tvc.dsj.org | October 8, 2019 VIETNAMESE NEWS
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New Headquarters for Vietnam’s Catholic University
By ucanews.com reporter, Saigon
The National Catholic University in
Vietnam has begun its fourth year by
moving into brand-new headquarters.
Some 150 bishops, priests, religious
and other people attended a special
ceremony on September 14, in Saigon
to inaugurate the Catholic Institute of
Vietnam’s new facility.
In attendance were, Archbishop
Joseph Nguyen Chi Linh of Hue and
Bishop Joseph Dinh Duc Dao, rector of
the institute.
Archbishop Linh, the president of the
Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Viet-
nam, said the institute now has its own
headquarters for the first time since its
launch in 2016. The new building used to
house retired priests from the northern
diocese of Bac Ninh, which has lent it to
the institute for 25 years.
He said in the past, the university
temporarily held its courses at the head-
quarters of the local Catholic Bishops’
Conference and the Pastoral Center of
the Saigon Archdiocese.
The institute, which has limited pro-
fessors and finance, will be providing
theological courses for 125 students,
but the archbishop warned it would
be a long road for the local Church to
develop the institute as fully as other
church institutes had around the world.
Archbishop Linh called on all people
to work with the institute, which was
approved by the government in 2015, to
open more branches and meet needs for
pastoral care and knowledge.
The inauguration of the new facility
marked the opening of the fourth aca-
demic year of the institute.
Bishop Dao, who heads Xuan Loc
Diocese, the country’s largest in terms
of population, said the institute this year
would launch pastoral master’s degree
courses to train priests and religious in
pastoral work, and teach the laity how to
live out faith and do apostolic mission-
ary work in their environment.
The head of the Episcopal Commis-
sion for Catholic Education of Viet-
namese bishops said pastoral courses
would also offer local cultural, social
and religious knowledge to support
pastoral activities.
During the inauguration, Arch-
bishop Linh and Bishop Dao presented
the first bachelor’s degree certificates
on theology to 12 priests and religious
throughout the country.
After 1975, the communist state
closed the Pontifical College based in
Dalat, which offered theological courses
to students from Cambodia, Laos and
Vietnam. Vietnam started to ease its
grip on religious activities in the late
1980s. The local Church now has 11
major seminaries providing priestly
guidance for 2,730 students from the
country’s 27 dioceses.
Vietnam Missioners Urged to Take Christ’s Life to Poor
By ucanews.com reporter
Hundreds of Redemptorist youth
missioners in Vietnam have been called
on to bring God’s love to abandoned
people.
Some 400 members of the Redemp-
torist Youth Ministry of Vietnam, a
group of lay missioners led by Re-
demptorists, attended their first-ever
gathering on September 28-29 in Hue.
Most missioners, aged 16-30, are from
parishes run by Redemptorists through-
out the country.
“You do have the life of Christ in
yourselves, so please continue to bring
Christian joy to other people for the
future of the Church,” Father Joseph
Nguyen Ngoc Bich, head of the Viet-
nam Province of Redemptorists, told
participants.
Father Bich said their active religious
activities clearly affect the religious life
of people from neighboring countries.
The priest, who recently returned
from Taiwan, said some Taiwanese
Catholic groups who visited parishes
in Vietnam have improved their faith
life by following Vietnamese Catholics’
ways of living out faith.
They told him that they are inspired
by Catholics in Vietnam who take part
in church activities and attend daily
morning Masses. They described Viet-
namese Catholics as those who have
Christ’s life, he added.
The superior of the 33-member prov-
ince said churches in some countries
had asked Vietnamese Redemptorists
to send lay missionaries to serve them.
Father Bich said some lay youths will
train as missionaries to do evangelical
work abroad.
Redemptorist Father Vincent Mary
Pham Cao Quy, head of the Redemptor-
ist Youth Ministry of Vietnam, said the
ministry’s mission is to bear witness to
Father Vincent Mary Pham Cao Quy, head
of the Redemptorist Youth Ministry of
Vietnam, prepares to speak at its first-ever
gathering held on September 28-29 in Hue.
the Good News by serving the poor and
abandoned. He said people face grave
risks of abortion, sexual and drug abuse
and domestic violence.
The priest said participants dis-
cussed action plans to preach the Word
of God to their friends, visit and give
material and spiritual support to domes-
tic migrants, followers of other faiths,
prisoners, street children, drug abusers,
and rape victims, and work with those
who are losing their faith in life.
Mary Phan Thi Ngoc Anh, one of 60
youths from Thai Ha parish in Hanoi,
said she had opportunities to strengthen
her faith and express solidarity with
other people during the summer.
Father Quy said the gathering aimed
to offer opportunities for participants
to share their experiences in evange-
lization, cement their ties with one
another, learn teaching and laws of
the Redemptorist congregation, attend
Mass and watch cultural performances.
Participants paid 300,000 to 400,000
dong (US$13-17) each to cover travel and
food expenses.
The Redemptorist Youth Ministry
of Vietnam was established in 2017 by
Redemptorists in Hanoi to participate
in the Redemptorist mission “to fol-
low the example of Jesus Christ, the
Redeemer, by preaching the Word of
God to the people.”
Vietnam Diocese Trains Laity to Become Church Reporters
ucanews.com reporter
A diocese in northern Vietnam has
started training parishioners how to be-
come reporters so they can help promote
evangelization and share church news
with local people.
The Hung Hoa Diocesan Communi-
cation Committee and Yen Bai Deanery
held the first ever course on communi-
cation skills September 19 and 20. The
24 attendees, mostly in their 20s to 40s,
came from 20 parishes based in Yen Bai
Province.
During the course at An Thinh Church,
Nghia Yen District, they were taught
how to write online reports on church
activities in their areas for the diocesan
website (www.giaophanhunghoa.org)
in the future.
They also learned how to use their
smartphones to take quality pictures to
accompany their reports and received
special classes in communicating Catho-
lic spirituality.
Father Joseph Tran Quy Tuan, head
of the committee, said the media play a
major role in spreading news rapidly in
society. “We should share church news
with one another and have communion
with other people,” he said.
Father Tuan said most people surfed
the internet every day so there was an
urgent need to train reporters to work
for the diocesan site and share church
information.
The priest said the diocese — it is by
size the largest in Vietnam, covering
part of Hanoi and nine mountainous
provinces – lacked qualified reporters
and its website was short of relevant
local church news.
It has been left to a few priests and
religious to contribute to it but they were
busy doing pastoral work so it made
sense for lay people to participate too.
Father Tuan said the aim of the first
course was to provide openings for
those with good communications skills
to help provide news about the Church
which, for some in the community, re-
mained a mystery.
Father Peter Nguyen Dinh Den,
head of the deanery which is home to
various ethnic groups, said the long-
overdue course was necessary for the
local Church to share its activities and
sufferings with people in other places;
43,000 Catholics in 20 parishes are ac-
tive in various pastoral work and suffer
natural disasters, poverty and difficul-
ties in evangelization.
Father Den, pastor of An Thinh par-
ish which has 5,200 members, said local
people also had a keen interest in learn-
ing about the lives of other Catholics in
the diocese, including their challenges.
One of the attendees, Mary Dang Thi
Thanh Mai from Yen Bai parish, said she
appreciated the course because it had
opened her mind to church activities
and how to report on them.
She said it had been so rewarding she
was keen to acquire further reporting
skills so she reports on Catholic news
in her parish.
Participants and priests also estab-
lished a communication committee and
made plans to meet again.