RABAUL: 20 March 2010 -- On18 March the Holy Father announced
that Bishop Francis Panfilo SDB has been appointed coadjutor archbishop
of Rabaul in Papua New Guinea. He has been bishop of Alotau-Sideia,
also PNG, since 2001.
As coadjutor to Archbishop Karl Hesse MSC, the new
archbishop-designate will also be working with Auxiliary Bishop John
Doaninoel SM. There are possibly not too many other dioceses around the
world with that combination!
The VunaBosco Agrotech school at Kokopo falls within
the Rabaul archdiocese. In fact Kokopo is now the capital of East
New Britain, replacing Rabaul which, despite its historical position
(HQ of German New Guinea, capital of the Australian mandate Territory
of New Guinea and then provincial capital of East New Britain when
Papua New Guinea became an independent nation in 1975) ceased to be
capital after it was almost entirely destroyed by the 1994 volcanic
eruption.
PHNOM PENH: 20 March 2010 -- Don Bosco Technical School campus
hosted the venue for the episcopal ordination of Bishop Olivier
Schmitthaesler MEP, coadjutor bishop to the apostolic vicariate of
Phnom Penh on Saturday, 20 March 2010. On 24 December 2009 Rev. Olivier
Schmitthaeslur was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI as the coadjutor
bishop to Bishop Emile Destombes MEP.
The ceremony on 20 March was a symbolic unity of
four countries - Cambodia, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam as
represented by their bishops, priests and faithful in the ceremony.
More than 6,000 Catholics, twelve bishops and eighty priests were
around the new coadjutor bishop, the greatest assembly of Catholics
after the collapse of Khmer Rouge in 1979.
This is the second major event of the Catholic
Church in Cambodia to be held at Don Bosco Technical School Campus. The
first event was the Cambodian Mission Day’s Telling the Story of
Jesus in 2007.
Bishop Olivier Schmitthaesler was born on 26 June
1970 at Strasbourg, France. He is, therefore, considered the “youngest
bishop in Asia” today. Representatives of the Catholics in Cambodia,
especially the 38 Mission Centers/ Churches joined the ordaining
prelate, Bishop Emile Destombes, MEP. The Apostolic Vicariate of Phnom
Penh has 13,000 Catholics.
***
On a lighter note: people sometimes ask what is the difference between
a coadjutor bishop and an auxiliary bishop. An auxiliary bishop
greets his bishop in the morning, with 'Good morning Bishop'; the
coadjutor bishop asks 'How are you feeling today, Bishop?' _________________ AustraLasia is an
email
service
for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions
as an
agency for ANS based in
Rome.
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