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At the end of the 12th century, there was a young university student who was trying to bring relief to hungry people, as a widespread famine plagued Palencia and throughout Spain. Finally he came up with a rather daring and unexpected decision : to sell his precious Bible scrolls together with the commentary he had been working on. To a student, the scrolls were a priceless property. But the young man was not hesitant to sell them together with his other personal belongings just to get the money to help the famine victims. He said : “I simply can’t sit and read these dead scrolls while others are dying of hunger.” That young man was no other than Saint Dominic himself. Being the children of such a compassionate patriarch, how could the Vietnamese Dominicans – men and women of today – in their particular circumstances, be indifferent and insensible to the need of their suffering brothers and sisters? In fact, each Vietnamese Dominican, each entity (priory, religious house, parish) is carrying on the same noble mission and living, in the most concrete and effective way, the message of the Good News “ who are my neighbors ?” The pioneer in this was the late fr. Joseph Chu Cung, OP, who started by setting up the so-called “Friends of the lepers”, extending the Province’s charitable and social activities to a wider range to span the whole country of Vietnam. In lines with the directives of recent General Chapters, we consider these charity works to be one of the most priorities of the Order; and with the generous support of benefactors at home and abroad a Committee for charity and social activities on the provincial level has been established. The first promotor was the late fr. John Baptist La Ngoc Dau, OP from 1994-1999 and succeeded by fr. Francis X. Dao Trung Hieu, OP from 1999 up to now.
For the past few years the Province has organized or sponsored a variety of charity and social works. Following are some worth mentioning : | ||||
In addition to visits and gift donations, we have also ventured on some projects which are of lasting value, such as providing water supply and water system at Lai Chau; putting up houses for patients at Son La; giving buffaloes to poor patients at Yen Bai and Ha Giang; opening classes on sewing and making clothes to the patients’ children at Yen Kiem (Ha Noi); erecting an elementary school for the patients’ children at Qua Cam; building a recreation center for patients at Binh Minh; not to mention the expenses on buying plough tractors, funeral carriage, well-drilling… Click to see : The Map of Viet Nam | ||||
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Fr. Joseph Dinh Chau Tran OP, ex Provincial and Representative of the Cardinal, archbishop of Hochiminhcity for Inter-religious, has the responsibility to co-ordinate efforts to care for HIV patients at important HIV camps of Hochiminh City. Five young Vietnamese Dominican priests take part in saying Sunday Mass and administering the sacraments to patients at these camps. Particularly, at Mai Khoi priory, Tu Xuong, with the initiative of fr. Paul Nguyen Thai Hop, OP, an infirmary was opened and has been running for several years now to take care of AIDS patients. Every day, doctors volunteer to come over to diagnose, treat and prescribe medicine totally free of charge.
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3/ The handicapped : At present there are three groups of handicapped patients who receive the care of our Brothers. At St. Martin de Porres, Ho Nai, fr. Phan Tu Cuong is in charge of a group called “Love of life”; At Mai Khoi, once every month fr. Nguyen Trong Vien, OP says mass for the Handicapped Fraternity; and fr. Nguyen Trong Hieu, OP meets regularly every week with the Teresa Group. Besides, our Brothers lead many other groups such as parish choir members, the youths and students to visit and to donate gifts and wheel-chairs to different handicapped groups, such as retarded, blind, deaf children and orphans… The Province also offers financial assistance to bishops when they request to help relieve the handicapped in their respective dioceses. The bishops of the following dioceses have received our financial aid : Nha Trang, Hai Phong, Bac Ninh, Bui Chu, Thanh Hoa, Vinh, Da Nang, HCM… In 2000, fr. Do Xuan Que, OP completed a house for the handicapped at An Ha, Hoc Mon. But until now, it has not been allowed to receive patients. In 2001, the Province built a recreation hall for all the blind of district 9, Hochiminh City. In March, 2006, 2007, and 2008, brother Nguyen Thanh Tam, OP and his "Annunciation Faimly" held a special day at Ba Chuong parish to gather over 40 handicapped groups from Central to South of Vietnam, with thousand of them taking part. They spent the whole day together playing games, singing, laughing or simply keeping company, an experience that many of them probably have never had before. | ||||
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In a country in which 35% of its population are still living under the poverty level (according to the latest UN estimates) our Brothers certainly have a lot to do to improve the people’s living condition, especially that of ethnic minorities, those living in far-away regions and those impoverished people who can barely survive. Most recently, we have set up several experimental distant missions, which gave rise to new needs, and that means that we have to double our efforts so as to cope with the problems. | ||||
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As a conclusion Looking back at the last eight years (1999-2007) the Province’s Apostolate and Social Committee has given away some six billion VND (equivalent to US$ 375,000). We hope to continue to be the intermediary channel for those generous hearts the world over who want to have opportunities to live the Gospel’s Commandment of Love and to share with the poor. What we do is to encourage and assist the social activities of our Brothers and play the role of distributing the benefactors’ donations to reach the hands of the people in need, for the service of Christ’s suffering brothers and sisters. May God bless and reward you abundantly.
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