Build a Church in Vietnam
Friday, November 20, 2009

Project Code: 334-01-19

So far this year, six Vietnamese bishops have visited ACN’s international headquarters in Germany. During their visits, again and again they have told us just how important churches and chapels are to the Catholic faithful in Vietnam, since these places of worship are the heart of the parishes and the community. Without them, people are deprived not only of a fitting place to worship, but also of a center for religious and social activities, for catechesis, and for other pastoral activities. The entire life of the community tends to revolve around the church building. All six bishops told us how saddened they are that not every village in Vietnam can have a chapel of its own, yet the Church is growing more and more and there are already over 6 million Catholics in this communist ruled country. Their life is far from easy, but their faith is strong.

One village that does not have its own church is in the Diocese of Phat Diem in the North of Vietnam. The village is poor and for 20 years the people have been meeting in a private house. The parishioners have lovingly converted one room into something like a chapel, but it is far too small to accommodate the many people who wish to pray. Even back in 1932, when the parish was first founded, there were 520 Catholics in the village! They desperately need a place where they can gather, not only for Holy Mass and other liturgical celebrations, but also for religious instruction and a variety of other activities.

Above all it is important for young people to have an opportunity to participate in the liturgical and catechetical activities of the parish so that their Catholic faith can take deep root and be truly based on an authentic Christian foundation. Vietnamese society is also changing very quickly, and the younger generation is the most strongly affected by these changes. In the traditional world of the villages many of the modern developments have not yet arrived, but many young people are moving out into the towns and cities in search of work. Here they find themselves suddenly confronted with a world for which they are unprepared, and as a result many of them lose their inner sense of direction. To prevent this it is vital that they should have a sound initial grounding in the Faith.

The people in this particular village are very poor, and even by uniting all their resources and at the cost of great sacrifice, they will never be able to scrape together enough to build a church on their own. As it is, they live a precarious existence, depending on the produce of their fields and often at the mercy of natural disasters, which sometimes leave them barely able to support their own families.

ACN has promised the bishop $7,800. Will you join in supporting this construction effort so that this village can soon have a living, beating “heart” of its own – as the Vietnamese bishops called it during their visit – in the shape of a village church?

Progress: 18% Raised: $ 1430     Goal: $ 7800

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