Program keeps kids away from computer addiction, streets

Published Date: July 3, 2009

Mass, breakfast and a day packed with games and sports. This is how a parish here is running a summer program for children during the school holidays.

For Anne Nguyen Hai Co, 13, and her friends, the day´s activities at Binh An Thuong parish begin at 4.45 a.m. with Mass, followed by breakfast and then games such as hide-and-seek and jumping rope in the church compound.

Children paint little figurines for fun during an
ongoing summer program in Binh An Thuong parish

Co, who sings in the church choir, has to get up at 4 a.m. to arrive on time each day. But she says the effort is well worth it. “I´ve felt better since coming to church each day,” she beamed.

Father Francis Xavier Nguyen Xuan Quang, 48, pastor of Binh An Thuong parish, says about 150 local children take part in the program which includes soccer, badminton, volleyball, basketball, chess, dominoes, tick-tack-toe and other traditional games.

The summer program began on May 20 and will run until early August. Father Quang says he spent 10 million dong (US$555) on sports equipment for the program.

He says local benefactors cover the 5,000 dong-a-head cost of breakfast including rice, meat and milk, for children who attend church in the early morning.

“The program aims to help local children fall into a habit of attending daily Mass in summer months so that they can maintain the habit at other times of the year,” the priest said.

In the past, weekday Masses were attended by around 80 adults, Father Quang said. But now about 120 children and many of their parents also attend, swelling the numbers to around 300. Evening congregations are even bigger with around 500, including more than 200 children, attending, he said.

Salesian Brother Pierre Chu Quang Minh, who runs sporting competitions for children, said the activities help promote physical health after the academic year. They also provide opportunities to develop friendship, kindness, respect for others and other good qualities among children, he added.

Brother Minh, 33, who works with three other Salesians at the parish during the summer vacation, said the program is a way to evangelize to non-Catholic children who join the program.

Dominic Nguyen Van Quyet, 63, a sponsor of the program, said he appreciates the way it gives healthier recreation to children who would otherwise spend their time on computer games or wandering the streets.

Therese Vu Thi Kim Dung, who teaches the kids aerobics, said the program has also improved the children´s relationship with Father Quang, the Salesians and catechists, as all of them exercise together. “In the past many children were afraid of meeting and conversing with their priest,” she said.

Therese Tran Thi Thanh Tam, 39, gets up at 4 a.m. to take her three children to the church by motorbike and says her children love the pleasant learning environment at the church.

Tam said her 10-year-old son was a computer-game addict before the program
changed his life. “Now he helps me to prepare food and clean the dishes, which he never did before,” she noted.

Father Quang said local children also attend catechism classes on Sundays during the summer vacation and travel to parks and the seaside on trips organized by the parish.

Binh An Thuong parish has 4,500 Catholics including 650 children aged three to 16.

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