Subject: Opening of a Community in Phnom Penh 

Brother Grégoire Tan, FSC
Visitor
District of Vietnam 

Dear Brother Grégoire, 

Please find attached a copy of Protocol N° 050309, which was approved by Brother Superior General with the unanimous advice of the members of the General Council present, at their meeting held in Rome on 23 March 2005. This decision was made in response to your request to Brother Superior dated March 17th, 2005, seeking approval for the opening of a Community in Phnom Penh in the Kingdom of Cambodia. 

Fraternally yours, 

Brother Peter Gilfedder
Executive Secretary 

Protocol Nº 050309

GENERAL COUNCIL DELIBERATION

District: Vietnam

Topic: Request for opening a new Community in Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Explanation: Brother Grégoire Tan, Visitor of the District of Vietnam, wrote to Brother Superior, presenting a Cambodia mission proposal.

The proposal is for the Brothers of Vietnam, in conjunction with Vietnamese Brothers working in San Jose, District of San Francisco, to make a return to Cambodia, where there were Brothers from 1906 to 1973. The plan is to open a new Lasallian mission in Cambodia before it becomes difficult to get government permission, this being the advice of a group of Religious who are there.

The short term plan is to send 3 to 4 volunteer Brothers to form a community in Phnom Penh. The Brothers would spend the first year being inculturated into the Cambodian way of life through a study of the language and culture. They would render some educational service to the poor and participate in the catechetical ministry of the local Church. They could rent a house or an apartment with about six rooms in a low-income neighbourhood. At the end of the first year they would present an evaluation and a proposal for a long term mission to Brother Visitor and the District Council for consideration before it is forwarded to Brother Superior and his Council.

In a second phase they would subcontract with the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers to take care of 5 to 10 children with HIV as a good way to get entry visas for work in the Kingdom of Cambodia. They could offer some vocational classes such as in computer studies.

The Brothers in San Jose, San Francisco District, would assume the fund-raising for this mission with the permission of the Visitor of San Francisco. An endowment fund of $200,000 would be set up to support this mission of the District of Vietnam. The projected cost of the mission would include a rental fee of $600 per month. Room and board and other expenses would entail $50 per Brother per month.

District Council: 12-13.02.2005 YES: 23 NO: 0 Abst.: 1
Brother Visitor’s opinion: In favour

Vote of General Council: Date: 23.03.2005 YES: 4 NO: 0 Abst.: 0
Decision of Brother Superior General: YES

General Council meeting 05/14