Former priestless parish celebrates return of better times

Published Date: June 23, 2009

The recent centenary celebration of a parish in the northwest was the occasion for Catholics here to give thanks to God for sustaining their community through difficult times.

Ethnic-minority Catholics receive
the Eucharist during the June 11 Mass

It also helped remind local Catholics “of the hardships early members of the parish faced and overcame so that present day parishioners can now practice their faith,” said Vincent Truong Duc Loc, a council member of Vinh Quang parish.

About 2,000 ethnic H´mong, Tay, Thai and Kinh (majority Vietnamese) Catholics in traditional dress attended the June 11 special Mass, which kicked off a year-long celebration of the parish located in Yen Bai province.

Bishop Antoine Vu Huy Chuong of Hung Hoa presided at the open-air Mass, attended by 50 priests and five transitional deacons in the compound of the church building in Van Chan district.

Mass readings were read out in H´mong, Thai and Vietnamese and Bishop Chuong also ordained two transitional deacons during the celebration. The history of the parish was also recounted to Mass participants.

Loc told UCA News that this is the first time so many priests have come to the parish in its long and difficult history, and also the first time local Catholics have seen deacons ordained.

At 101, Joseph Lam Van Tinh, the oldest member of the parish, is well acquainted with the hardships his parish has endured.

Tinh, who is as old as the parish itself, shared with UCA News the challenges the parish faced as he offered incense and prayed at the graves of deceased neighbors and friends in the cemetery after the Mass.

For many years, religious activities in the parish were restricted, said the centenarian who headed the parish council from 1970-1980. Priests from other places were allowed to visit the parish for only two days at a time every three to five years, he said.

Tinh said parishioners had to practice their faith without a resident priest for nearly 40 years after 1964. This was after parish priest Father Pierre Du Kim Khoa was placed under house arrest in Viet Tri city by the communist government after being accused of telling local people not to hand their land over to state-run collective farms.

“We would quietly pray to God and practice our faith in the church or in our homes,” Tinh recalled. Parishioners gathered and listened to the Word of God, prayed the rosary and also made devotions to the Blessed Mother and the Sacred Heart of Jesus, he said.

Joseph Lam Van Tinh

Tinh recalled that during this time, lay leaders traveled 100 kilometers to receive the Eucharist from Yen Bai parish, which they then administered to local parishioners. They baptized children, taught catechism, visited the sick and prayed for the dead.

Many people suffered or died from hunger during this period after their lands were seized and replaced by collective farms, Tinh added. Many local Catholics accused of having too much farmland were killed or sent to prison during the 1950s, he said. There was also no access to education, health care or other state benefits.

Tinh said things have gotten much better in recent years and local Catholics are no longer hindered from practicing their faith.

Since 2003 the parish has been served by two priests: Father Michael Le Van Hong from 2003-2008, and the current priest Father Pierre Nguyen Van Tuyen.

“We were always faithful to God and practiced our faith under difficult circumstances, and God has given us what we have today,” said Tinh.

According to Loc, Paris Foreign Missions Society (MEP) Fathers Louis Cornille Vinh and Tissot Quang founded Vinh Quang parish in 1909. Their Vietnamese names were Vinh and Quang, and the parish was named after them.

From 50 families and 300 Catholics then, it has now grown to 717 families comprising a total of 3,032 parishioners. It also has 10 mission stations.

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