The Vietnam Mission has a new ministry in the rural area of Tan Thanh near the border of Cambodia.  We purchased some property there that already had a couple of houses built on it.  Our candidates in formation spent the summer there under the direction of their formation director, Fr. Nhan Bui, C.PP.S.  They worked very hard in manual labor to repair and renovate the houses and plant a garden.  Our new home is located near the local parish and on August 12th the local diocesan pastor, Fr. Dominic Minh, blessed our houses and property.  We invited the local people to a banquet in order to introduce ourselves to the surrounding community. 

Our new mission at Tan Thanh serves as an ideal environment to work with the poor in rural Vietnam.  It is an opportunity for our candidates in formation to get out of the city of Saigon and into the countryside to do special ministries like teaching English and catechism.  We are also exploring the possibility of starting a fresh water ministry.  This new venture into ministry in rural Vietnam reminds me of St. Gaspar’s letter No. 87 to Fr. Antonio Santelli.  He said, “Work with the farm-people at least in those squares where the larger numbers congregate.  It would be sufficient for this project to assign two or three of the country people themselves so that they would assume the responsibility and would lead their companions to hear the divine word, at least at those times when we would be able to administer to these poor people. I leave all to your wisdom.”  Please pray that our mission activities will be successful as those times in our past when our missionaries worked with the poor in farming areas of the rural countryside.

Article and photos provided by Bro. Daryl Charron, C.PP.S.