Mass, but it was then pulled down a few days before Christmas in 2007.

The consecration of the new church was solemnly celebrated on the 6th of January, 2008, with the special presence of Cardinal Renato Martino, and about one thousand faithful. A few months later, Father Mario was officially appointed as the first parish priest of the Child Jesus Parish, and started to live there, about 15 years after the beginning of that Catholic community.

Pastoral activities of the Parish

The religious services, the catechism groups, the choir, the sewing classes, the Saint Lucy Kindergarten, and the small Saint Francis Center for students continued on as before. Just before the construction of the new church, the parish acquired the small houses at the rear of the church, and the Traditional Dance and Music School office was located there until the end of 2018.

At the end of 2008, collaboration between the parish and the Maryknoll Sisters enabled us to acquire the Saint Ambrose Center, led by the Maryknoll community, which is still the center for the social activities in this area of Phnom Penh. The Saint Ambrose Center also became the site of the sewing classes for a while, and likewise the location of the Saint Michael House for Vocations.

In 2012, the construction of one more building was started, the Saint Teresa Building, and it was finished in 2013. The sewing classes increased their professionalism and were taken over by the Italian Company ‘Smateria’ and moved into this new building. The Saint Lucy Kindergarten also moved into this building. Also a large meeting room was added to be used for the needs of the parish or for rental to external groups.

At the beginning of 2014, after more than 10 years at the head of the parish, Father Mario Ghezzi was replaced by Father Vincent Senechal, a French Priest from the MEP Society. Fr. Mario was sent to Takhmao to lay the foundation for a new community. He also was appointed as the Vicar General of the Phnom Penh Apostolic Vicariate.

In October 2016, after being elected as the General Vicar of the MEP Society, father Vincent has to leave the Parish and Cambodia in order to take up his new assignment in Paris. His successor is another MEP Priest, father Damien Fahrner, the actual parish priest of the Child Jesus church.

The church today

The catholic community

Today the Catholic community of Boeung Tompun serves around 350 faithful. About 100 persons form the stable core of the community; many students and youth, coming from the Catholic centers around the parish, as well as from outside, attend the services. Also, several religious communities (especially the Providence Sisters of Portieux) and lay missionaries are present in our pastoral sector: their pastoral charity and activities enable our parish to be present to very poor non-Catholic communities located in our area, like in Stoeung Menchay or Boeung Trabek.

Field of activities

The field of activity of the Boeung Tompun Parish is quite wide, due to the presence of numerous religious communities, lay missionary societies, and even Khmer Catholic groups that are gravitating around the Parish. In the name of the Gospel, our main goal is to enable each person to grow in an integral development, as expressed in the Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church: human, social, and spiritual development.

Human and Social development: Especially through education, the parish is allowing many children and youth, whether they are Christian or not, to access studies or professional formation, for example, through the Saint Lucy Kindergarten, the educational activities of the Maryknoll Sisters at the Saint Ambrose Social Center (which has literacy programs and also supports schooling of more than 100 children and youths), the growing Special Education School (more than 100 autistic kids are attending), numerous student centers in the area (Saint Francis and Saint Michael Centers, the Providence Sisters’ Hostel for girls, and the youth from the Catholic Church Student Center—CCSC). Regarding their social development, we are focused on opening their minds to the great value of the Gospel, to love and charity, which are the heart of an authentic socialization.

Another field of social activity, mainly the work of the different religious and lay missionary communities, but also of the charity committee of the parish, is helping the poorest in the area of the parish, especially in old Stueng Menchay dump, in Boeung Trabek or in Kbal Tumnup, to name only the principal places of activities. The parish provides day care centers for small children and a mobile education program (Daughters of Charity), and for those who cannot sustain themselves by any means, we are providing direct support in the form of rice or money.

