CHAU DOC, Vietnam (UCAN) -- Some Catholics in southern Vietnam no longer offer incense or prayers at the statue of a popular local 'goddess' of unknown origin.
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| The statue of a popular goddess at Ba Chua Xu temple in Chau Doc, southern Vietnam. |
While others flock in crowds to the image, seeking favors, a number of southern Catholics now say it is against their faith. Instead, over the last two years, they have organized bus trips to local Marian shrines.
Pierre Nguyen Ngoc Thanh, from Cai Mon parish in Ben Tre province, admitted to UCA News that 24 years ago, he visited, offered incense and prayed before the statue at Ba Chua Xu temple. The temple is in An Giang province's Chau Doc town, 100 kilometers west of his parish.
"I still feel sorry about my superstition that is against the first of the Ten Commandments," said Thanh, 54, adding that his family lived in poverty at that time and he followed his neighbors' example in praying to the goddess.
Two winning lottery tickets later won him cash now worth 24 million dong (about US$1,480), but the father of two said he did not return to thank the goddess. He asked instead for a thanksgiving Mass and prayed to the Blessed Mother.
Thanh, who cultivates saplings, recalled some people invited him to visit the temple again, but "I refused to because I am a Catholic." He said he now joins local Catholics to visit and pray at Marian shrines.
Father Joseph Huynh Mong Hung, assistant priest of Cai Mon parish, told UCA News local Catholics stopped visiting the temple during the past two years. These days, he noted, buses take pilgrimage groups every week to Marian shrines in An Giang, Ben Tre and Binh Thuan provinces. "Now, many pilgrims regularly attend Mass and get spiritually and physically healed," he said.
According to Thanh, many Catholics used to visit and pray to the goddess during the annual Via Ba festival, which centers on the believed sixth-century statue and is held at the end of the fourth lunar month, May 27-31 this year. In 2001, Vietnam's Ministry of Culture, Information and Tourism declared the local festival a national event.
Tens of thousands of people and even foreigners now visit the temple during those days.
At this year's festival, Chau Thi Nguyet, a Buddhist from nearby Can Tho city, carried fruit offerings and her husband a roasted pig.
The 47-year-old woman said they wanted to thank the goddess for helping their daughter, who married and lives abroad, and pray for their son who will soon take college-entrance exams. Nguyet said they also prayed in Bac Lieu province at the tomb of Father Truong Buu Diep, a Catholic priest killed in 1946 whom many revere as a martyr. She said she prays to any holy person who can help her.
Despite the number of Catholics who have turned to Marian devotions, Father Pierre Nguyen Thanh Dung, assistant priest of Chau Doc parish, only six kilometers away from temple, admitted some Catholics still visit and pray to the goddess. They may have poor education, might not practice their faith or might consider God merely a means to a desired end, he said.
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| Chau Thi Nguyet and her husband, both Buddhists, pray and offer a roast pig and fruits to the statue of a popular goddess. |
The priest, 37, recalled how he once gave catechists a practical lesson by taking them to the temple. He asked fortune-tellers there for a prediction, and they said he was angry with his wife and should reconcile with her, he recalled, proving that fortune-tellers cannot be trusted.
Nonetheless, some Catholics told UCA News they think visiting temples is a good way to understand festivals of other faiths. Each year, 3 million people visit the Ba Chua Xu temple from the first to fifth lunar months, they said.
Marie Nguyen Thi Diem Tuyen, a local Catholic who married a Buddhist 10 years ago but has no child, said that last year she prayed to the goddess on advice of her husband's Buddhist relatives.
Tuyen, 28, admitted she had committed a sin, since Catholics are taught to worship only God. "This year I will try to persuade my husband to go on pilgrimages to Father Diep's tomb and the national Shrine of Our Lady of La Vang in Quang Tri province," the woman stated.
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June 17, 2008 at 6:56 pm
I am a Catholic and even work for a Catholic Organisation. When I visited Vietnam, I understood that the adoration of a “goddess” is not bound to the confession of people. I saw people offering flowers and prayers at the statue of a “goddess” in Buddhist temples, in Cham temples, in catholic churches and even in tribal temples. So, I would say that if people in Vietnam pray to Mary or to Quan Am or else, they are praying in their hearts to God who acquires the character of a mother. A mother, who cares for her children, who protects them, who listens to their prayers and understands them. In all religions there is a personification of God in a woman, a mother – for the Catholics, this is Mary, who carried God in her womb, who gave birth to Jesus and who is known as “Mother of all Christians”. Important is the “Mother-aspect” of God and not the representation or the name.
On the other hand, the custom of offering food at a statue should rather be considered awkward, especially in a country, where so many children are malnourished or even go hungry to bed. This is rather a sin than a virtue!