Most local tourist publications list churches and services, or check the national Cambodia Daily newspaper on Fridays for a guide. The Catholic Church in Cambodia website lists a good range of services and schedules for various denominations and languages.
If traveling outside of Phnom Penh or Siem Reap, church officials in those main centers can usually advise tourists where churches of the same denomination are located close to their intended destination, and the Cambodia Yellow Pages, which is online and in hard copies at most hotels and restaurants also lists places of worship nationwide.
Worldwide Christian aid group, World Vision, is also a very good source of information and its ministries embrace a wide range of people from all walks of life, or attend one of the more unusual services or churches such as these listed below:
Tonle Sap Lake's Floating Church
The floating church of St John's on the Tonle Sap lake offers services by Indonesian Father Heri Bratasudarma. Services are held Sundays at Chong Kneas Floating Village at Siem Reap port at 12pm and Prek Toal, a remote floating village also known for its amazing bird sanctuary, at 2pm. The church is a large, stable houseboat and attending a mass on it offers a truly singular perspective into both Cambodian Christian worship and life on this lake. The Tonle Sap is at the heart of fisheries and rice production in the kingdom and Chong Kneas in particular is an entire floating town with its own shops, restaurants, markets – and of course, church.
Christian Services in Former Khmer Rouge Strongholds
Pailin, more than 400 kilometers northwest of the capital on the Thai border is home to a handful of evangelical churches. The former Khmer Rouge have now taken to Christianity in their hundreds – perhaps because it offers absolution whereas Buddhism demands continued reincarnation in lesser forms of animals to atone for past sins. A large Korean-inspired Christian church is being built in Pailin and motorbike taxi drivers will know where Christian (Sasanak Yeazoo) services are being held. Other former strongholds including Samlot are also home to various denominations of evangelical faiths and welcome visitors – and donations. The roots of these ministries are often in the refugee camps which lay on the Thai border for more than a decade after the 1979 overthrow of the Khmer Rouge and inspirational stories of survival and faith as well as war and conversion abound in these communities.
Sihanoukville's Marvel of St Michael's
This beachside resort area of the country may be all sun and surf today, but it has a past, and St Michael's Catholic Church exemplifies that. This pretty and very active place of worship located as tourists enter the town was designed by pre-eminent Cambodian architect Vann Molyvann. Its roof is shaped like sails, signifying the seafaring and fishing culture of local people. Constructed around 1962, when Sihanoukville was in its heyday and celebrities including French actress and beauty Catherine Deneuve flocked there - as well as the town's namesake, retired Cambodian king Norodom Sihanouk. St Michael's was taken over by the Khmer Rouge in 1975, who used it as a prison. It was later used as a storehouse before finally opening again after democracy returned to Cambodia in 1993. The original paintings still line the walls and are unusual in that they are mainly Bible scenes with the main characters depicted in traditional Khmer garb. The church now serves around 80 mainly Vietnamese fishing families.
Bronwyn Sloan - Bronwyn Sloan is a freelance journalist with more than 20 years journalism experience in Australia and Southeast Asia who has spent the ...
