A delegation of Vietnamese Catholic bishops has visited a parish community of Vietnamese migrants in Cambodia, marking the first such encounter in 15 years.
On September 6, the bishops, accompanied by Cambodian priests of Vietnamese descent, traveled to the Mekong Deanery in Phnom Penh to meet the faithful of St. Francis Xavier Chompa Parish.
Established in 1985, the parish gathers families of Vietnamese origin who had migrated to Vietnam in 1970, returned to Cambodia in 1982, and formed a permanent community along the Mekong River.
Today, the parish counts more than 2,000 Catholics, served by two diocesan priests, seminarians, and religious candidates.
The parish priest, Father Damien Fahrner of the Paris Foreign Missions Society, ministers to seven parishes in the deanery.
The Vietnamese bishops’ visit was received with deep joy by the community, which last welcomed a Vietnamese prelate in 2010, when Cardinal John Baptist Phạm Minh Mẫn visited the parish.
The bishops also visited the so-called “Vietnamese village” nearby, where they witnessed families coping with precarious living conditions made worse by flooding from the Mekong River.
During the visit, they presented the community with a statue of Our Lady of La Vang, modeled on the one placed in the Vatican Gardens, along with a small gift of solidarity.
The historic encounter took place on the same day as the episcopal ordination of Bishop Pierre Suon Hangly, 53, appointed by Pope Leo XIV as Coadjutor Bishop of the Apostolic Vicariate of Phnom Penh.
The ordination was held at the Phnom Penh Pastoral Center, attended by bishops from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Malaysia, and Vietnam, along with the apostolic nuncio and representatives of the Paris Foreign Missions Society.
Bishop Hangly, a native of Phnom Penh, was ordained a priest in 2001 and has held various leadership roles, including rector of the major seminary and apostolic administrator of Phnom Penh.
He now also serves as apostolic administrator of Kompong Cham Prefecture.
The ordination marked a milestone for the Cambodian Church, which now has its first Khmer bishop in more than 50 years, following the death of Bishop Joseph Chhma Salas during the Pol Pot era.
On September 7, the Vietnamese bishops joined Bishop Hangly for a thanksgiving Mass at St. Joseph Psa Touch Church in Phnom Penh, where they also marked the 65th anniversary of the establishment of the Vietnamese episcopate with the presentation of another statue of Our Lady of La Vang.
