PHNOM PENH (UCAN) -- The importance of caring for the environment engaged the attention of more than 300 young Catholics at their recent national synod.

Young people from all three Church jurisdictions in Cambodia gathered Aug. 21-24 for the fourth Catholic Youth Synod in Cambodia, held at the Don Bosco school for girls in Phnom Penh.

During the gathering, Ham Sok, a staff member of Jesuit Service Cambodia in Banteay Mean Chey province, northern Cambodia, gave a presentation on the situation of the environment in the country.

"Our main concern is to help young people be aware of the enormous importance of learning how to take good care of our environment," he told UCA News after his presentation.

Among environmental issues he cited were deforestation, over-fishing and high consumption of wood and charcoal for cooking fuel. In cities such as Phnom Penh, he added, the lack of facilities for recycling garbage "causes much pollution of our environment."

Sok, 31, urged the synod participants to take the environmental message to other young people. "We cannot expect to have good health while living in a dirty environment," he said.

According to Church data, about 19,000 of Cambodia's 12 million people are Catholics. More than 90 percent of the people are Buddhists.

In his presentation, Sok also explained that taking care of the environment could prevent annual rainy-season flooding during August and September.

As Tit Phearith, 25, looked at pictures of garbage, he told UCA News, "I have learned today that environmental pollution in our country is a big problem." The youth from Battambang apostolic prefecture's Knach Romeas parish admitted to not being very interested in environmental issues before.

"Now I understand that I should not throw garbage anywhere in the streets. I think we young people should be very serious about this," Phearith said.

Soun Chanthoeun, 18, was sitting nearby. "When I walk anywhere, I always see a lot of garbage along the road," she observed. She also remembered her parish priest frequently calling young people's attention to environmental issues.

Father Totet Banaynal, vicar general of Battambang prefecture, appreciated the emphasis on environment at the youth synod. The Jesuit priest said it is very important that young Cambodians learn to treasure nature as God's great gift.

Besides the focus on the environment, youth representatives from Battambang and Kompong Cham prefectures and Phnom Penh vicariate spoke during the synod about the situation of youth in their areas.

Battambang delegates reported that their prefecture has organized youth groups in each parish or community, whose leaders have formed a committee to bring all these groups together in a network.

Phnom Penh delegates reported the vicariate's youth program is better organized in smaller communities outside the capital, such as Takeo-Kompot and Sihanoukville, and many ethnic Vietnamese youths are involved. They identified a need to build up young people's prayer life.

Delegates from Kompong Cham prefecture reported that it only developed an action plan for the youth this year. But the presence of about 100 young people from its parishes bore witness to their Christian commitment and desire to learn from the experience of fellow Catholic youths.

Before the synod ended, the young people committed themselves to create a network through which they could share experiences of their Christian life and social commitment, using modern means of communication.

They also promised to help Church youth groups research local environmental issues and share what they learn with others.

Finally the young people committed themselves to support each other in studying the Bible and applying it in their daily life.

The synod's theme, "Telling the story of Jesus in our lives," echoed the theme of the first Asian Mission Congress, held last October in Thailand.

The first Catholic Youth Synod in Cambodia was held in 2000.

The Cambodian Church is struggling to rebuild after the devastating civil war in the early 1970s and the brutality of the Khmer Rouge government led by Pol Pot. No native Cambodian priests or nuns in the country survived his four-year reign of terror (1975-1979), when anywhere from 500,000 to 2 million people were killed by the Khmer Rouge or died from its misrule.

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