Saigon: charity and mercy at Easter
Ho Chi Minh City (AsiaNews) – Catholics in Việt Tân, a parish in the Archdiocese of Saigon, heeded Pope Francis’ call for Paschal charity and mercy by calling on its members to dedicate themselves to helping the poor and disadvantaged children.
In the past week, many members of Caritas Saigon attended courses organised by the parish to learn useful socially work.
"We heeded Pope Francis who proclaimed a special year for us Catholics, to try to be more compassionate and less moralistic,” some told AsiaNews.
“This is the special Jubilee of Mercy, which will begin on 8 December this year,” and the pontiff “called on churches around the world to have always open ‘gates of mercy', to enable churches to be 'oases of mercy'."
Parish vicar Fr Dominique Vũ Ngọc Thu has worked hard to help about 170 Caritas members from 27 parishes in the archdiocese to participate in the courses.
He wants to help members of parish-level Caritas understand and better fulfil the Catholic mission of charity in the spirit of the Church.
"The parish of Việt Tân was founded in 1954,” Fr Dominique said. “Now it has about 8,000 members. During this Easter, we responded to the pope’s appeal to engage in social and charitable activities to serve the poor and disadvantaged children."
Indeed, the parishes in the Archdiocese of Saigon have increased their charitable activities for the poor, the elderly, the sick and underprivileged children.
In addition, the Caritas Board of directors organised short courses on Caritas spirituality and social work, to help the volunteers be more efficient.
Parishioners in Tân Việt have done this in the hope that "the joy of Easter may continue to spread in families.”
“Starting from the unity of the Church and mutual love, our experience of this year of evangelisation in the parish community includes bringing the Good News to those who do not know God's love."
Pope Francis said that Christians are called to "wake up the world" and be "open paths to peace." However, "Peace must begin in our hearts, among ourselves, in our homes and community,” parishioners said. “Then we must pass it onto our country and the world."
"When each of us receives the 'fire' from the Easter candle, we must accept to give ourselves totally in order to bring the light of joy and hope to others,” said Fr Dominique.
Teresa, 60, is a Caritas member. "When I was a child, I endured terrible wars that brought suffering and misery to the people of Vietnam,” she said. “So I prayed to God and Our Lady of La Vang for peace in our country.”
Now, “In the light of faith, I recognise the fact that God has supported and helped a lot the parishes of the Church in Vietnam."
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09/03/2006
