Thai Son Catholic and non-Catholic compatriots join hands to build a new cultural life
(Baonghean) - Thai Son commune (Do Luong) has 12 hamlets, of which 5 hamlets have Catholics with 40 households, 145 people, with 2 religious families: Long Thai of Thanh Tan parish and Yen Trach of Son La parish.
This two-parish church was established between 1925 and 1928. With a long tradition of following religion, the people here always promote solidarity between Catholics and non-Catholics, living a good life and living a good religion.
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| Long Thai family temple in Thanh Tan parish, Bao Nham district. Photo: Ngoc Phuong |
Yen Trach and Long Thai parishes do not have a large number of parishioners; but in recent years, they have actively participated in the general movement of the whole Thai Son commune, focusing on economic development, applying scientific and technical advances, transforming the structure of crops and livestock, and opening many industries and services.
People have taken advantage of their free time to make vermicelli, work as construction workers, bricklayers, or borrow capital to invest in business.
In addition, parishioners and non-parishioners have joined forces to develop other forms of economic development, such as organizing interest-free money groups and helping each other with seeds and seedlings. Typical examples include Mr. Thinh, Mr. Quyen, and Mrs. Thanh in Yen Trach Parish; Mr. Ha, Mr. Toan, Ms. Quyen, and Ms. An in Long Thai Parish.
Over the past 5 years, the lives of parishioners have clearly improved, the number of well-off and rich households has increased rapidly, in 2019 there was only 1 poor household left.
My family used to be poor, but thanks to learning how to make vermicelli, we are now a fairly rich household in the commune. On average, we produce 180kg of vermicelli each day, earning 12 million VND/month.
In addition to being a good producer, Ms. An is also a core member of the movement of solidarity between Catholics and non-Catholics, actively contributing to the construction of new rural areas. She is honored as a typical example of the patriotic emulation movement of Thai Son commune (Do Luong).
Along with economic development, parishioners also actively participate in contributing labor and funds with the people of the whole commune to build new rural areas. They contributed 140 million VND, 250 working days, and donated 200m2land for rural roads, intra-field traffic
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| Ms. Nguyen Thi An, a parishioner of Long Thai parish, has risen to become a wealthy household. Photo: Ngoc Phuong |
Responding to the movement launched by the Catholic Solidarity Committee and the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee, "The whole people unite to build a cultural life in residential areas", many Catholic households have actively participated, contributing to the increasingly renewed face of the countryside.
Many households have achieved the title of cultural family for many years in a row, typically Mr. Quyen, Mr. Sang, Mr. Lieu, Ms. An, Mr. Thinh... The parishioners of the two parishes also practice a good cultural lifestyle in weddings, funerals, and longevity celebrations in early spring.
The Catholic and non-Catholic people here are very united. When the Catholic side has activities on holidays, they invite non-Catholic people to participate. When the non-Catholic side has festivals, holidays, New Year, and funerals, they also invite the Catholic people. Other activities in building movements are harmonious, all contributions are equal... Currently, 35/40 Catholic households of Long Thai and Yen Trach families meet the standards of cultural families. Education work is taken care of, 100% of school-age students go to school, on average, every year, 3 students of Catholics pass the entrance exams to colleges and universities.
With the tradition of solidarity, love, and order in family and society, in recent times, the two parishes and parishioners have all well implemented the policies of the Party and the State, the Ordinance on Religious Beliefs. Parishioners have actively participated in preventing and combating social evils, maintaining traffic order and safety, and well implemented local conventions and village regulations; built good solidarity between Catholics and non-Catholics; regularly coordinated to organize physical education, sports, and environmental sanitation activities every Sunday. In addition, humanitarian charity activities have been maintained as a routine.
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| The rural road system in Thai Son is spacious, clean and beautiful. Photo: Ngoc Phuong |
The parishioners of Long Thai and Yen Trach parishes have made many contributions to the development of Thai Son commune, implementing the lifestyle of "Good life - Good religion" in the community, Catholics and non-Catholics are closely united in building their homeland and new rural areas. Currently, parishioners in Long Thai hamlet are working as a model for building new rural areas. The commune strives to achieve a model new rural area by 2020.