Upholding civic responsibility, accompanying the nation for "national glory and moral enlightenment"

November 28, 2012 11:14

(Baonghean) -On November 27 and 28, the 6th Congress of Catholics building and defending the Fatherland in Nghe An province for the 2012-2017 term was solemnly held in Vinh City with the participation of 156 delegates who are priests, monks, nuns and parishioners honored from parishes and sub-parishes in the patriotic emulation movement "Living a good life, living a good religion". On this occasion, Nghe An Newspaper interviewed Father Nguyen Dang Dien - Parish Priest of Nghi Loc (Dien Hanh commune, Dien Chau district), Chairman of the Catholic Solidarity Committee of the province.

PV:Father, could you tell us about the outstanding results of the patriotic emulation movement "Living a good life, living a good religion" among Catholics in your province in recent times?

Priest Nguyen Dang Dien:The Catholic community of Nghe An province currently has 50,843 households, 257,010 people (accounting for over 8% of the province's population) with 10 deaneries, 85 parishes, 339 parishes living in harmony with the residential areas mainly in 14/20 districts, cities and towns. In the past term, implementing the direction of "The Church is attached to the nation" in the spirit of the 1980 General Letter of the Vietnam Bishops' Council and the teachings of Pope Benedict XVI "A good Catholic is also a good citizen", the Catholic Solidarity Committee of Nghe An province always clearly defines the role, position, principles and purposes to gather and guide the community of God's people to unite, do many good and virtuous deeds, and make practical contributions to the cause for the goal of "A rich people, a strong country, a fair, democratic and civilized society". With the attention and facilitation of Party committees, authorities and Fatherland Front Committees at all levels, the Provincial Catholic Solidarity Committee and Committees (DKCG) have encouraged the Catholic community to promote the patriotic emulation movement, strictly comply with the policies and laws of the State; local regulations; effectively implement the 10 contents of the campaign "Living a good life, beautiful religion". As a result, if in 2007, the whole province had only 30,000 Catholic families achieving the title of cultural family, now it has increased to 35,037 families. The number of excellent advanced residential areas in 2007 had 500 units, in 2010 increased to 583 units, the number of cultural villages in 2007 had 50 units, now increased to 130 villages.

Responding to the call in the Joint Letter of the Vietnam Bishops' Council "Living the Gospel in the Heart of the Nation", in recent years, the virtue of charity in Catholicism has been promoted and become a beautiful trait in "living the faith in the world" of Catholic priests and believers. Together with the people in the province, the Catholic community has participated in contributing to the construction and renovation of many martyr cemeteries, thousands of gratitude houses, solidarity houses, supporting tens of thousands of working days, tens of thousands of tons of rice and other utensils and supplies worth over 15 billion VND, contributing to warming the lives of many unfortunate people, multiplying the hope of many families. Taking care of children's education so that they can contribute to building their homeland and country is increasingly focused on by the Catholic community. In the parishes, there are more and more families with 1-5 children going to university and college. Many parishes and residential areas have widely launched the movement for parishes to become safe, self-governing residential areas, free of crime and social evils. Many reconciliation groups and self-management groups have promoted their responsibilities to the community. Up to now, hamlets with parishioners have built 132 self-management boards, 396 self-management groups, and 129 crime reporting mailboxes. Many residential areas have become typical units in building cultural residential areas, maintaining political security and social order and safety. Typically, Nam Loc commune (Nam Dan) has been the leading flag of the movement to protect national security for many years, and was awarded the flag of an excellent emulation unit by the Ministry of Public Security...

In the economic field, parishioners have enthusiastically competed in production, boldly transformed the economic structure, applied scientific and technological advances to improve crop and livestock productivity, and actively eliminated hunger and reduced poverty. In the parishioner community, there are more and more models, typical examples of good economic performance in various fields, including models with incomes from 200 million VND to 1 billion VND per year, creating jobs for many workers. Up to now, the rate of well-off and rich households in the parishioner community in the whole province is 41.30%, an increase of 4.7%; the rate of poor households is 16.63%, a decrease of 2.4% compared to 2007. In most parishes and hamlets, parishioners have contributed hundreds of thousands of working days, billions of VND in land donation, raw materials, site clearance... to build electricity systems, roads, schools, stations, contributing to the construction of new rural areas, creating an increasingly rich and civilized appearance for the homeland. The patriotic emulation movement of "living a good life, living a good religion" in the regions has created many beautiful images of the spirit of solidarity and mutual help between the religious and non-religious in the community, not only spreading widely but also going into depth.



A performance in the cultural exchange night to welcome the Congress of Vinh Hoa Parish choir - Photo: TP

PV:Could you please tell us the purpose and significance of the 6th Congress of Catholics in Nghe An province for the 2012-2017 term?

Priest Nguyen Dang Dien:This congress aims to recognize and honor the great contributions of the Catholic Solidarity Committee in particular and all Catholics in the province in general. Consultation to elect the Provincial Catholic Solidarity Committee for the 2012-2017 term; Delegation to attend the Congress of the Vietnam Catholic Solidarity Committee for the 2013-2018 term. The congress also has the task of summarizing the 5-year patriotic emulation movement for the 2007-2012 term, drawing out the causes and lessons for the next term, at the same time recognizing, praising and rewarding the worthy contributions of priests and members of the Provincial Catholic Solidarity Committee as well as collectives and individuals with outstanding achievements in the patriotic emulation movement "living a good life, living a good religion" in the past time. The congress also listened to presentations from collectives and individuals reflecting specifically on good people, good deeds, and outstanding advanced models; share experiences in building and developing the patriotic emulation movement as well as innovating the content and methods of operation of the patriotic emulation committees at all levels. The contributions of the delegates and priests will be the orientation and experience that will give us more strength on the path of accompanying the nation, dedicating ourselves to serving the homeland and serving others as Saint Paul taught: "Do all you can to live in peace with everyone."

PV:On the occasion of this Congress, on behalf of the Provincial Catholic Solidarity Committee, what message does the priest have for the Catholic community throughout the province?

Priest Nguyen Dang Dien:In the joy and excitement, on behalf of the Provincial Catholic Solidarity Committee, I would like to respectfully send to the Bishop, priests, religious and fellow Catholics my warm greetings and wishes for the peace of Christ in the spirit of communion with the Church and accompanying the nation. The Congress earnestly invites priests, religious and the entire Catholic community of the province to promote the tradition of national solidarity, actively participate in patriotic emulation movements, join hands and hearts to implement the motto "living a good life, living a good religion" together with the Catholic Solidarity Committees at all levels to implement the Congress Resolution into reality, together with the people of the province to complete the socio-economic targets, contributing to the goal of "Rich people, strong country, fair, democratic and civilized society".

PV:Thank you priest!


Khanh Ly (Performed)

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Upholding civic responsibility, accompanying the nation for "national glory and moral enlightenment"
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