VIETNAM The Archdiocese of Hanoi has a new pastoral center

It was inaugurated at the end of the Assembly of the Episcopal Conference. It is a large building for formation and evangelization that will also host the local Synod next month. The bishops thanked the Vietnamese diaspora communities “for their love of the Church and the homeland.”

Hanoi () – In Hanoi, the new headquarters of the archdiocese’s pastoral center was officially inaugurated, a large 12-storey building that will become the heart of the activities of the local Church in the great metropolis of northern Vietnam. The inauguration took place on October 7 – the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary – with a concelebration attended by all the bishops of the country, at the end of the 15th General Assembly of the Episcopal Conference. The meeting of the bishops was held in the previous days, in the presence of the Pope’s representative for Vietnam, Monsignor Marek Zalewski.

The mass took place in the Cathedral of San José, with the participation of thousands of faithful, who followed the celebration from the outside through giant screens. “The pastoral center is a work of faith and solidarity of the great family of the archdiocese,” said Archbishop of Hanoi, Monsignor Joseph Vu Van Thien, who leads a Catholic community of almost 350,000 faithful. The new facilities, located next to the cathedral and the seminary, will be the focal point of the diocesan community. The venue will host meetings and retreats for local priests, religious and laity, in addition to diocesan offices. It is equipped with an auditorium with 400 seats, a library and more than 200 rooms for guests, precisely to promote the possibility of growing in the knowledge of Jesus and in solidarity to announce the Gospel to the brothers.

The complex also exhibits some memorabilia from the history of evangelization and the life of Christian communities in Vietnam. For his part, the Archbishop of Ho Chi Minh City, Joseph Nguyen Nang, elected by the assembly as president of the Episcopal Conference, announced that the pastoral center of Hanoi will host a synod in November that will take up the legacy of the Ke So Council, an event that marked the history of the Vietnamese Church 110 years ago.

The new pastoral center in Hanoi is a sign of the vitality of the Vietnamese Catholic community. In this sense, the Episcopal Conference has launched a three-year pastoral plan that will focus on three major themes: strengthening communion (2023); promote participation in the life of the Church (2024); and announce the Gospel together (2025). The bishops also approved the Biblical Commission’s translation of the entire New Testament; and a pilot project for a digital library of religious texts that will be at the service of local churches.

Finally, in the final document of their Assembly, the Vietnamese bishops address an affectionate greeting to the diaspora communities, full of gratitude. “Thank you for always loving the Church and her homeland, Vietnam,” they write, “expressing this love with concrete gestures.” May the Lord bless you and sustain you in your daily lives.”