Spiritual development: two groups of people are entrusted to our pastoral charity. First, the baptized and the catechumens, the people from ‘inside’. Through the sacraments and the catechism, we try to help our faithful to grow in faith, in hope and in charity, in order to enable them to become true disciples of Jesus Christ and to spread the Gospel around them.

Secondly, the people who are not baptized, the people from ‘outside.’ By proclaiming the Gospel, we would like to call them to their responsibility and freedom, according to the religious freedom proclaimed by the Second Vatican Council: “It is in accordance with their dignity as persons–that is, beings endowed with reason and free will and therefore privileged to bear personal responsibility–that all men should be at once impelled by nature and also bound by a moral obligation to seek the truth, especially religious truth. They are also bound to adhere to the truth, once it is known, and to order their whole lives in accord with the demands of truth. However, men cannot discharge these obligations in a manner in keeping with their own nature unless they enjoy immunity from external coercion as well as psychological freedom. Therefore the right to religious freedom has its foundation not in the subjective disposition of the person, but in his very nature.” We are thinking that the Gospel is a kind of human right: everyone has a right to know the Good News.

History of the different groups and projects of the parish

Religious communities

There are many religious communities in the pastoral sector of Phnom Penh South, namely the Providence of Portieux Sisters, the Maryknoll Sisters, the Daughters of Charity Sisters, the Sisters Adorers and La Salle Sisters. Two of these communities, the Providence and Maryknoll sisters have been very active (and are still very active) in the development of the Boeung Tompun church itself.

Providence sisters

Since the beginning of the parish, the main convent of the Providence Sisters has always been in the other side of the road, less than 50 meters away from the church. Due to this, the sisters have always been very active in the parish life. In the beginning of the 2000s, Sister Agnes and Sister Sina were respectively in charge of the sewing classes and the liturgy committee, and especially the choir of the church.

At that time also, the kindergarten was located on the Providence Sisters’ property because the parish buildings were too small to accommodate the children. And even when the kindergarten moved into the buildings located to the left of church, where there is now the confessional, the influence of the sisters stayed strong. The director of the kindergarten is still a Providence Sister (Sister Simone).

Today the sisters are active in catechesis (Sister Sany), choir (Sister Thiry), liturgy (Sister Sany), and education (Sister Simone).

Maryknoll sisters

Around 2002, Sister Agnes had to leave to go to France, and a Maryknoll Sister, Sister Regina, went to take care of the sewing classes. The Maryknoll project office was also located in one of the rooms under the church until it moved to a house near Wat SonSom Kosol because there was not enough room at the church. Then when the parish acquired the new building which became the Saint Ambrose Social Center and the house for Saint Michael boys, Maryknoll helped to buy the building and make the transition, and since then, the main office for Maryknoll activities in Boeung Tompun is located in the Saint Ambrose Social Center, with Sister Mary Little in charge.

Education programs

During the twenty years of existence of the parish, numerous projects to help to educate the people of the neighborhoods, especially the poor, have been launched.

Sewing classes

One of the first programs launched, soon after the creation of the parish, was sewing classes for young girls who wanted to learn sewing, so they can work in garment factories. Each learning program was six months long, and was supervised by Ms. Saren and a Providence Sister (Sister Agnes), followed by a Maryknoll Sister (Sister Regina). At the beginning, and until the construction of the new Saint Theresa building, the classes were in a small wooden building at the same location where the Saint Theresa building is now. It then moved temporarily to the top floor of Saint Ambrose Social Center, before moving to its present place in the Saint Theresa building.

Smateria

At the time the sewing program moved to the new building, in March, 2013, the question was how to sustain the program in the long run because it was difficult for a parish priest to supervise everything, and at that time, there was little work, the students/workers were not well paid, and they had neither contracts nor insurance.

So Father Mario Ghezzi asked the group Smateria, which was funded in 2006 by two Italian women and was already giving work to the sewing classes, if they could take over the sewing program and offer a more professional workspace for the women working here. The social aspect of the original program, helping poor women to have a skill still, remains. But now the employees have a better salary, a contract, some insurance, and the possibility to have their children educated and taken care of during the day.

