KON TUM, Vietnam (UCAN) -- A survey to help priests in a central Vietnam highlands area understand the realities women face and develop pastoral programs for them says women give their children's education and faith formation top priority.

The women surveyed, all baptized Catholics or catechumens, also said they believe a family's happiness is determined by its spiritual health.

The subjects of the survey conducted in late April through questionnaires were 753 women aged 25 and older in Pleiku deanery, a group of parishes in the central highlands diocese of Kon Tum. Kon Tum town is 1,204 kilometers southeast of Ha Noi.

Father Pierre Nguyen Van Dong, head of the deanery, carried out the survey with Franciscan friars involved in social work. He told UCA News the survey aimed to help priests understand better the realities facing women in family life so as to come up with suitable pastoral programs for them.

Until now, he explained, priests have not developed pastoral plans that specifically address women. Each parish priest is to use the survey findings to design and implement pastoral initiatives in his parish, Father Dong said, adding that the results will also help husbands understand their wives better.

According to the results, 99 percent of respondents consider educating their children more important than making money. In addition, 77 percent said both fathers and mothers should involve themselves in their children's education.

When asked what was the most important factor determining a family's happiness, 63.3 percent said it was the family's spiritual life and 24.7 percent said good children. Money and good looks also were cited.

On the subject of educating children in the faith, 59 percent of the women said they catechize their own children, 36.4 percent said their husbands do it, and 4.6 percent said they leave this to the children's grandparents.

The researchers who conducted the survey say that based on the findings, men are no longer the sole breadwinners in many families, and 37.8 percent of the women said they were the sole breadwinner in their family. Many of the women surveyed have jobs, some in rural areas and others in Pleiku town.

The survey revealed that 52.7 percent of the women are happy with the attention their husband gives the family, 40 percent said their husband is faithful and 7.3 percent described their husband as a good businessman. Slightly more than half of the women said their husband's bad habits do not bother them.

However, 16.9 percent complained that their husband is too lazy to go to church or take part in family prayers, setting a bad example for their children. In addition, 12.9 percent described their husband as a drunkard, 6.1 percent as tyrannical, 2.7 percent as unfaithful, and 1.8 percent as addicted to gambling.

On other matters, 21 percent said their husband praises their cooking.

Out of the 753 women surveyed, 232 are catechumens and the rest are baptized Catholics. Thirty-eight percent of respondents have a primary education, 60.5 percent have a secondary education and 1.5 percent have higher education.

Father Dong, who is pastor of Duc An parish, gave a report on the survey to some 720 married men from parishes in the deanery who gathered at his parish May 1 to go on a pilgrimage and pray for the family. "I gave each of them a report of the survey so they can ponder over it," the priest said. May 1, Labor Day, is a holiday in Vietnam. It is also a feast day of St. Joseph.

A lay leader told UCA News that though the results might be somewhat inaccurate, as many women are not accustomed to answering questionnaires, the survey has given him a new perspective on the family.

Some respondents told UCA News they hope parish priests will visit families more frequently to advise husbands to live their faith life better.

The survey is part of efforts by Kon Tum diocese to respond to the October 2002 pastoral letter of the Vietnam Bishops' Conference on "Sanctification of the Family." These efforts include study sessions on the family at parishes, activities for parents and ministry to troubled families.

A 2002 report from the bishops' conference listed Kon Tum diocese 193,206 Catholics, of whom 109,353 belonged to ethnic minority groups.

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