As vocations fall in many provinces around the world, the Society of Jesus continues to receive good numbers for vocations in Vietnam.
On May 31, the Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 15 Vietnamese men took their first vows of chastity, poverty and obedience as Jesuits. Fr Provincial Joseph Pham Thanh Liem SJ presided over the vow Mass held at the Epiphany Church of the Society of Jesus. The celebration included 35 concelebrants, many Jesuits, family and friends of the men taking vows, benefactors and lay collaborators of the Society.
In his homily, Fr Liem said that Jesus was the real joy that Mary brought to Elizabeth’s family and that, by the generous offering of their whole life to God, these new Jesuits were also the joy of their parents, relatives and friends. He invited the whole community to praise God as Mary had done “My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.” Fr Liem also spoke of our God who is really present among us through Jesus Christ – the Word made Flesh, and invited the young men making their vows to recognize the loving presence and the call of God in their daily life, trusting that God himself would fulfil all things that he had started in them.
The 15 new scholastics come from various parts of Vietnam and all of them already have university degrees. They will spend the next three years studying philosophy at the St Joseph Jesuit Scholasticate in Thu Duc, Ho Chi Minh City. The new scholastics are Peter Nguyễn Phúc Hoàng Dũng (Nha Trang Diocese), Vincent Phạm Văn Đoàn (Long Xuyên Diocese), Anthony Trần Phi Lâm (Ban Mê Thuột Diocese), Joseph Đỗ Văn Liệu (Hưng Hóa Diocese), Paul Phạm Khánh Linh (Phan Thiết Diocese), Dominic Lê Văn Luận (Xuân Lộc Diocese), Joseph Nguyễn Văn Lương (Hà Nội Archdiocese), Joseph Phạm Đình Ngọc (Ban Mê Thuột Diocese), Joseph Hoàng Thanh Phong,( Xuân Lộc Diocese), Peter Trần Văn Quân (Thanh Hóa Diocese), Vincent Vũ Tứ Quyết (Bùi Chu Diocese), Joseph Tuân Vũ Chí Thành (Phú Cường Diocese), Joseph Lê Đắc Thắng (Huế Archdiocese), Dominic Nguyễn Văn Thế (Bùi Chu Diocese), and Conelio Đinh Chí Thiện (Sài Gòn Archdiocese).
That same day, 20 men entered the Society at the Jesuit Sacred Heart Novitiate. These young men, from various backgrounds and schools, begin their first two years of Jesuit training to become future Jesuit priests and brothers. They join a Jesuit community of 10 other Jesuit novices in their second year of training.
One of the youngest provinces in the Society, Vietnam is one of the larger provinces in the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific with 179 men as of January 1, 2013. It is projected to become the second largest, after Indonesia, by 2026, with an anticipated 300 Jesuits.
