"Each parish is a large family of families" and "each family, the founding cell of society, announces the Good News." The Vietnamese bishops wrote this statement in the concluding pastoral letter of their second annual conference, which ended on October 30th, in the Diocese of Nha Trang, in the south of the country. The meeting—reports AsiaNews—was attended by Archbishop Leopoldo Girelli, non-permanent representative of the Holy See in this communist nation of Asia, and by 26 Bishops from all over the country.
In the document drawn up by the bishops, each parish is called to support "immigrants and their families." The President of the Vietnamese Bishops' Conference and Archbishop of Saigon, Msgr. Paul Bùi Văn Đọc, calls them to "help Catholic families" to become "houses of prayer" and "places of love," dwellings "open to solidarity and mutual sharing." During the three-day encounter, bishops and priests discussed pastoral care of the family as well as programs of formation and faith that start from the parishes and religious congregations.
