Posted on 09/05/2021 6:03:40 PM PDT by marshmallow
Hanoi (Agenzia Fides) - 78 new priests were ordained, and about 250 men and women religious professed their perpetual vows during the summer of 2021: these vocations are good news and a sign of hope for the Church of Vietnam, in the midst of a difficult time for the nation, marked by the fourth wave of Covid-19.
In the diocesan territories affected by the virus, classified as "green areas", the local communities were able to celebrate solemn masses, in simplicity and often outdoors; in South Vietnam, where the Coronavirus infection with the Delta variant is more widespread (the so-called "red zones"), the liturgies of priestly ordination and religious profession have been postponed for now. Those celebrated in the permitted areas took place following strict precautionary anti-Covid protocols, inside seminaries or convents with only the candidates present, and with a limited number of faithful. Without the massive crowds, without the feasts organized in the past, the new priests and religious lived their ordination in profound intimacy with God, aware of their important ministry.
In a letter sent to priests about to be ordained on August 25, 2021, Mgr. Joseph Nguyen Nang, Archbishop of Ho Chi Minh who is also Administrator of the diocese of Phat Diem, in North Vietnam, underlined: "The presbyteral ordination mass was celebrated with a limited number of participants, even without the presence of relatives of the candidates. The new priests or religious who professed their vows, and in this climate of recollection, were able to concentrate absolutely on the essential, totally turned to God, intensely experiencing his gift of grace in the Sacrament".
Vu Hien, a nun of the Dominican Order who has just taken vows in the diocese of Bac Ninh, in northern Vietnam, said: "I was well prepared for the greatest exultation in..............
(Excerpt) Read more at fides.org ...
Parts of Vietnam, particularly in the South, are among the most openly Catholic / Christian places I have seen on Earth.
Doing what God wants them to do, not what they want to do.
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