ASIA/CAMBODIA - Chronology of the Catholic Church in Cambodia

Rome (Fides Service) - We give the main events in the history of the development of Catholic Church in Cambodia
1554 Fernando Mendez Pinto, Jesuit visits Cambodia.
1555 Gaspar de Cruz, Dominican lives at Court.
XVII century Jesuits, Dominicans and Franciscans open first missions
1665 Fr Chevreuil MEP arrives in Colompé (Phnom Penh) and Pinhalu.
Difficulties for mission because of war
1768 Fr. Levasseur gives new impulse to evangelisation and translates a catechism into Khmer. Christian are dispersed because of war with Siam and Vietnam.
1850 Creation of first Apostolic Prefecture, (Phnom Penh) which includes Cochin China (south Vietnam) inhabited by Khmer people.
1861-65 Arrival of many Vietnamese Christians fleeing persecution in their country.
1955 Apostolic Prefecture of Phnom Penh, raised to the rank of Apostolic Vicariate in 1924, is made to coincide with the political boundaries of the country.
1957 Ordination of first Cambodian priest.
1968 Creation of 3 ecclesiastic circumscriptions. Mgr Tep Im Sotha Samath first Cambodian Apostolic Prefect in Battambang.
1970 Between May and August about 61,000 Catholics (Khmer 3000, Chinese 1500, Vietnamese 56.500) leave Cambodia for Vietnam because of anti-
Vietnamese repression. They are accompanied by their priests 64: 4 Khmer, 15 Vietnamese and 45 French missionaries.
1970-72 7 priests, (5 French and 2 Vietnamese) are killed.
1975 14 April : Ordination of Bishop Joseph Chhmar Salas (aged 37), Bishop of Phnom-Penh.
30 April : all foreigners expelled including French missionaries.
Assassination of Bishop Tep Im and Benedictine Fr. Jean Badré from Kep.
1975-1979 Disappearance of the whole structure of the Church in Cambodia: Bishop Salas and numerous priests and men and women religious die; many churches are systematically destroyed.
1983 Opened in Rome, Office for the Promotion of the Apostolate among Cambodians (BPAC), director Mgr Yves Ramousse (MEP), former Vicar Apostolic of Phnom Penh, entrusted with the care of all Cambodian Catholics all over the world. The Office has representatives in Asia, America and Europe, head offices in Paris.
1989 May: 14 years after being expelled Mgr. Yves Ramousse, former Vicar apostolic, is allowed to return to Cambodia, as part of a mission undertaken by the Catholic Committee for Food and Development (CCFD).
1990 7 April: with a note addressed to the Solidarity Front National Council, the Central Committee of the Revolutionary Party authorises the opening of a ‘church of the Christian religion”. For the first time since 1975, Cambodian Catholics openly attend Mass on Easter Day celebrated by Fr. Emile Destombes, MEP, representative of Caritas Internationalis.
Catholic communities resume activity.
1992 Mgr Yves Ramousse appointed Vicar Apostolic of Phnom Penh and Apostolic Administrator of the apostolic prefecture of Battambang.
1992 Major seminary opened
1993 Cambodia’s new Constitution recognises Religious Freedom
1994 25 March: Cambodia and the Holy See establish diplomatic relations
1995 July: ordination of Cambodia priest
1997 5 October: ordination of new Coadjutor Bishop of Phnom Penh, Mgr Emile Destombes, Paris Foreign Missions (MEP). In the same year the Holy See appoints Fr. Antonysamy Susairaj Apostolic Administrator of Kompong Cham.
2001 December: ordination of 4 priests.
(Agenzia Fides 29/11/2006; righe 53, parole 524)