Phnom Penh – Pastoral Center, 1st June 2025 – On the morning of June 1st, the Catholic Church’s Pastoral Center in Cambodia’s capital hosted the First Mass celebrated by newly ordained priest, Fr. John Bosco Kong Somony. Born in Pursat, Fr. Somony is the first Cambodian Salesian of Don Bosco to be ordained. Bishop Olivier Schmitthaeusler conferred the sacrament the day before, on May 31st.

Fr. Somony, an alumnus of Don Bosco Technical School in Phnom Penh, initially pursued a vocational course in automotive studies. However, inspired by the footsteps of St. John Bosco, he first became a teacher at Don Bosco Poipet, a project dedicated to protecting vulnerable children and youth at the Thai border. His journey to priesthood began when he was accepted as an aspirant, spending time at Lawaan, Cebu City, Philippines, between 2009 and 2011. He later became a postulant at the Formation House of Samphran, Thailand, eventually making his first religious profession in the neighboring country in 2013.

His practical training took place in Cambodia between 2017 and 2019, at Don Bosco Technical Schools in Sihanoukville and Phnom Penh, where he made his perpetual profession. He then returned to the Philippines to complete his theological studies. On July 27th, 2024, he was ordained as a deacon in Manila.

The occasion of Fr. Somony’s priestly ordination coincided with the 34th anniversary of the arrival of the Salesians in Cambodia on May 24th, 1991. However, the Salesian mission’s connection with Cambodia dates even earlier, to 1988, during the refugee camp period along the Thai border.

Among those celebrating this significant event was Teacher Chachawan, a proud mentor of Fr. Somony and a former student of Don Bosco Bangkok. Chachawan arrived in Cambodia as a volunteer alongside the first Salesians and has remained ever since. The ordination ceremony also embodied a spirit of synodality, with the presence of Bishop Olivier, Prefects Bishop Kike and Bishop Hongly, Vice Provincial Fr. Favie from the Salesian Province of Philippines North, and Emeritus Provincial Fr. Theparat, who represented Fr. Boonlert—a strong supporter of Salesian developments in Cambodia.

Diocesan Fr. Son Un, the superior of the Catholic Pastoral Center in Phnom Penh and one of the first Cambodian priests to emerge after the country’s difficult period of war and conflict, joyfully welcomed the ceremony. He expressed his best wishes for the new priests, the 15th Cambodian priest to be ordained after the war, whose presence at the First Mass offered a symbol of hope to the Catholic community on the Feast of the Ascension of the Lord.

Link to the Live First Mass: https://shorturl.at/HTw2b