The Formation of Priests

     

 

The number of candidates to priesthood was conditional on rules and regulations by the State authorities. Only ten students in each diocese were admitted to a seminary every two years. These conditions and others eventually hindered religious services and the performance of religious duties by lack of priests.  Impediments to formation of priests, therefore, created serious problems to the Church.  In the North, religious education was banned before the Vietnam War (1955-1975). The penury of priests in the North after decades of persistent repression during the Vietnam War was critical. Beginning in 1988, seven dioceses in the North could send prospective seminarians to Hanoi for religious education. For 5 years (1988-1992), the number of candidates still remained very low. Only a hundred students were admitted to the grand seminary. When the grand seminary of Hanoi reopened, it could only operate one class every two years. Worse still, it could only receive from each of seven dioceses 10 students every academic term. Of 100 candidates that were officially recommended by the local authorities, a diocese could only receive about ten due to such factors considered as "unfavorable" social and political backgrounds. by the authorities.

 

In the South, after the fall of the Republic of Vietnam on April 30, 1975, the Communist regime closed down the inter-diocesan seminaries in Saigon and Vinh Long. Seminarians were to return to their local dioceses. In the 1980’s, only six seminaries were permitted to reopen but were subject to strict State rules and regulations. For example, a new education term could only begin every six years, and only fifty seminarians could be admitted each new term.  The rules and regulations vacillated between permission and withdrawal of permission from the authorities. No sooner had a measure been put into effect than another one nullified it.

    

The seminaries in Da Lat,  Phan Thiet, Xuan Loc, Saigon, My Tho, and Can Tho were authorized to reopen, but  operated conditionally on restrictions. The requirements to be met were: 1) A new scholastic term will only  begin every other three years; 2) The  appointment of a member of the Church to the teaching staff must be approved by the State. Each teaching staff comprises six professors with one of whom must be state-designated; 3) Applicants to the seminary are required to have good social and political records and are to be recommended by the local authorities; and 4) Programs of education must be submitted to and approved by the State.

   

Under these conditions, the Church unavoidably faces a severe shortage of priests. Given that 50 applicants admitted every other three years for a six-year scholastic term, only 10 out of the 50 seminarians are expected to become priests each term. Reality shows that the majority of young seminarians generally wilt  not be able to overcome trials of an ascetic life of priesthood and abandon vocation to the priesthood halfway. Besides, the number of old and retired priests increases every year. Worse still, those priests who returned from the reeducation camps are forbidden to resume to perform priestly duties and forced to return to their families. This situation poses a serious problem to the Church.  The shortage of priests will lead to an erosion of the clerical body of the Church,  adding weight on its ministry throughout the country.

 

From 1986 to 1988, six seminaries in Da Lat, Phan Thiet, Xuan Loc, Saigon, My Tho, and Can Tho were authorized to reopen, but the conditions were still rigorous. They were to meet such requirements as: 1) A new scholastic term will begin every other three years. 2) The requirements for seminary professors must be approved by the State. There will be six professors at most, and one of them must be State-assigned. 3) Applicants for these institutions are required to have good social and political background and their nomination must be approved by the local authorities, and 4) The programs of education must be submitted to and approved by the State.

     

Candidates to the priesthood are subject to verification of identity. The center of sacerdotal training has to clarify the social and political background of the student. The State-affiliated National Assembly deputy Phan Khac Tu complained at the eleventh assembly (1997) that young men and women in the country who want to become priests or nuns actually face strict restrictions simply because they are not accorded permits of permanent residents in the city. Numerous requirements affect the recruit of the candidates. The restriction on the number of candidates to seminaries or nunneries create difficulties to the formation of priests.

   

Given that 50 applicants were admitted to a grand seminary every other three years for a six-year scholastic term, only 10 out of 50 seminarians are expected to become priests each term. This remark, which is based on fact and realty, shows that the majority of young seminarians generally will not ably overcome the trials of the ascetic life of priesthood. In addition, old and ailing priests are due for retirement, and priests who returned from the reeducation camps are forced to return home, thus reducing the number of priests on duty and adding weight on the extreme shortage of priests throughout the country.

