From the PIME (Catholic missionary) online news site:

06/03/2022, 17.17
CAMBODIA
A church for the city of Kampot in Cambodia
by Giorgio Bernardelli

Kampot (AsiaNews) – In a place where no Catholic dwelled 20 years ago, now stands a well recognisable church. For the small Catholic community in Kampot, this is an important moment.

Today, eve of Pentecost, the Apostolic Vicar of Phnom Penh, Bishop Olivier Schmitthaeusler, will consecrate the church of St Augustine in a place he knows very well.

The town of Kampot is located in southern Cambodia near the border with Vietnam off the Gulf of Siam. It is here that some 20 years ago, as a missionary sent by the Missions etrangères de Paris, Bishop Schmitthaeusler settled in a house along with another priest from the vicariate.

Soon the house became a hostel for kids from Kep province coming to the town to study. That initial friendship saw the birth of a small Christian community that until today could only celebrate the Eucharist in one wing of the house.

"The church of St Augustine can accommodate no more than 150 worshippers, but it marks the community’s coming of age,” said the current parish priest, Fr Gianluca Tavola, a PIME missionary from Italy who arrived in Kampot in 2009.

Overall, local Catholics number just over 300. They are a small seed, but one that is germinating in an area undergoing deep change as a result of the growing tourist industry on the coast.
https://www.asianews.it/news-en/A-churc ... 55955.html

CATHOLIC NEWS in CAMBODIA
Cambodian Catholics get first native leader after Khmer Rouge era
Father Pierre Suon Hangly has been installed apostolic prefect to Kampong Cham, one of the country's three ecclesiastical jurisdictions
Cambodian Catholics get first native leader after Khmer Rouge era

Father Pierre Suon Hangly, the new apostolic prefect of Kampong Cham, at a felicitation during the installation ceremony led by Bishop Olivier Schmitthaeusler (MEP), the apostolic vicar of Phnom Penh, on Sept. 11. (Photo supplied)
By UCA News reporter
Published: October 02, 2022 03:10 AM GMT

A native Cambodian was installed to lead a Catholic prefecture in the country first time after Khmer Rouge rule ended some five decades ago, which Church leaders hailed as a historic turning point for the local Church.

Some 60 priests from three dioceses in Cambodia joined on Oct. 1 for the installation of Father Pierre Suon Hangly as the new apostolic prefect of Kampong Cham.

It is “a historic event for the local Church,” said Bishop Bruno Cosme of Paris Mission Society (MEP), who was apostolic administrator of Kampong Cham for the past three years.

“It is an important step for the Church in Cambodia,” he said.

Korean Archbishop Paul Tschang In-Nam, who was apostolic nuncio to Thailand, Cambodia and Myanmar until July, presided over Mass alongside Father Pierre Suon Hangly, for his installation.

Father Hangly, 51, is the first native Cambodian appointed to Kampong Cham, one of the three ecclesiastical jurisdictions of the country. The other two are the apostolic vicariate of Phnom Penh and the apostolic prefecture of Battambang.

Kampong Cham prefecture covers eight provinces in eastern Cambodia such as Kompong Cham, Kratie, Stoeng Treng, Rotanah Kiri, Mondol Kiri, Svay Rieng and Prey Veng.

Born in 1972, Father Hangly was ordained a priest in 2001 in Phnom Penh. He studied with the MEP in Paris from 2007 to 2015 and in July 2015 Pope Francis appointed him to Kampong Cham.

Kampong Cham currently has some 20,000 Catholics in a population of some followers 16 million people, mostly Buddhists.
https://www.ucanews.com/news/cambodian- ... -era/98958

waiting for the first scandal...

If this story was about a new Mosque and people made comments about bombs and terrorism would that be OK ?