Catholic Vietnam: Growing Despite Communist Oppression

[mdgspencer]

see catholicworldreport.com/Item/5256/catholic_vietnam_growing_despite_communist_oppression.aspx
There are almost 6 million Catholics in Vietnam, and while threats of violence, coercion, and harassment from the communist government exist, conditions are getting better for a flourishing Catholic Church there.
“These days, the Vietnamese people see the Church as part of the Vietnamese tradition, and even non-Catholics respect the Church for its charity work,” a Vietnamese priest now in the United Staes reports. “Government officers send their kids to Catholic schools, where they know their children will receive the best education.”
“Now the government allows many young men to go to the seminary, and you can ordain anyone you want,” he said. “The Church is growing with evangelization. There are tons of young people entering the religious vocation. Seminaries have become very selective. There are 1,000 candidates waiting to enter one particular seminary outside Saigon.”

 

[Mimi]

This is amazing and wonderful news!
Reminds me of the saying, “The blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church”.

The President of S Vietnam was Catholic; there is a book out on him, but can’t recall the title right now.

Thank you for posting the article.

Mimi

 

[ClearWater]

Praise the Lord! :thumbsup::yup::clapping::bounce:

 

[Cathoholic]

Excellent!

Thanks for posting mdgspencer.

God bless you and these Vietnamese people too.

Cathoholic

 

[Latias]

Saigon? Is that a fictional city? It doesn’t exist anymore.

“The Church is growing with evangelization. There are tons of young people entering the religious vocation. Seminaries have become very selective. There are 1,000 candidates waiting to enter one particular seminary outside Saigon.”

 

[Pythagoras]

Saigon? Is that a fictional city? It doesn’t exist anymore.

Yes it does exist

 

[Fiasco]

Saigon? Is that a fictional city? It doesn’t exist anymore.

Most of us Catholics would prefer “Saigon” to “Ho Chi Minh City”!
That was the adding of insult to injury after South Vietnam was overrun!

For a few years after the US Congress voted not to throw away any more billions of dollars over there, i called Congress the “VietCongress”.
(Probably along with a lot of others.)

 

[Latias]

Most of us Catholics would prefer “Saigon” to “Ho Chi Minh City”!
That was the adding of insult to injury after South Vietnam was overrun!

For a few years after the US Congress voted not to throw away any more billions of dollars over there, i called Congress the “VietCongress”.
(Probably along with a lot of others.)

Well, the South was mostly ruled by US puppets that oppressed the Buddhists for not wanting an escalation.

Ho Chi Minh was an honorable man and Vietnamese nationalist who worked to free his country from imperialism from the Japanese, French, and US.

People talk about how bad Castro, Mao, Stalin, Pol Pot were, but Ho Chi Minh is rarely mentioned in this litany.

 

[Fiasco]

Well, the South was mostly ruled by US puppets that oppressed the Buddhists for not wanting an escalation.

Ho Chi Minh was an honorable man and Vietnamese nationalist who worked to free his country from imperialism from the Japanese, French, and US

Having read the Homer and Emma Atkins chapters of “The Ugly American”, i have to agree, but not quite 100%. What was found after the Tet Offensive was gruesome. But it seems that nothing was learnt from Dien Bien Phu.

The US attitude that money can achieve everything should have copped a hammering. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial should sober up some folks.

Hope Trump has better advisors than some of the past ones who were experts at backing the wrong horses, eg in Angola.

 

[abucs]

When I was in the city in 2003 everyone referred to it as Saigon apart from government officials.

 

[7_Sorrows]

Glad to hear it is growing.

 

[TK421]

Seminaries have become very selective. There are 1,000 candidates waiting to enter one particular seminary outside Saigon.”

Not all candidates are meant to become priests, but if there’s that much of a waiting list, they should ship 'em to other countries if they are willing; or pool resources into the country to expand the seminaries. An excess of priests either means A) missionary priests or B) auxillary priests that will bolster the faithful of Vietnam in other ways.