Smateria, in its different workshops (including the one at the parish with around 20 employees) is now producing bags using recycled materials, for example, from moto saddles.

It was stopped unfortunatly because of Covid-19.

Kindergarten

Another project that started early in the parish life was the kindergarten. It started in 2003, before the construction of the new church, and was located in the Providence Sisters’ convent, with only one class in the morning at the beginning. The year after, a second class was opened, and after a while, the program started to give full-day lessons to the children.

When the new church and the building on the left of the church were constructed in 2008, the kindergarten moved to a new location where the confessional and the main office of the parish are now located. But this location was not well suited for a kindergarten because the children were noisy (as are all children in the world) affecting the work of the priests and administrative team of the parish, and the two rooms were too crowded.

So in 2013, when the Saint Theresa Building was built, the kindergarten moved to its present location, with the main office located on the ground floor, and three classrooms on the first floor.

The kindergarten consists now of three classes with a daily program including two meals for the 85 registered children. Three teachers take care of them.

Saint Ambrose social center / Maryknoll

The Saint Ambrose Social Center was founded around 2008-2009. Before that, Maryknoll had had their project office in a room under the old church but was then forced to move to another location because of lack of space. Now in 2008 they were searching for a new place again. At that time, the parish was also seeking to expand, to have a place for the Saint Michael House for Vocations and for some other activities. The two entities decided to collaborate and created this social center, which has a literacy program for around 20 children and supports about 150 primary school students and 80 secondary school students in the surrounding public schools, and also about 20 university students, who, in return, help as interns for the educational work with the children. The center also has a kindergarten near Tu Taing church and day care centers for children in two very poor suburbs of Phnom Penh where they are taking care of the small children but also providing an educational program for their mothers.

With the kindergarten and the Saint Ambrose Social Center and the different student centers (especially the Catholic Church Student Center), the parish now has a comprehensive program for education for children and youth, giving them constant support and monitoring over all their studies.

Il Nodo design school

Il Nodo Design School started because Father Mario Ghezzi was thinking of a way to give some skills to young boys who were really delayed in their studies. First he tried professional training in wood skills, but this project did not work, and a year later, two of his Italian friends came to Cambodia and wanted to start a program for artistic silversmiths, without knowing enough about Cambodia to find a place and workers. This led to a collaboration, the parish providing a room for one year and helping the two Italian people to find students who came from poor places like Kbal Tumnup. After one year the program moved to a new location, and a few years later, to its present location on the edge of the boeung in Boeung Tompun, near the Kbal Tumnup village.

There around twenty students study silversmithing in a two-year program which gives them the technical skills but also the artistic skills needed for the job. Every year a master silversmith comes from Europe to lead a one-month special workshop. At the school, around 10-15 former students are also employed to produce the jewelry that Il Nodo sells in Europe.

The Growing Special Education School (GSES)

The Growing Special Education School (GSES), is the country first specific structure that wants to host children with autistic disabilities. The School has opened its doors on June 5, 2017, in a rental house adjacent to the Child Jesus church. This school was launched by a faithful of the Parish, Phok Many, who is the mother of two children: Busha, 12, and Guerila, 8, autistic. Employed for many years by New Hope for Cambodian Children, a NGO structure that cares for children with AIDS, she has repeatedly attempted to enroll her second son in a normal school, with no success…

Therefore, as she’s herself the mother of an autistic child with a good knowledge of the sufferings of families who have children suffering from autism, in June 2017 took the courageous initiative to start the pilot project of the GSES, with the strong support of a group of a few women, mothers of children affected by autism disability, and the support of the Child Jesus Parish.

