Before appointing six priests to help him with administrative matters, the new archbishop of Ho Chi Minh City consulted with different sectors of the local Catholic community.
The appointments were announced by Archbishop Jean Baptiste Pham Minh Man in his first pastoral letter June 1, two months after he was installed archbishop of the diocese covering Vietnam´s largest city.
Archbishop Man stated clearly that they resulted from his consultations with Catholic representatives in mid-April, local Catholic media reported.
Church observers saw the appointments as the archbishop´s keeping his promises to listen to Catholics and to create a minimal structure for better administration of the archdiocese, which has faced long-term problems.
Appointed to assist Archbishop Man in matters concerning laity, clergy and Religious were respectively Fathers Jean Baptiste Vo Van Anh, Joseph Vu Minh Nghiep and Joseph Nguyen Cong Doan, the latter a Jesuit.
The archbishop also appointed Fathers Jean Baptiste Huynh Cong Minh, Francis Xavier Huynh Huu Dang and Ignatius Ho Van Xuan as vicar general, administrator and assistant administrator of the archdiocese respectively.
Father Xuan will continue to serve as director of the Catholic Center in Ho Chi Minh City, while Father Anh was also assigned to Tan Dinh parish, one of the most important parishes in the city. In the past, bishop nominees were pastors of this parish.
In his pastoral letter published in the local Catholic weekly "Cong Giao Va Dan Toc" (Catholicism and nation), Archbishop Man thanked all the people who had sent him letters suggesting pastoral orientations for the archdiocese.
"I could read in them your concern as well as your willingness to actively contribute to the development of our diocese into a genuine Church of Christ, which is a Church for humankind," he wrote.
The Ho Chi Minh Church leader called on his priests to develop closer relationships with laity and on communities of Catholics to care more for each other, especially for those who are materially and spiritually poor.
When he ordained 16 priests, 15 of them for Ho Chi Minh City archdiocese, on June 9, he asked them not to waste money on thanksgiving Masses.
Archbishop Man also announced in his pastoral letter that he would visit the Vatican soon with a view toward "concretely expressing the archdiocese´s communion with the Holy See."
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