Posted on 09/04/2013 7:23:40 PM PDT by marshmallow
Some 410 young people took part on 1 August in aptitude tests. Forty from among them will be selected to study to become priests. Female vocations are also growing. The basic tests are designed to know the motivations behind such a choice and hold back those who are motivated by "worldly ambitions."
Hanoi (AsiaNews/EDA) - The priesthood and the consecrated life are exerting a growing fascination among young Vietnamese Catholics as evinced by the high number of candidates applying to enter the Major Seminary of Vinh-Thanh (which covers the northern dioceses of Vinh and Thanh Hoa). Last month saw in fact a peak, with 410 men asking to write the entrance exam for the 2013-2014 academic year.
More importantly, such a high number involves an institution located in northern Vietnam, a traditional stronghold of the Vietnamese Communist Party, which for decades has used every means at its disposal to discourage religious practice and crush religious freedom. Catholics, who have often been associated with the West, have suffered persecution and abuse under Communist rule as shown by the life of Card Van Thuan and other priests.
For years, Vietnam's seminaries required candidates to undergo aptitude tests and exams at the level of each diocese and religious congregation, in both South and North, in order to carry out an initial screening and assess qualifications.
In the ecclesiastical province of Hanoi, there are four major seminaries. The one in the capital was the first to reopen in 1987 after the Communist government shut down it following reunification in 1975.
(Excerpt) Read more at asianews.it ...
Great news. The Vietnamese church and its suffering under persecution is often overlooked.
Thanks, John Kerry.
Ping.
I travel to Vietnam regularly for business - mainly the South. Have visited some churches and convents. I know the Church has difficulty opening more schools or orphanages, and there are always disputes over land and building. But in terms of worship, if there is persecution, it seems not to matter to the people there.
I find Catholic Churches all over the towns and cities of the South. Churches seem to be open all hours, and even late in the evening, you will see all the lights on, people on the grounds chatting, kids playing, etc... They seem to be real community centers and are busy all times. On Sundays, masses are over-flowing. I visited one Church on a Sunday which probably seated 500 cheek-by-jowel, and it still had another 500+ out on the patio (its tropical, so often doors are very large and walls are open). It was quite a sight, compared to the staid, sparse Church attendance I often see here in the USA.
Wow! What a first-hand testimony.
Praise the Living Christ!
The Rosary sounds so beautiful when said in Vietnamese.
Praise and THANKS be to God for that good news. Thank-you also for your sharing.
The Vietnames church’s situation was improving steadily while Bush and CLinton were applying consistent pressure for liberalization in the government. Then we got Obama who has great disdain for nations that evince a desire for friendship or alliance with the United States. That steady pressure has turned to fitful pressure for clamping down on liberal elements in the government and dangerous freedom among the people. The recent clampdown on unapproved sentiment on the internet came immediately following a meeting in DC between Mr. Obama and the Vietnamese Premier and was surely given explicit approval by the President. I can’t guess whether the premier asked for approval or the President suggested the measure, though. One is as likely as the other.
In the town I hang out in when I am there the two largest parishes have mass 5 times on Sunday. The smaller one, my parish there, holds perhaps a jammed 600. The early 2 masses have seating outside and thatseating is full of another several hunred people. There are, I think, 4 daily masses that mostly fill the church. I go to the 0400 mass and at first tried to get there early so I could sit inside. Just before the opening hymn I was approached by the deacon who escorted me to to a pew up front as one of the honored elders because I am an American (and not very young).
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