Rome, May 21, 2008 (CNA).- Thirty three years after his murder by the Khmer Rouge of Cambodia, Catholics in Cambodia have commemorated the anniversary of the death of Bishop Paul Tep-im Sotha for the first time.
According to UCA News, Bishop Sotha was killed at the beginning of Pol Pot’s reign of terror (1975-1979), during which more than a million people were exterminated in forced labor camps. He died at the hands of the Khmer Rouge in Kbeal Spean, where today a school stands and a monument that tells his story.
Nearly 300 people participated in a special Mass, including 56 year-old Hnem Yard, who tried to help Bishop Sotha escape. "I offered to take him across the Thai border another way, but he refused because it was illegal. He decided to go on National Road No. 5 to Poipet, where he was killed by a soldier for no reason," Yard said.
Bishop Sotha was ordained a priest in 1959, serving at St. Mary's Parish in Phnom Penh. He was appointed Apostolic Prefect of Battambang when the Vatican established the prefecture on Sept. 26, 1968.
Church records say Cambodia had 65,000 Catholics in 1970, but only 1,000 or so Cambodian Catholics were alive when Vietnamese troops forced the Khmer Rouge from power in 1979. Foreign missionaries were deported, and no Cambodian priests or nuns in the country survived.
According to UCA News, Bishop Sotha was killed at the beginning of Pol Pot’s reign of terror (1975-1979), during which more than a million people were exterminated in forced labor camps. He died at the hands of the Khmer Rouge in Kbeal Spean, where today a school stands and a monument that tells his story.
Nearly 300 people participated in a special Mass, including 56 year-old Hnem Yard, who tried to help Bishop Sotha escape. "I offered to take him across the Thai border another way, but he refused because it was illegal. He decided to go on National Road No. 5 to Poipet, where he was killed by a soldier for no reason," Yard said.
Bishop Sotha was ordained a priest in 1959, serving at St. Mary's Parish in Phnom Penh. He was appointed Apostolic Prefect of Battambang when the Vatican established the prefecture on Sept. 26, 1968.
Church records say Cambodia had 65,000 Catholics in 1970, but only 1,000 or so Cambodian Catholics were alive when Vietnamese troops forced the Khmer Rouge from power in 1979. Foreign missionaries were deported, and no Cambodian priests or nuns in the country survived.
3 comments:
I am a Buddhist Cambodian living in Battambang province. I knew very well Samdach Tep Paul Im . I used to love and respect him. I was proud that my Province was the first province in Cambodia that had the First Cambodian Bishop.
Why the Vatican honors him 33 years later. But let say: "Tard vaut mieux que jamais".
yes, better late than never! i also hope french or italian or german, or english will help cambodia to rebuilt that magnificent cathetral of phnom penh again. i saw pictures of it, it was so grand and beautiful. the idiot KR regime destroyed it for no reason during their genocidal rule in cambodia (1975-1979). i hope the west will have rebuilt cambodian cathedrals to their former status. don't forget khmers are cathelic too, not just the viet or the philipino. religious diversity makes cambodia beautiful as well. i love the cathedral of the european religions as well as the wats and temples of the great khmer religion as well. god bless cambodia.
I am a Buddhist and I totally agree with your precious idea.
But you know who rule Cambodia? The Communists.AH Tep Vong and AH Long Nget are fake Buddhists.
After 1979Christianity was banned in cambodia.
The current ppenh City hall belongued to the former Cathololic
Paroisse. They must return it to Christians.
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