Tired of waiting for an answer to their problems from the public or private school system, they decided to set up a small pilot school for their children and also for those of other families, who shared the same destiny. GSES is meant to be only for autistic kids, between the ages of 3 to 14, that have been previously diagnosed by the Caritas Center for Children and Adolescents Mental Health.

The school began with about 10 children. Nowadays, about 80 kids divided into two sessions, (morning and afternoon), are welcomed at the GSES, and many families are on the waiting-list…

Student centers

The Boeung Tompun community has always welcomed students in its programs. Since 1999, the Catholic Church Student Center (CCSC) has been relatively close to the parish, on Monivong Boulevard, with the students coming to the parish on Sundays for the mass.

First student center

In the early 2000s, on the ground floor of the church, there were three residence rooms. Two of them were used by students studying at the university or at the Caritas Technical School which later moved to Takhmao where it is still located. The number of students at the church grew slowly, and after a first move to some small rooms beside the church, it was decided around 2008 to move the students to the Francis Center.

Saint Francisco student center

As mentioned above, to cope with the increasing number of students who where living in two or three small rooms at the church, Father Mario decided to rent the present building for the Saint Francis Student Center, and to start having people to look after them. At first, older students who were studying at the university were looking after junior students, and then, as the center grew more and more to its capacity of about 20 students, two persons were employed to take care of the students. These are staff who work outside or at the parish during the day and who then stay with the students at night and on the weekends.

It was also when the center moved into its current location that it received its present name, Saint Francis Center. It came from the fact that the Saint Clare Student Center for girls, which moved in 2007 to near the SonSom Kosol Pagoda, was named after Saint Clare of Assisi. So the natural name for the boys’ student center at the parish, located close to the girls’ student center, was Saint Francis of Assisi. The Saint Clare of Assisi was closed in 2017.

Today, the Francis Center hosts around 20 students, which are studying in different secondary schools, but also at vocational training schools (the NGO “Pour un Sourire d’Enfant”, and the “Il Nodo School”).

Saint Michael house for vocations

Around 2007-2008, Fr. Mario was asked to help some students who were still in high school and who wanted to become priests. That same year, Father Gianluca Tavola joined the parish for one year in order to learn the Khmer language. At the end of 2008, with the permission of the Vicar General which was at that time Father Schmitthauesler (now the Apostolic Vicar of Phnom Penh), Fr. Mario and Fr. Gianluca opened the Saint Michael Center. The first year, there were three students, living in the houses beside the church and having dinner with the youth of Saint Francis Center. But the objective of St Michael House for Vocations was completely different from the one of St Francis Center, with a lot more focus on prayer and community life and on pastoral activities every Sunday at the parishes close to Boeung Tompun (like Tu Taing, Koh Norea, or even Champa). So when the new Saint Ambrose Center was ready, the Saint Michael boys moved to this center, were they still live now, and started to have dinner on their own.

Since 2007-2008, about 18 students have passed through the vocational house, and 8 of them has entered the Major Seminary of Phnom Penh.

Other centers

As mentioned before, the Catholic Church Student Center (CCSC), which is an university students hostel for both boys and girls, is relatively close to the parish. There is also the Providence Sisters Student Center, which houses around fifteen girls and is quite similar to the Saint Francis Student Center, except it is only for girls.

Center for handicapped or sick persons

Saint Elizabeth sick shelter

In 2006, a lay missionary, Ms. Paola, came back after one and half years in Italy. At that time Father Mario Ghezzi asked her to start a sick shelter together with PIME which was willing to support a project like this. After a few months of reflection and training of the staff, Bishop Emile Destombes officially opened the project on the 17th of November 2006, the feast day of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, a queen who decided to sell all her belongings to start a hospital after her husband died in war.

At first the project was housed in a rented house. But after a few years, the owner wanted to sell the house, which was in bad shape. So, it was decided to buy land, where the present house is, and built the shelter from scratch so that the house would be adapted to the actual needs of the sick shelter.

