Dear relatives, confreres and friends,
At the beginning of this new year, my Christmas and New Year postcards are still on my desk. I was quite busy and I did not take time to send my greetings before now. Thanks to all of you who sent me letters or pictures. To hear from you, to have a picture of you and your family is always important for me. Here is some news from our mission in Vietnam.
Here we are, still available to serve the church of Vietnam...
Father Patrick, Father Trinh and Father Frédéric.
Since September, there has been a major change in our community life. Our confrere, Father Trinh, who was already the Director of the Spiritan aspirants since September 2008, moved to live in the aspirants' house. It became clear during the last year that our aspirants needed a formator who would not just stop by the house from time to time but who would actually live with them.
Father Trinh and the aspirants.
This year we have 13 aspirants to Spiritan religious life. Since the beginning of the aspirant's training program, three candidates left. The first time it happened that one candidate was leaving, the other aspirants were surprised. They did not expect that some of them would not make it until the end, e.g. until being ordained priest. But formation is precisely a time of discernment. There are several conditions needed to cope with missionary life. They have to be able to study, to build up their spiritual life, to be involved in pastoral commitments and to be ready to live in community. Especially they have to be ready, in the furure, to leave their own country and adapt to a different culture. Vocation is a grace of God but it also implies eagerness and freedom to discover if God is calling them to become Spiritans or not. While the aspirants enjoy the recent coming of Fr. Trinh, we, Fr. Patrick and myself, feel a bit sad not to have Fr. Trinh living with us anymore. But we accept it since we know it is important for our aspirants. He joins us for community Mass two mornings a week and we also go regularly to the aspirants' house (five minutes from our home) to celebrate Mass and to teach them and share meals with them several times a week. Besides that, we all go to our house in the countryside once a month for a training week-end.
Retreat with a group of vietnamese lay people in December 2009.
Another important event since September is the growing difficulty we face in obtaining visas to stay in Vietnam. Up to last year, we could have a temporary visa for six months or even one year. Since September 2009, the Government gives to all the foreigners visas for three months only, and at times, we have to do a trip abroad in order to renew our visa. That means that we spend more money for that purpose and we feel a bit insecure regarding a long term stay in Vietnam. But we hope that with the help of God, we will be able to stay here for many more years.
Visit of the orphanage of Hoa Mau Don.
In terms of pastoral activity, I realize that it is still hard to involve ourselves in the life of the vietnamese Church. One problem is the continual challenge of mastering the language. This is still out of reach. If I have to say Mass in Vietnamese, and I have time to prepare my homily, it is not a problem. I can write my homily directly in vietnamese and ask the aspirants to correct it or I can also write in english and ask them to translate it. But if I have to give a spontaneous talk, let us say for 30 minutes or one hour on a spiritual topic, I am still not yet able to do it without preparation. Learning vietnamese is a frustrating experience, but it is part of the challenge.
Children of Tephano orphanage.
We also face another challenge. Living in a very strong and dynamic church, we sometimes have the impression that this Church is living on her own, unaware of the contribution the missionaries could bring to it. We have to help the local church to open itself to the universal church.
From the 27th to the 31st of December, we went to the beach of Mui Ne, in community. A time to relax far from the stress of the big city of Saigon.
In daily life, we are still involved in visits and helps to orphanages. On a weekly base, our aspirants go to teach the kids music, literature or drawing. Regarding the french speaking parish, we organized in November one retreat and one week-end of formation. We had 30 participants, which is very good. Pastoral work with the expatriates remains unstable due to the fact that they stay in Vietnam for a period averaging three years only. Every year, many people leave us while there are always newcomers.
Next month, on the 14th of February, we will start the new vietnamese year, the Year of the Tiger. According to the vietnamese calendar, I am a tiger, like those who are born in 1938, 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986 or 1998. Being a bit late (according to the western calendar) or ahead of time (according to the lunar calendar), I wish you a meaningful New Year, that all of us may be blessed in what we will do during the coming year, being aware that God loves us and cares for each of us. May God bless all of you in your personal, family, and professional life. That this year may be an opportunity for us to be more generous, more caring, more joyful, following the example of God made flesh, Jesus.
Fr. Frédéric
