By Mark Saludes
CAMBODIA – A Buddhist school for novice monks named after a Catholic bishop opened in Cambodia on Jun 26, a tribute to more than two decades of friendship and cooperation between the country’s Buddhist and Catholic communities.
The “Chomroen Olivier” Buddhist Primary School, named after Venerable Nget Chomroeun, abbot of Ang Montrey Pagoda, and Bishop Olivier Schmitthaeusler, apostolic vicar of Phnom Penh, was inaugurated at Ang Montrey Pagoda in Takeo province.
The ceremony also marked the opening of a new residence for the abbot and drew Buddhist monks, government officials, students, local residents, and Catholic and Buddhist faithful.
The school is the latest milestone in a partnership between Ang Montrey Pagoda and Our Lady of the Smile Catholic Church that began after Schmitthaeusler arrived as a missionary in nearby Chomkartieng in 2002.
“This stands as a sign of a beautiful, concrete, and living collaboration between the Pagoda and the Our Lady of the Smile Catholic Church, and more broadly, between Buddhism and the Catholic Church in Cambodia,” Schmitthaeusler said in a document sent to LiCAS News.
According to the prelate, the Catholic Church has supported the Buddhist primary school since 2023. About 40 young monks have already studied Pali and Sanskrit, along with Khmer, mathematics, and computer science.
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