Warm Christmas at Van Loc Parish

(Baonghean.vn) -In the days approaching the holy night, on every street and alley in Van Loc Parish (Nam Loc, Nam Dan), everywhere is sparkling with the typical lights of Christmas. Pine trees dotted with sparkling tinsel, simple grottos, each house has a star hanging in front of the alley... This year's Christmas, parishioners are more excited, because life is constantly improving, becoming more prosperous and abundant...

This year, the family of parishioner Nguyen Van Dong was filled with happiness as they welcomed a warm Christmas for the first time in a newly built house that still smelled of lime and mortar after decades of drifting on the river. “Before, we lived on a narrow boat, so there was no way to decorate, and on Christmas we only hung star lanterns at the bow of the boat. This year, we have a house on land, and no matter how difficult it is, we still have to buy Christmas trees to decorate for the children to have fun…”, Mr. Dong confided. Sharing the joy with his family were 41 parishioner families from the fishing village of Nam Loc who were able to come ashore thanks to the Resettlement Project for the people of Van Chai, which officially started in 2009.

The joy of welcoming Christmas in a new house
of the family of parishioner Nguyen Van Dong

Mr. Hoang Nghia Hung - Chairman of Nam Loc Commune People's Committee (Nam Dan) excitedly said: Nam Loc is a commune with a large number of parishioners (accounting for 93.7%) living in two places of worship: the Van Loc parish church and the Dang Phuc family church. In recent years, with the Party and State's attention to their material and spiritual lives and the coordination and support of the parish priest, the parish pastoral council, and the parishioners, the parishioners in Van Loc parish are all very excited, strictly following the guidelines and policies of the Party and State, taking care of economic development, hunger eradication and poverty reduction, improving family life, and actively responding to patriotic emulation movements launched by all levels. Thanks to that, typical models in the economic and social fields are increasingly appearing.

In the agricultural sector, parishioners have united to overcome difficulties, promoted self-reliance, dynamism and creativity, boldly contracted more land, fields, ponds, established farms, transformed the structure of crops and livestock, absorbed and applied new scientific and technological advances in production and livestock breeding to create high productivity and efficiency. A typical example is the family of Mr. Dau Van Dong (parishioner of hamlet 4), raising hundreds of pigs, dozens of cows, 120 poultry, 1 forestry farm... estimated revenue of 320 million VND/year. The family of Mr. Nguyen Van Quy (parishioner of hamlet 3) raises 70 pigs, 6 cows, earning 135,000,000 VND/year.

Promoting the strengths of gardens and hills, parishioners have boldly invested in renovating mixed gardens, barren hills to plant fruit trees and forestry trees. Up to now, the hilly areas have been basically managed, used and promoted economically. There are from 400 to 500 parishioner households with income from fruit trees, mainly from seasonal and off-season lemon trees. Many models have income from tens of millions of VND or more per year, typically the family of Mr. Nguyen Van Bat (parishioner of hamlet 5), planting 300 lemon trees, earning from 40 to 50 million VND in some years, the family of Mr. Bui Xuan Ngoc (parishioner of hamlet 10) planting 700 lemon trees earning from 50 to 60 million VND per year.

The diversified development of the handicraft industry - commercial services also contributes to solving the problem of increasing income for people in the commune. Up to now, there are nearly 100 families doing business in services, of which 70 households have boldly invested in building business establishments selling groceries, construction materials, fertilizers, garments, sawing wood, civil carpentry, and exporting labor abroad with high income results, improving all aspects of family life, enriching society and improving the face of the countryside.

People of Van Loc parish decorate for Christmas

The emulation movement to live a "good life, good religion", to build a cultured parishioner's family, an advanced residential area, and cultural, artistic, physical education and sports activities are taking place vigorously throughout the parish. Priests and officials in the parish and parish regularly remind the implementation of civilized lifestyle regulations in weddings and funerals, gradually eliminating backward customs such as no smoking at weddings, no eating and drinking at funerals, gradually limiting the practice of early marriage... The movement of the whole population voluntarily contributing to the construction of infrastructure facilities to serve social welfare production, according to the national target program on new rural construction, has been supported by the parishioner community, especially in the construction of cultural houses. Currently, 8/11 residential areas have cultural houses in the hamlet. The study movement of parishioners' children is increasingly receiving more attention from their families. The parish and parish pay more attention, the quality of study is improved, the number of high school students entering intermediate, college and university is increasing rapidly. From 2007 to 2012, 76 children of parishioners passed the intermediate level exam, 122 went to college, 144 went to university, and one person is studying for a master's degree after graduating from university. Through the propaganda and mobilization of various sectors and organizations, the habit of having many children and getting married early has been gradually limited. Most couples stop at 2 children, and the natural population growth rate decreased from 1.01% in 2007 to 0.9% in 2012.

Students at Van Loc parish are excited next to the nativity scene model.

Promoting the spirit of communion and charity, "the gospel in the heart of the nation" of the Catholic Church, in recent times, the parishioners of Van Loc parish have actively contributed to the fund to support the poor, help victims of natural disasters and floods, the charity fund, the fund to support the elderly, and have excellently fulfilled the assigned targets every year... contributing to the locality in caring for the poor, the disabled, orphans, and caring for families of war invalids and families with revolutionary contributions. All residential areas have built village covenants, promoted democratic regulations, maintained security and order in residential areas, effectively strengthened self-management, reconciliation, and fought to prevent and combat crimes and social evils...

Coming to Van Loc parish these days, we feel the warm, peaceful and happy Christmas atmosphere. The bright faces, the cheerful voices and laughter of the parishioners here have demonstrated a peaceful, prosperous and happy life in Van Loc parish.

Khanh Ly - My Ha