BANGKOK (UCAN) -- An ethnic Ta-oi seminarian from southern Laos looks forward to the adjustments he has to make in Sri Lanka, and says his desire to serve will help him meet the challenges.

Antoine Chanthavong Anisong, 25, says that as a priest he wants to "develop not only the Church but also the people" in Pakse apostolic vicariate. Currently a bishop and two priests, one of whom is retired, serve there.

While in Bangkok before his June 6 departure for Sri Lanka, Chanthavong told UCA News that he wants to work with the people, "helping them to become God's children." They are believers, but due to their lack of education they have a simple faith, and he wants to help them develop their faith "deeply," he said.

"I also want to help young people grow in their spiritual life," said the young seminarian, who recently completed his secondary education at the Teacher Training College in Pakse town, 465 kilometers southeast of Vientiane.

He explained that although he is a diocesan seminarian, his formation is to take place at the seminary of the Institute of Voluntas Dei (volunteers of God) in Kandy, 95 kilometers northeast of Colombo. Bishop Louis Marie Ling Mangkhanekhoun, apostolic vicar of Pakse, is a member of Voluntas Dei and was in Bangkok to see Chanthavong off.

The young seminarian said he is aware of the difficult challenges ahead in a foreign country. His first task is to take an English exam to see if he needs a year to improve his English before pursuing studies in philosophy and then theology, which that might take seven or more years to complete, he said.

Classes at the seminary are conducted in English.

"I have challenges to overcome," he admitted, citing the need to adjust to a new culture, food and educational environment as well as language. It is going to be difficult, said Chanthavong, one of whose five siblings is a nun, but "I will face it."

One valuable experience he does bring as he begins his formal major seminary training toward priesthood is that he already has done pastoral work, helping Father Antoine Biengta Vonghachak, the only priest assisting Bishop Ling full time. He said on weekends he would organize activities at a village where Father Biengta was scheduled to go and say Mass. He has taught people hymns, prayers and catechism, and helped prepare young children for First Holy Communion and Confirmation.

On the feast of Pentecost May 15, more than 100 children traveled from different villages to make their first Communion or receive Confirmation at Ban Udomsuk in Champasak province, he said.

He described this work as challenging. One of the difficulties, he said, was that many ethnic-minority people do not understand Lao. Some members of his Ta-oi ethnic group do not understand Lao at all, he noted. Ethnic Souai, with whom he also worked, "they understood Lao very little," making it hard to teach them catechism, he added.

The language barrier was only one of the reasons he used "simple language" when teaching people, however. The villagers have little education and most work in the fields, or as day laborers, Chanthavong said. They work very hard and earn about 15,000 kip (US$1.50) a day, which often is not enough to feed the family.

Nonetheless, village churches are filled with Catholics on Sundays, he said, especially if Father Biengta is scheduled to go to that village, in which case hundreds of people line up for the rare chance to make their confession.

"The priest hears confessions until he is exhausted, because Catholics from the whole village come for the Sacrament," Chanthavong said. But while it is tiring for the priest, for the Catholic villagers "it is a joyous occasion for them to celebrate the Sacraments."

Since the vicariate has about 60 village churches, the bishop and two priests visit them in turn to minister to the 12,000 Catholics and 2,000-3,000 catechumens. Villagers pray together in the church on the weeks a priest does not visit, Chanthavong explained.

The seminarian said his pastoral work has helped him, and he hopes the experience of service for the Church will help his future work.

According to Chanthavong, he will not be the only Lao seminarian in Kandy, since Thomas Kandavong Duanmanee went to study there in 2003. The Institute of Voluntas Dei also supports Kandavong.

Oblate Father Louis-Marie Parent founded the institute in 1952 in Quebec, Canada. It has pontifical approval and has bishops, priests and lay members, including married couples, in about 20 countries worldwide. In Asia it works in India, Laos, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam.

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