A Suffering Church, a Flourishing Faith

It was a Bible verse that touched the heart of the Vietnamese man and now priest Huy, and because of it he committed himself to a special following of Jesus – despite the danger this posed in his communist homeland: “At your word I will let down the nets.”
In Vietnamese, this Bible passage is translated as “Obedient to your word…” This touched the now 40-year-old deeply: “obedience” — not to money or to the regime, but to the word of God. Decisive for Huy's “yes” to God's call were also the guidance and example of his parish priest. Thanks to him, Huy dared to take the step into the seminary, studied liturgy in Rome, and has been pursuing his doctorate there since 2021 at the request of his bishop.

His special love for the liturgy has a reason: his homeland is shaped by Buddhism. Similar to China, there are syncretistic tendencies, so that even for priests it is sometimes difficult to distinguish between traditions that enrich the Church's teaching and those that distort it. Huy wants to help bring clarity here, because: “Whoever has not understood the deeper meaning of the liturgical rites risks giving up what is essential for the salvation of souls.”

That he became a priest and later was even allowed to teach at a seminary borders on a miracle. He was able to be admitted to the seminary even though his family was known to the government as convinced Catholics and critics of the regime. Especially in the heartland of communist-afflicted Vietnam, it is not without danger to be a Christian — let alone a priest. Whoever spoke a critical word against the regime often paid for it with his life. Huy's uncle, too — a priest — was found dead in the sacristy by the congregation that had been waiting for Holy Mass to begin.

How many Vietnamese died, and still die today, for their faith! Huy recounts how communists once locked hundreds of believers inside a church and then set it on fire. Today, on behalf of his bishop, Huy is working for the canonization of these martyrs. For this, he can only question witnesses orally, since any written material poses an acute risk of persecution and death. “In Vietnam it is very difficult to live out the faith. The government controls everything,” says Huy.

Meanwhile, life has become somewhat more relaxed, says the priest. At least the number of candidates admitted by the communists is no longer restricted. Each year, “about 100 new seminarians now come from three dioceses,” Huy reports, “in the seminary where I taught, there are over 300 seminarians living.” For Huy, this is the fruit of persecution — and of lifelong catechism instruction. The thirst for faith and for Jesus is great, and the church is full even on weekdays. “Where the Church suffers, many vocations grow,” Huy explains.

We kindly ask you:

Support Huy and other called men in Vietnam generously, so that they can proclaim Catholic teaching in this culturally diverse and communist country!

DONATE NOW