Cambodian Mission
St. Luke’s Church has been involved for many years in outreach to the Cambodian population of Fall River. Cambodian refugees first came to Fall River in 1979 after four years of a traumatic takeover of their country by the Khmer Rouge, a radical communist insurgency. St. Luke’s sponsored the first Cambodians into the city along with two other city parishes and has been involved with this needy population ever since. Currently, it is estimated that there are about 5,000 Cambodians in the city. Some have learned English, become educated and now work in factories and social agencies in the city. Some have started small businesses. Others have struggled to adapt to American life, especially the elderly. Many elderly Cambodians speak very limited English and are quite isolated from the American mainstream. Even some younger Cambodians have little English, particularly if they arrived in the U.S. as adults. They work in factories that do not require a lot of English skills and so their language ability remains rudimentary.
Cambodian youth have been educated in American schools and so speak English as a native language. These young people bridge two worlds, the American world of their school and the Cambodian-speaking world at home. It can be difficult for the children to cope with the conflicting demands of these two worlds. The girls are expected to behave as proper village girls, never speaking to boys and spending all their free time with their mother. Boys have more freedom to go out with their friends. Parents often provide very little supervision to their sons. Some boys have joined youth gangs that clash with the school authorities and the police. It is hard for the parents to deal with sons who have become gang-involved. The parents speak little English and are intimidated by American authorities. Often it is older siblings who interact with the schools and the court system. The result is that teen boys have little adult guidance.
For all of these groups – elderly Khmer-speakers, adult workers, teen boys and girls, children – St. Luke’s Church is an important meeting place with the American community. We have served a role in Fall River as friends to Cambodians and an entrée to mainstream American society. Our co-warden Janet Buckley-Smith, a paralegal specializing in immigration, has prepared many Cambodian adults for the U.S. citizenship test, including accompanying them to their citizenship interview and swearing-in. We welcome Cambodians to our weekly services and special events such as the Flea Market and Christmas Buffet. We translate portions of the service into Khmer so that non-English-speakers may hear the Gospel in their native language. Rev. Lee speaks some Khmer and often delivers a portion of her sermon in Khmer. Literate Cambodians read the Gospel lesson and translate the Prayers of the People into Khmer. Our Sunday morning services are the only place in Fall River that Cambodians regularly hear their language spoken in an American setting. When social service agencies want to communicate with Cambodians, they often call us. We are a neutral meeting ground, set apart from various conflicts within the Cambodian community, where Americans and Cambodians can meet and talk.
We work hard to convey to our Cambodian members the values and beliefs of Christianity. They come from a Buddhist background and most take part in periodic Buddhist festivals out of respect for their ancestors. They look to the Christian faith for help in living in the U.S. and coping with the materialism and speed of American life. We focus on the basics, such as the Lord’s Prayer, the Ten Commandments, and the key teachings of Jesus. We incorporate everyone into the Lord’s Supper and convey a sense of being one Body in Christ, despite our differing ethnicity and backgrounds. Mostly, we try to love our Cambodian neighbors in the name of Christ.