An American archbishop has joined his counterparts in Vietnam to mark the opening of the first college-level Catholic school in the country in about 40 years.
Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky, who travelled on behalf of the US bishops’ conference, said he wanted Vietnamese Catholics to know “they are not forgotten”.
“The Church in Vietnam has suffered hardships and religious repression, and slowly over these 40 years there are some headways that have been made,” the archbishop told Catholic News Service.
“I think the episcopal conference of Vietnam is naturally looking for friendship and opportunities to be able to support, not just tangibly, but kind of a heartfelt support that this visit showed,” Archbishop Kurtz said. “And this means a lot to them because so many of their family members migrated to the United States.”
Archbishop Kurtz said the new Catholic Institute of Vietnam was a “significant step that the Church has been able to take with the government.”
“In Vietnam, pretty much everything needs prior approval by the government,” so it was impressive “that after a long period of negotiation, the government was able to approve this institute, which someday will become a university.”
Under French rule from the late 1800s until 1975, the country had a strong Catholic presence. But in 1975, when the communists took power, the government tightened control over religion and religious institutions. Catholics were harassed, arrested and detained. In the first two decades under communism, hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese fled and an estimated 350,000 sought asylum in the US.
Bishop: euthanasia threatens the foundations of society
A Canadian bishop has described assisted suicide as a “threat to the foundations of our society”.Bishop Noel Simard of Valleyfield was speaking almost a year after assisted suicide was introduced in Quebec. It was introduced in the rest of Canada a few months ago.
Bishop Simard, spokesman on life for the country’s bishops’ conference, said that in his early years as a priest he accompanied a score of terminally ill Aids patients in Ontario. “I’ve seen people die, many. We all assume that terminally ill patients desperately wish to die. But it isn’t the case. What they long for, first and foremost, is someone to hold their hand and accompany them.”
The bishop said that the process helped them give meaning to their suffering and reclaim for themselves some dignity.
“Too often, we tend to limit one’s dignity to his ability to interact, to speak, and to remain conscious. But dignity shouldn’t be related to a capacity: Dignity is intrinsically and inherently attached to us, as a human being ... no matter what happens.”
He added: “My biggest worry is that euthanasia, now enshrined as a right, will become a duty.”
Key ring saints ‘inspired by loss’
A website called tinysaints.com is offering an unusual type of key ring decoration – images of saints in the style of Hello Kitty or Pokémon.Company founders Joe and Colleen Klinker say it started as a way of explaining to their children who their stillborn sister was with in heaven. “Most saints don’t have the appeal to children, unlike Disney or Hello Kitty,” Joe told the Arlington Catholic Herald. “We weren’t going to allow our children to miss out on that grace.”
