Vietnam
Shrine of Mother of Thai Binh will serve as a pilgrimage center for the faithful in Co Viet Parish
Women in traditional costumes dance and offer flowers and candles in front of the Marian statue in Co Viet Parish in Thai Binh province on May 23. (Photo: giaophanthaibinh.org)
A diocese in northern Vietnam has set up a new Marian shrine at a centuries-old parish on the occasion of the Feast of Our Lady Help of Christians.
Bishop Peter Nguyen Van De of Thai Binh founded the shrine in Co Viet Parish in Vu Thu district on May 24.
A special Mass to mark the event was concelebrated by Bishop De and Bishop Joseph Chau Ngoc Tri of Lang Son Cao Bang, joined by tens of priests and attended by thousands of people.
“We are delighted to dedicate this place to Mother Mary to show our gratitude to her and spread God’s name to other people,” Bishop De said.
The 76-year-old prelate said the Shrine of Mother of Thai Binh will serve as the 86-year-old diocese’s pilgrimage center for local people. They should pray for the diocese to be in unity, solidarity, love and peace, and to end the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and save the world from atheism, suffering, poverty and pandemics.
Bishop De said the parish church dedicated to Our Lady Help of Christians has been under construction and will be officially inaugurated on Dec. 8, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.
Local people in colorful traditional dress carried a Marian statue on a dragon-shaped base around the church, sang hymns, played drums and trumpets, danced and offered flowers and candles to Mother Mary
Local Catholics said the church will be one of the biggest in Vietnam.
In his homily, Bishop Tri said the new Marian shrine will be a place where Mother Mary listens to and answers the prayers of all of her children. “She loves us and asks God to give us what we need,” he said.
Before and after the ceremony, local people in colorful traditional dress carried a Marian statue on a dragon-shaped base around the church, sang hymns, played drums and trumpets, danced and offered flowers and candles to Mother Mary.
According to church history, foreign Dominicans introduced Catholicism to local people in 1679, and 114 years later the late Bishop Felician Alonso established Co Viet Parish.
After French troops were defeated by communist forces in northern Vietnam in May 1954, Father John Baptist Pham Hung Thi and most of the local people moved to Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) and founded a new parish there.
Those who stayed in the parish suffered religious restrictions and had no priests until 2005 when Father Francis Xavier Ngo Van Toan was assigned to the parish. He resumed religious activities and set up lay associations.
In the past, local people saw many Catholics from other places killed for their faith. Among them, four martyrs were from the parish.
The parish with four subparishes has 1,200 people.
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