In 2010, Bishop Olivier Schmitthaeusler asked the Saint Elizabeth Sick Shelter and the shelter from Saint Joseph Parish, in Phsar Tauch, to merge into one diocesan project (a new shelter for the ORL disabilities, the Saint Benedict Shelter, has joined the project at the Phnom Penh Thmey Pastoral Center). The shelter at Saint Joseph Parish, now called Saint Luke Sick Shelter, focused on short-term housing of patients who come to Phnom Penh for only for a few days; and the shelter at the Child Jesus Parish focused more on long-term housing, with the patients going for cancer treatment to the Calmette or the Khmer-Soviet Friendship Hospitals.

Light of Mercy center

The Light of Mercy Center started in 1997, in a house rented in Toul Kork District, through a collaboration between Sister Marie-Adelphe from the Providence Sisters and Sister Denise from the Sisters of Mercy, with the help of the Jesuit Refugee Service. The center moved to the Providence Sisters’ convent complex in 2004.

There, in a specially designed building, about 30 children with disabilities (mental or physical), coming mostly from the countryside where they often were left alone by their parents, are living together and studying in school during the day, giving them a future that they could not afford in their hometown.

Short biography of the difference priests involved

Father Omer Giraldo

Father Omer Giraldo is a missionary priest from Colombia, who belongs to the Yarumal Missionary Society. After years in Cambodia, he went back to his country to conduct the seminary of his society.

Father François-Xavier Demont

Father François-Xavier Demont is a French missionary from the MEP Society who arrived in Cambodia in 1998. In 2001, he was appointed to the Phnom Penh pastoral sector (at that time there was only one pastoral sector in Phnom Penh) with Father Un Son and Father Robert Piché. He was responsible for Boeung Tompun Church until 2002.

Father Mario Ghezzi

Father Mario Ghezzi is an Italian priest belonging to the PIME missionary society. He arrived in Cambodia in 2000 and after a time in the Battambang diocese for language studies, he stayed at the seminary to help the Rector Father Bruno Cosme and started to come to Boeung Tompun in 2002. After more than ten years working at the Boeung Tompun parish, in the beginning of 2014, he created the new parish in Takhmao to the south of Phnom Penh City. He was also appointed as Vicar General of the Apostolic Vicariate in 2010. In 2017, he was called by the PIME Society to serve in Italy for a while. Fr. Mario was the first Parish Priest of the Boeung Tompun church.

Father Gianluca Tavola

Father Gianluca Tavola is an Italian priest belonging to the PIME missionary society. When he arrived in Cambodia in September, 2008, Father Mario asked him to stay with him one year in Boeung Tompun parish, to help him. At that time Father Mario was alone in the parish. After one year in Boeung Tompun, he was sent to another parish to continue language courses. He is now in charge of the Kampot Pastoral Sector.

Father Gustavo Benitez

Father Gustavo Benitez is a priest from Argentina, belonging to the PIME missionary society. He arrived in April, 2010 in Boeung Tompun parish, and during his language courses he helped Father Mario. He stayed at the parish until the beginning of 2014. He was then appointed assistant priest of the Phnom Penh North pastoral sector and became responsible for the Areyksat, Po Thom, and Prey Kandal Churches on the other side of the Mekong River.

Father Vincent Senechal

Father Vincent Senechal is a French priest from the MEP missionary society. He arrived in Cambodia in 2007 and studied the Khmer language in Kampong Thom for two years before being appointed as assistant priest to the North Phnom Penh Pastoral Sector, with Father Bruno Cosme. In the beginning of 2014, he was appointed parish priest of the South Phnom Penh Pastoral Sector. In the middle of 2016, he was elected as the new Vicar General of the MEP society and returned to France to serve there. Fr. Vincent was the second Parish Priest of Boeung Tompun church.

