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Vietnamese converts bring others to Christmas

Converts encouraged to invite non-Catholic relatives and neighbors to visit church on Christmas Eve
Converts make nativity scenes in the compound of Rach Vop church in Soc Trang province on Dec 18

Converts make nativity scenes in the compound of Rach Vop church in Soc Trang province on Dec 18. (Photo: UCA News)

Published: December 23, 2022 10:56 AM GMT
Updated: December 23, 2022 10:57 AM GMT

Nguyen Van Hai walked around watching hundreds of converts from other faiths making different styles of creches with colorful lights, pretty stars, evergreen trees, Santa Claus figures and other decorations in the compound of Rach Vop church in Soc Trang province on Dec. 18.

Those people, who have been attending courses in catechism for years to join the church, annually erect nativity scenes to decorate the church and celebrate Christmas.

“I am too old to put up creches but I am here to encourage people to make beautiful nativity scenes to mark Jesus’ birthday,” Hai, an 85-year-old convert, said.

Fourteen creches erected by groups of converts and children will be displayed around the church to attract people to visit the church and watch Christmas vigil performances. Groups that create the most beautiful creches will be given awards as a way to foster the tradition of making nativity scenes.

“I will invite my neighbors to visit the church on Christmas Eve so that they can see our creches and feel Christmas joy and peace,” the old man, who attends a course for catechumens at the church, said.

Hai, who started to go to the church on Sunday mornings by boat five years ago, said he also takes five of his grandchildren to church on a weekly basis.

He is one of 300 converts who have been attending Masses and catechism courses on Sundays for years at the church. Only one-third of them enter full communion with the Catholic Church and the rest are catechumens.

Rach Vop parish, based in the Ke Sach district of Soc Trang province in the Mekong Delta, serves 400 Catholics and some 300 converts from ancestor worship, Buddhism and atheism. The parish used to serve 450 converts before the Covid-19 pandemic.

Many live some 15-60 kilometers from the church and are taken without charge to the church by boat and motor vehicles on Sundays.

“Christmas attracts many people from other faiths so it is a marvelous opportunity for local Catholics to warmly welcome, well mix with them, offer them gifts and introduce Jesus to them. In doing so, people will be on friendly terms with Catholics and familiar with churches,” Father John Baptist Truong Thanh Cong, pastor of the parish, said.

Father Cong, who was assigned to the parish in 2016, said converted adults are encouraged to invite their non-Catholic in-laws and neighbors to visit the church on Christmas Eve. It is easy for them to invite other people to go to church as they share the same situation.

He said local Catholics can hardly persuade followers of other faiths to go to church since they do not understand their feelings.

The priest said this year some 500 visitors are expected to attend services to listen to Christmas carols, watch prayer performances by children and be served fruit juice. Local Catholics will sing and dance the Peace Prayer by St. Francis of Assisi as the Christmas message since followers of other faiths understand little about Bible stories.

“We try to make Noel a festival bringing joy and peace to all people so that no one feels alone during the Christmas time,” he said, adding that Christmas is also a special time to train Christians as missionaries to bring the Good News of the Jesus Child to other people.

The 68-year-old priest said those who invite many people of other faiths to the annual celebration will be given gifts for their hard work. It is converts who bring others to the church and that is the gift that keeps on giving, he added.

This year members of the Catholic Mothers Association are asked to offer blankets and mosquito nets to people who are poorer than them as a way to share the Christmas love.

The parish yearly offers local people 300 lamps that have been used during Christmas celebrations on the feast of the Epiphany so that they can light their houses and set good examples of faith practice to other people.

Many converts are old and illiterate and scrape a living by selling lottery tickets, collecting used items, working as daily wage earners and planting fruit trees. Others live alone or look after their grandchildren while their parents work in other places.

A thin man in his early 60s said he and his wife regularly attend Mass and catechism courses. Their three children converted to Catholicism years ago and live away from home.

The man, who grows coconut trees for a living, said they will take Christmas Day off and hold a Christmas party for their non-Catholic relatives at home to share the festive joy with them.

He said many converts could not afford to have Christmas parties partly because their relatives are not interested in the faith.

Father Cong said he plans to baptize 39 people on Jan 1, the feast of Mary, Mother of God. They have completed catechism courses lasting 5-6 years.

“We hope they will take a more active part in bringing other people to the church after they become full Catholics,” he said.

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