HO CHI MINH CITY (UCAN) -- The Order of Friars Minor in Vietnam, following their first-ever general assembly in the country, plans to deepen fraternity within its own ranks and boost its efforts in remote areas.

"We decided to strengthen our Franciscan spirituality, improve relations among ourselves and increase our pastoral work in remote areas," Franciscan Provincial Father Phi Khanh Vuong ?inh Khoi told UCA News on July 14.

Father Khoi was one of 160 Franciscans who attend the national general assembly of the Order of Friars Minor, which was held July 2-14 at their St. Francis Seminary in Ho Chi Minh City, 1,710 kilometers south of Ha Noi.

The assembly followed up last year's meeting in Assisi, Italy, which brought together 156 delegates from 123 Order of Friars Minor provinces in 107 countries. That meeting, which Father Khoi attended, spelled out fraternity, humility and mission as characteristics of the Franciscan way of life.

Father Khoi, 67, said the general assembly in Ho Chi Minh City was the first for his province, which covers all of Vietnam. To strengthen Franciscan spirituality, he reported that his friars committed themselves to listening to the Word and discerning God's will in their daily life.

"They also promised to live a life of humility, fraternity and poverty, and to serve a society where consumerism and materialism are prominent," he said.

To improve fraternity among friars, the superior said, "we must listen to, dialog with, and respect one another." He also noted that the assembly urged rich Franciscan communities to share their material with poor ones.

Father Khoi, a theology teacher at the seminary, said the assembly also agreed that friars who are Brothers should have the same opportunities as priests. Those opting to be Brothers will also study theological subjects and train to be health-care givers, computer experts and electricians, he said, so that they can become equally involved in pastoral activities and social work.

He also said Franciscans will work with local government organizations to provide health care, basic education and other material support to patients, ethnic minority groups and underprivileged people, and priority will be given to evangelizing the poor and providing pastoral services in remote areas.

Brother Pierre Bui Minh Tue told UCA News that he "urged the general assembly to catch up on missionary opportunities in some northern areas where government authorities beg us to provide basic education and health care to the unlettered, orphans and those with leprosy."

Brother Tue, who has been teaching catechism in a parish of Vinh diocese in the north for the past year, added that the local government has also asked the friars to undertake drinking water projects for poor people.

He said he is also happy the assembly accepted his suggestion to send a priest to his parish and to set up a Franciscan community there.

"Our identity is as missioners, so our province should send many friars to serve catechumens, workers from rural areas who flock to the cities, and parishes and Catholic communities lacking resident priests," he said. He himself is awaiting permission from the government to be ordained.

Father Khoi described recent initiatives, such as on July 2 when the friars inaugurated a new three-story building to add to their present seminary in Ho Chi Minh City. It will accommodate 50 more students and 10 more teachers.

He said 57 Franciscans, including 17 Brothers, will be there to study philosophy and theology when the next academic year starts in September, and that 25 Cistercian and Benedictine seminarians are expected to join them.

He also pointed out that Bishop Michael Hoang Duc Oanh of Kontum ordained seven Franciscan priests on June 29 at the seminary.

In 2006, Vietnam had 178 friars, seven novices, 14 postulants and 40 aspirants in 17 Franciscan communities. They provide pastoral care for 14 parishes in six southern dioceses.

The Franciscan community in Vietnam, which French Franciscans founded in 1929 in northern Vietnam's town of Vinh, was made a province in 1984.

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