Father Abraham Khun

Father Abraham is a missionary priest from Myanmar belonging to the « Little Way » missionary society who arrived in Boeung Tompun parish at the same time as Father Vincent, replacing Father Gustavo. After studying language until the end of 2014, he was then appointed in Tu Taing and Koh Norea. In September 2015, after about one and a half years in Boeung Tompun, he was appointed assistant priest of Kampong Som Pastoral Sector.

Father Hattachai Wongmasaen (father Sunday)

Father Sunday is a missionary priest from Thailand, who arrived in Boeung Tompun for the end of his language courses in September, 2014. After he finished his third year of language study, Bishop Olivier asked him to draft the project of the new diocesan land during the week-end and to help Fathers Vincent and Abraham in Boeung Tompun during the week days. He was also responsible for the diocesan dance school located in Boeung Tompun.

In September, 2015, after one year in Boeung Tompun, he was appointed assistant priest of the Takeo Pastoral Sector.

Father Sok Na

Father Sok Na is the 8th Cambodian priest ordained since the end of the Vietnamese occupation, and the third one for the Phnom Penh Apostolic Vicariate, along with Father Ly, in charge of the Phnom Penh Thmey Pastoral Sector and General Vicar of the Phnom Penh Vicariate, and Father Sun, who is in charge of the Kampong Saom Pastoral Sector.

Born in 1979 in the Catholic community of Svay Pak, he first worked as a tailor before asking to join the Major Seminary in 2001, where he stayed until he finished his academic studies in 2014. He was ordained deacon on 18th of June, 2014, and then priest on the 27th of June, 2015. After serving at the Boeung Tompun Parish for 3 years, Father Sok Na was assigned as assistant priest in the Kompong Saom Pastoral Sector.

Father Damien Fahrner

Father Damien Fahrner is a French priest from the MEP missionary society. Arriving in Cambodia in September, 2011, he stayed at the Boeung Tompun parish with Father Mario Ghezzi for his first year of language courses before going one year to Kdol Leu and then to the Major Seminary of Phnom Penh for his third year of language study. During his time at the Major Seminary, he was also coming every weekend to help Father Vincent and Father Gustavo, especially by celebrating the Sunday Mass in the Tu Taing Church. After serving as a vicar at the Kompong Saom and at the North Phnom Penh Pastoral Sectors, Fr. Damien was assigned as the 3rd parish priest of the Child Jesus Parish in October, 2016.

Father Kristofia Konlavi Todjro

Father Kristofia is a missionary priest from Togo belonging to the PIME missionary society. He arrived Cambodia in November 2015, and was studying the khmer language for the second year at the Boeung Tompun in 2017. He is actually belonging to the Battambang Apostolic Prefecture, and was appointed as chaplain of the Cambodian Martyrs pilgrimage place in Tang Kauk.

Father Saulos S. Phromphong (called Bird)

Father Bird is a missionary priest from Thailand belonging to the Thaï Missionary Society (TMS). He stayed at the Parish a few months, when he still was studying the Khmer language, before to be ordained as a deacon. He was ordained Priest in July 2019 for the Apostolic Vicariate of Phnom Penh.

Father Vincent Chretienne

Father Vincent is a French missionary priest belonging to the Foreign Missionaries of Paris (MEP). He arrived Cambodia in October 2017, and was studying the Khmer language for the first year at the Parish. He was then sent to Battambang Apostolic Vicariate.

Father Guillaume Pingat

Father Guillaume is a French missionary priest belonging to the Foreign Missionaries of Paris (MEP). He arrived Cambodia in May 2018, and was studying the Khmer language for the first year at the Parish.

Father Will Conquer

Father Will is a French missionary priest belonging to the Foreign Missionaries of Paris (MEP). He arrived Cambodia in November 2019, and was studying the Khmer language for the first year at the parish.

Father André Lee

Father André is a Korean missionary priest belonging to the Korean Missionaries Society (KMS). He arrived Cambodia in July 2020, and is studying the Khmer language for the first year at the parish.