Strong emotions were on display at a special Ho Chi Minh City Father’s Day gathering to promote respect and gratitude for fathers.

"I love you", "I am sorry, dad" and "I forgive you, dad", children chanted at the church-organized gathering on June 13.

“Today I would like to tell my father how much we love and respect him,” said Teresa Bui Thi Viet Hang.

Marie Magdalene Hoang Thao Uyen, 23, is also proud of her father. “He is the greatest gift God offers me,” she stated.

But, ’Hang’ shed tears for her father who regularly gets drunk and beats her and her mother. “I feel no resentment…I love him because he is my father,” she wept.

The young women were among 800 people, including uncles and grandfathers, who attended the gathering at the Archdiocesan Pastoral Center.

Cardinal Jean Baptiste Pham Minh Man of Ho Chi Minh City archdiocese, Auxiliary Bishop Pierre Nguyen Van Kham, and Bishop-elect Paul Nguyen Thai Hop of Vinh and many local priests and Religious also joined.

Cardinal Man recalled his own father’s sacrifices and how he served others as a lay leader.

“He was a shining example to me,” Cardinal Man said.

Father of three, Le Binh, shared his pain to learn that his own son abused drugs. “No father hates his children. So please live a good life to please your parents,” he appealed.

A young woman shuddered at the memory of how her late father used to beat her while drunk. She could not forgive him then.

“But now in my prayers I tell him that ‘I forgive you, dad!’” she said.

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