CBCV: a Letter to the People of God in VN 2011
Catholic Bishops' Conference of Vietnam: a Letter to the People of God in Vietnam
1. The second semi-annual meeting of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Vietnam (CBCV) is held at the Pastoral Center of the Archdiocese of Ho Chi Minh City, from the 3rd to 7th of October, 2011. All the bishops of 26 dioceses are present. We are happy to welcome the presence of Archbishop Leopoldo Girelli, the non-residence Pontifical Representative for Vietnam. His presence both expresses and fosters the communion of the Catholic Church in Vietnam with the Holy Father Benedict XVI, and the universal Church as well. Together with the Pontifical Representative, we would like to send all of you our warmest greetings and our wishes of peace in Jesus Christ, our Lord.
2. In his address, the Pontifical Representative informs the CBCV that in the last six months, he has made several pastoral visits to various dioceses, and he has encountered “the genuine faith of the faithful, appreciated your pastoral zeal and that of your priests and religious brothers and sisters who work so diligently in the service of the local Church”. Based upon his comments, we are so proud of you and sincerely thank for your efforts in building the Church according to God’s will.
We also want to express our thankfulness to your generous contribution to the project of an office building of the CBCV. Your contribution highlights the communion and participation of God’s People to the common good of the Church. May this spirit of communion and participation more and more develop, both at the depth and breadth level. We still consider the site of the new building so that it can offer the best result for our pastoral work.
3. In this meeting, we discuss about many issues concerning the faith life and pastoral activities of God’s People. In particular, we focus on how to develop the orientation of the Pastoral Letter 2010 into the actual life of our Church. In fact, the Pastoral Letter has been sent to the whole People of God, inviting “every diocese, religious congregation, parish, family, turn it into concrete actions in our faith life, contribute to fulfill the work of evangelization in our society more effectively” (no. 48). Responding to this call, several dioceses have made pastoral plans for the coming years.
In the same vein,we would like to propose a pastoral plan for 3 years with the following themes for each year:
- 2012: Understanding and living out the Church as Mystery;
- 2013: Cultivating and fostering the communion in the Church;
- 2014: Being in communion for mission.
These themes need to be applied for the three main areas of our faith lives: professing the faith, celebrating the faith, living out the faith.
4. More concretely, the theme for the liturgical year 2012 is Understanding and living out the Church as Mystery, with the motto: “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus” (Phil 2:5).
For profession of faith, in this year, we will focus on learning and investigating the understanding of the Church as the People of God, the Body of Christ, the Temple of the Holy Spirit (Pastoral Letter, no. 10,12,13).
For the celebration of faith, we have to higlight the Sacrement of Eucharist and the importance of the Word of God in our Church life. Priests are encouraged to help the faithful participate to the Eucharistic celebration more consciously and positively, as well as enhance and renew Eucharistic adoration. At the same time, priests should be committed to the preaching of the Gospel by homilies carefully prepared in prayer and meditation, helping the faithful become more familiar to the Word of God, insisting on catechism, and forming a good moral consciousness on the basis of God’s Word.
To fulfill this objective, we would like to have the following suggestions:
- Exhorting common prayer in the family setting, particularly praying with the Word of God;
- Launching a program “Each family has its own Bible” placed in a suitable place, to be read and prayed and meditated;
- Encouraging the faithful to learn by heart the important biblical texts;
- Religious brothers, sisters, and seminarians learn to practice lectio divina.
5. Jesus Christ our Lord called the apostles, first of all, “to be with Him”, and then send them to preach (Mk 3:14). They must be with the Lord, listen to Him, contemplate His way of life, having His mind, to be able to proclaim and introduce the Good News to others. It is the same requirement for us. In the liturgical year 2012, may the People of God in Vietnam focus on “being with the Lord” through Eucharistic celebrations and listening to the Word of God, so that we have in our hearts the same sentiments of the Lord, the sentiments of meakness and humility, mercy and forgiveness, commitment and service. As such, under the guidance and with the power of the Holy Spirit, we could become merciful in the likeness of our heavenly Father (Lk 6:36), and thus instruments of peace that bring about love and life in our beloved country.
6. In these days, we cannot forget our brothers and sisters who live in difficult situation due to the economic crisis, especially those who are victims of flood and typhoon in the country. May we display our communion with them by praying and by possible financial aid. Through the intercession of Mary, our Mother of Holy Rosary and Mother of the Church, may the Triune God pour out His blessings on all of you and transform us into intsruments of peace in our society.
On the feast of the Holy Rosary, the 7th of October, 2011
(Signed and sealed)
+ Cosma Hoang Van Dat + Peter Nguyen Van Nhon
Bishop of Bac Ninh Archbishop of Hanoi
General Secretary of the CBCV President of the CBCV
