Fifteen seminarians go to “charity school” in Ho Chi Minh City’s poorest neighbourhoods
St Joseph Major Seminary students set to work with Caritas for a month. After a training course, they went to the Cần Giờ missionary point to work with disabled and abandoned children. “Continue along this path” to serve the Lord, city’s archbishop said.
Ho Chi Minh City (AsiaNews) – About 15 aspiring priests from Ho Chi Minh City’s St Joseph Seminary placed themselves at the disposal of the local Caritas for a month this summer.
They did so “Because we want to heed the Church’s call and Pope Francis’s teachings. For this reason, we gave them a chance to become missionaries as the Church desires,” said Fr Joseph Maria Đỗ Đình Ánh, who teaches at the seminary.
Starting on 14 June, the charity launched a series of activities for the poor and children living in difficult situations in Ho Chi Minh City’s southern neighbourhoods.
For a week, the seminarians attended a training course at the city’s Caritas centre; then they travelled to the missionary point in Cần Giờ, which is located in the southern part of the city.
Here they took part in various social activities at the Mai Tâm shelter, helping with rice cooking at Hanh Thông Tây parish. They also worked with the disabled along with the Hoàng Mai social unit.
Fr Gioan Kim Lê Văn Chinh has been in charge of the Cần Giờ missionary point since 2013. "Now the Cần Giờ parish has three missionary centres – Cần Thanh, Đông Hoa, and An Thoi,” he said. “The latter has fewer than 400 members, but Đông Hòa has been growing steadily, thanks to God's mercy."
“Despite having few members, the missionary point can count on Redemptorist fathers from Ho Chi Minh City. The latter, the diocese’s priests and religious, and many lay people come here to perform charitable work for the poor, both Catholic and non."
The missionary point was built up after 1987, the clergyman said. First there was nothing, not a church, no priests, and those who tried to spread the Gospel faced many difficulties. However, for the past 25 years, thanks to the diocese of Ho Chi Minh City, the Church got involved in social outreach again.
On 21 June, the 15 seminarians met with Ho Chi Minh City Caritas Director Fr Ngọc Đồng, who showed them with the activities he runs.
"We accompanied the seminarians during the training course to teach them the skills to communicate in a charitable way,” he said. “They learnt the principles on which to build a social project and pastoral organisation."
The students also received the visit of Mgr Paul Bui Van Doc, archbishop of Ho Chi Minh City, who encouraged them to continue in their vocation and serve their neighbours.
"Through social activities we are able to meet the spiritual needs of people and communities,” the prelate said. “Continue along this path, sacrifice yourselves with courage, and do not be afraid. Working for the people you are working for the Lord and when you do it, God rejoices."
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