 

In late March 1993, the chairman of the State Committee for Religions Affairs Vu Quang in a circular  informed the  Church of the government’s new religious policy.  The law-order specifically stated that  “ There will be solutions to the current issue of religion. The government will be ready to allow a number of Catholic priests to go and study religious subjects overseas. Those priests who return from reeducation will be allowed to resume their priesthood if their conduct proves to be appropriate. Seminaries who are legally accredited by the government will be allowed to function whether they are in the South or the North.” Nevertheless, these problems remained unsolved, unavoidably discrediting  the government new policy. Only a small number of priests were allowed to go and study in Paris, France.  Quite a few priests who returned from “reeducation” were not permitted to perform  pastoral services. In Dong Soai Parish, Saigon, where the State priest Phan Phac Tu was the pastor, as a case in evidence, several priests of this category could only do their duty “in hiding” under the pastor’s “umbrella.”

 

Under the new rules and regulations, the candidates to the priesthood were subject to rigorous requirements. Over the years, only 10 candidates of each diocese were admitted to a seminary every two years. These conditions and other difficulties eventually hindered the Church religious education and ministry. Msgr. Nguyen Son Lam, Secretary of the Episcopal Conference, brought up the question of religious formation before the general assembly of bishops. At the Episcopal Conference of Vietnam (2001, the dignitary hoped that the term fixed for the recruit of the seminarians should renew every two years, and the limited number of candidates imposed by the State should be abolished.

 

 A diocese like Thanh Hoa of which Msgr. Nguyen Son Lam was in charge, only had the right to receive 12 candidates every two years. Nonetheless,  the local authorities unilaterally interfered in the Church's internal affairs, exercising  control on it, fixing the number the number of the candidates.  Only 8 of them were authorized to accede to the candidacy. The Episcopal Conference also  wished to see more seminaries to be instituted o the candidacy. Two new institutions should be instituted as annexed seminaries functioning within the grand seminaries of Saigon and Hanoi. One annexed seminary should be established at Xuan Loc, in the South, and another one, in the diocese of Thai Binh, in the North. However, difficulties arising from overt disagreement between the central and regional authorities, negating the bishops’ wishes. Until 2001, there was no response from the authorities.  (EDA 323. Visit of the Vatican to Vietnam (June 11, 2001).

 

The  Ordination

 

The Decree 69/HDBT of March 21, 1991 stipulates that the ordination of priests of diverse religions has to be approved by the authorities concerned of the provincial people’s council. For two decades, the  Church's obsolete clergy diminished incontestably. In spate instances, priests had to be ordained "in hiding," as was the case of Fr. Pham Van Lois of Hue Diocese.

Worse still, old seminarians had to wait for years to be ordained. The case of the diocese of Kontum in the Central Highlands is an example. On August 25, 1998, Bishop Pierre Tran Thanh Chung was allowed to confer ordination on the prospective priest Joseph Tran Ngoc Tan, who had been waiting for 23 years to receive ordination due to delay of authorization  from the civil administration. The preceding ordination in this diocese took place in 1992.  It was also the case of Fr. Nguyen Quang Vinh, who was the first priest in the diocese to be ordained with State authorization. He was then 45 years old. He had begun his theological studies at the pontifical seminary of Da Lat before the Communist takeover of South Vietnam in April 1975.   

 

In the North, after more than forty years of interruption, a cleric was ordained priest in the monastery Chau Son of the diocese Phat Diem. Everyone agrees to qualify the recent ordination of Father Bui Van Hung, a cleric, as an historic event. A celebration presided over by the Cardinal Joseph Pham Dinh Tung took place on July 2, 2001. at the abbey of Chau Son in the diocese of Phat Diem, Ninh Binh, North Vietnam. In effect, not only did this celebration, which was a discreet-mark of the beginning of revival of a monastery whose life had been  perturbed since 1954, but also and above all,  the rebirth of the religious life in North Vietnam. Fr. Bui Van Hung was the first cleric ordained priest in North Vietnam since the political partition of Vietnam in 1954. Fr. P. Antoine Doan Minh Hai who served the parish nearest to the monastery confided that this ordination was, for him, the sign of gleam of hope that shined again on the religious community after so many years of adversity.