Priestly vocations have soared almost 50 percent in five years in Vietnam amid a relaxation of seminary enrollment rules by the government. Enrollment in the country’s seven major seminaries this year is 1,349, compared to 922 in 2004, Fr Joseph Do Manh Hung, secretary general of the Vietnam Bishops’ Episcopal Commission for Clergy and Seminarians, told UCA News.
Some Church people say the relaxation of government rules on seminary recruitment is a good opportunity for the Church to take in a larger number of priestly candidates. It also indicates the government is loosening its grip on Church activities as it tries to integrate itself into the world community.
Since 1986, the government has allowed the local Church to reopen six major seminaries.
At first they were allowed to recruit students only every six years, and this was relaxed to every other year from 1991. Since 2005, seminaries have gradually been allowed to recruit every year.
Seminaries in Ha Noi, Ho Chi Minh City and Nha Trang received such permission in 2005, 2007 and 2008 respectively.
This September and October, the major seminaries in Hue, Can Tho and Vinh cities were allowed annual recruitment.
The former Xuan Loc branch of Ho Chi Minh city-based Saint Joseph Major Seminary this year became the country’s seventh major seminary serving 271 students from the dioceses of Ba Ria, Da Lat, Phan Thiet and Xuan Loc.
Fr Hung, who has a masters degree in the theology of priestly formation from the Institut Catholique de Paris in France, said most local dioceses organize pre-seminary programs for seminary candidates. This is because all minor seminaries were closed by the government after reunification in 1975.
Some 300 seminary candidates from Ho Chi Minh City archdiocese are attending such programs.
While the local Church is glad to be able to accept more priestly candidates, the large numbers also pose a challenge to Church infrastructure as more facilities are needed to accommodate students.
A seminary formator from a diocese in central Vietnam said his diocese does not have enough facilities for seminary candidates and lacks money for training.
The local Church also does not have enough formators with the necessary skills, he added.
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