Some 10,000 young people attended a prayer rally on April 8 in Ho Chi Minh City in order to learn church teachings on love and sex. (ucanews.com photo)
Thousands of young people attended a Lent retreat held by the Ho Chi Minh City Archdiocese at their pastoral center on the theme of "Living green: The Mighty One has done great things for me."
During the seven-hour program, some 10,000 participants learned how to undertake romantic relationships, took part in a cultural performance, sang songs, watched plays and attended Palm Sunday Mass and Eucharist.
One of the event's organizers, Father John Le Quang Viet, said the April 8 retreat aimed to prepare attendees to enter married life in a society where premarital sex, abortion and divorce are rampant.
Joseph Vu Nguyen Duy Tan, a college student, said he realized that young people should follow church teachings, keep their love "clean" and avoid contraceptive pills and abortion.
"We should protect our love from being polluted by premarital sex and not live with our partners before we are married," he said, adding that they have to respect their partners and accept one another's differences.
Mary Teresa Le Thi Tu Trinh, 25, said the love between her and her boyfriend was blessed.
"We persuade our parents to approve of our love by regularly going to church, asking priests to pray for us and trying to work hard so to get better jobs," Trinh said.
"I will not get pregnant as a way to force my parents to agree to marriage like other couples," she added.