Catholic Church in Cambodia

[1][2] The Church in Cambodia was slow to develop during the 20th century, with the first native Cambodian priest being ordained in 1957, and was nearly destroyed by the Khmer Rouge's severe communist rule which banned the practice of religion.

[4] The first native Cambodian priest, Simon Chhem Yen, was ordained on November 7, 1957,[5] followed by Paul Tep Im Sotha and Joseph Chhmar Salas in 1959 and 1964 respectively.

[8] From 1975 to 1979 however, the communist rule of the Khmer Rouge nearly extinguished Catholicism in the country; two-thirds of the remaining Catholics in Cambodia perished in forced labor camps,[6] including Chhmar, while others were executed for indiscriminate reasons, such as Paul Tep Im Sotha.

[7] As the city lacked many items needed for the seminarians' training, they had to retrieve educational materials covertly provided in sacks by Fr.

[7] Bishop Ramousse later recounted that Dupraz in 1993 managed to purchase the land previously occupied by the Battambang Parish before 1970, and had the responsibility of rebuilding the Church while being the lone priest in an area one-third the size of Cambodia.

[7] The seminarians had to act almost like vicars to Dupraz as they continued their training, being sent to remote areas of the country such as Serei Saophoan and Siem Reap to produce reports about their situations.

[12][13] A new ecumenical Khmer translation of the Bible was published in June 1998, made to improve upon Hammond's more literal 1954 translation,[14] and later in October, the seminary headed by Dupraz was moved to Phnom Penh and officially named the St. John Mary Vianney Major Seminary, as chosen by the seminarians.

[7] One incident of violence during the Church's revival was a grenade explosion at Banteay Prieb, a Jesuit school for the disabled, in Angk Snuol District, Kandal Province on October 17, 1996.