Vietnamese Church plans to evangelize social life in Holy Year

The Catholic Church of Vietnam has chosen "the evangelization of social life" as the theme of the Year of Mercy that starts on Dec. 8.   The Catholic Bishops' Conference of Vietnam made the announcement in a pastoral letter issued on Sept. 17, saying the purpose of the Year would be to bring a breath of new life in the mission, involving dioceses and parishes, to find new ways of communicating the faith for the upcoming Jubilee. The pastoral letter is part of the preparatory work for the upcoming Congress on missionary activity that the Commission for Evangelization has been organizing every year since 2010.

"Modern society today excludes religion from social life,” said Commission president, Auxiliary Bishop Alphonse Nguyen Huu Long of Hung Hoa.  “However, many young people want to return to it with a new spirituality. Young people need a new evangelization in order to strengthen their faith and meet the challenges of materialism and consumerism," the bishop noted. 

Every year, the Commission for Evangelization gets the entire Church involved in finding new ways to communicate the faith. The aim is to "improve the model of the Church, its communities and its participation in public life", involving the laity and families in the evangelizing mission. All of the country’s 26 dioceses are expected to study and research local conditions in parishes and communities, as well as share information at the conference this year.

According to Church statistics, Vietnam’s Catholic population over the past 50 years has been proportionally stable.  A 2010 study showed 2 million Catholics in Vietnam in 1960 out of a population of some 30 million (6.6 per cent). The latest data (2015) show 6,606,495 Catholics out of a population of 95 million (6.9 per cent).  Therefore, the unchanged percentage shows that the current strategy of evangelization has not paid off. According to the Bishops' Conference, some 88,000 Catholics are involved in missionary activities, but there are only 41,000 baptisms per year. Hence the for missionary action.

Before 1975, northern dioceses had no churches or priests, so many faithful strayed away.  Now the Church of Vietnam (in both the north and the south) has a better organization; yet, many individuals and families have strayed away because of materialism and consumerism.  For this reason, the Commission for evangelization has called for greater awareness of missionary work. (Source: AsiaNews)