ASIA

Fr. An
Author: Meghan Allen,  10 May 2022
 
The Catholic Church has been struggling for centuries to survive in Vietnam, with many Catholics having been executed, imprisoned, or otherwise treated harshly by the government. In reading this priest’s story, we hope to offer you a clearer picture of what our faithful brothers and sisters on the other side of the world struggle with and the dangers of practicing the Christian faith in a communist country. The name of the priest has been changed, along with dates and places, to protect his identity and ensure no backlash for speaking candidly about his struggle to become a priest in Vietnam.

In the 21st century, you’d think that anyone who has discerned that his vocation is the priesthood would be able to enter the seminary without the government holding him back. But since the communist’s takeover of Saigon in 1975, the regime has dictated many aspects of how the Church operates within the borders of Vietnam—including the limitation of priestly ordinations each year. Fr. An faced a very long waiting list (it could be years) to enter the seminary, which were limited to just a handful of new students each year. This waiting list weighed heavy with more than 200 applicants ahead of Fr. An, himself, in his diocese alone. But instead of feeling defeated, he took the matter into his own hands and moved to a neighboring country to work and put himself through seminary there instead.



It had been a years-long challenge to arrive at this point, with Fr. An’s family preferring he carry on the family line instead of becoming a priest. “But my father always told me he just wanted me to be a good man. And that’s exactly what I felt I have done for him by becoming a priest.” Midway through his philosophy degree, Fr. An was called home to be present with his family as his father had succumbed to his illness. Night after night, he and other villagers held vigil for his father until his soul departed this world. “Seeing me and the others praying for him made him so happy in his last days. It restored my hope in God’s mission for my life, even after such a difficult loss and years away from my family.”

Fr. An’s story of separation from his family is, sadly, a common narrative for many Vietnamese Catholics. In the two decades following the northern communist capture of Saigon, the United Nations High Commission on Refugees estimated a mass exodus of 800,000 Vietnamese refugees—most commonly fleeing by boat. Those faithful—or anyone else who did not fit into the communist’s picture of an ideal society—who could not leave were systematically imprisoned or killed in “re-education camps.” Though no certain statistics exist on this, hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese were sent to these camps where torture and starvation was not uncommon. But Catholic Vietnamese are no strangers to persecution. Of the 200,000 Catholics in the country between 1700 and 1800, 130,000 were executed during the 19th century persecutions. Fr. An’s choice to emigrate to another country in order to freely practice his faith and live out his priestly vocation was one that many faithful men before him had to make. “God may not have given me all the answers, but he gave me the ability to know how to pray and the power to respond to the plan He has for me,” said Fr. An. Following a cancer scare and his ordination in his adopted country, he spent four years serving the diocese that gave him the opportunity to attend seminary, leading up to his departure for graduate studies in Rome.


Having witnessed how the Christian faith is practiced in both his adopted country and Vietnam, Fr. An offered up a reflection on the benefits and challenges of practicing a faith in each country. In communist Vietnam, the government maintains such a tight hold on the Church, that there is a severe shortage of priests to serve the 7 million Catholics within its borders. But the other side of this coin is a deep sense of gratitude when they can receive the Eucharist or partake in the sacraments, because of this scarcity. The Eucharist might only be accessible once a month or so, but to Vietnamese Catholics, it is a gift to be cherished.


His adopted country, on the other hand, gives the Church plenty of freedom to practice its faith and allows it to grow unhindered. The challenge lies not with the government but with society as a whole. Those who don’t find immediate answers to their prayers in one faith—whether Taoist, Buddhist, Catholic, or any other faith—are quick to run to another faith with open wallets, hoping to have miracles performed at a price. And many will pay whatever sum is required. Fr. An has seen this sort of behavior undermine faith-practice in his diocese, but he remains hopeful that by being an example of what it means to hold fast to Christianity, he might be able to accompany his flock on their individual faith journeys. This year, he will complete his post-graduate studies at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, which will provide him the tools he needs to properly handle the theological challenges that are bound to arise in his apostolate.

Expressing his gratitude to the diocese and Pontifical University of the Holy Cross donors that gave him the opportunity to pursue this degree and receive spiritual formation from some of the world’s best formators, Fr. An is confident that the knowledge he is gaining, both spiritually and intellectually in Rome, will help him restore the faith and rebuild the Christian morals of families and young people in his future apostolate. “So much joy can be found in the Eucharist itself!” In sharing the Holy Sacrament together with his future parishioners, Fr. An may show them that anyone who seeks Christ can find him.

St. John the Baptist, who prepared the way for Jesus’ ministry, inspires Fr. An’s own ministry. “I pray and hope that I may be like John the Baptist, who was an instrument of God, and continue to spread the Good News, so that more people are able to receive God’s eternal love and salvation.” Though he realizes this task is not so simple in today’s secular world that is so deeply infected with materialism and individualism. The cure for this, too, is having a heart and conscience for Christ. As a priest, Fr. An strives to live his faith through every moment of his day to all those who cross his path, sharing with them the same love and peace that Christ has so freely given him. Perhaps one day, he will be able to return to Vietnam to be a shepherd of the Church; however, until that day comes, there is much work to be done in his beloved adopted country.