Archived News
08.05.06 Dong Ha, a parish of Ham Tan District, Phan Thiet Diocese, has announced that it has health care services (traditional Vietnamese medicine) and that they have offered counseling and pastoral services to over 10,000 patients within the past year. The parish ministers to the poor, disadvantaged children, troubled teens, and about 100 people living with HIV/AIDS, among others. AIDS, hepatitus and other serious sexually transmitted diseases are common in the area.
01.03.06 Two men whose preparation for the priesthood was delayed by more than 30 years, have been ordained in Phan Thiet.
Michel Hoang and Joseph Nguyen entered the seminary in 1964 and 1967, respectively, but after the country's reunification in 1975, all seminaries in the country were closed.
Vatican Radio referred to these two ordinations as "a step forward for the improvement of relations between the Catholic Church and the Vietnamese government."
"Another sign of relaxation and normalization was launched last December, during the visit to the country of Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, prefect of the Vatican Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples," added the papal broadcasting station.
"During his stay," it reported, "the cardinal ordained 57 priests, visited three ecclesiastical regions, held meetings with some bishops, and presided over the ceremony for the erection of the new Diocese of Ba Ria, with the installation of its first bishop, Monsignor Thomas Nguyên Van Trâm."
The Phan Thiet Diocese has 150,000 Catholics and now has 82 priests. About 6 million of Vietnam's citizens are Catholic.
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