Da Lat, Vietnam Franciscan Novitiate

This past week has offered many fascinating experiences for me. It started out with a preTet party at the home of one of the Postulants who happens to be from the little village of Binh Gia, where the Postulant house is located. His parents are simple farmers of corn and rice. Can you imagine the pride that they have for their son’s chosen vocation to the Franciscans? I was totally surprised at the variety and quality of the foods they prepared for our entire Postulant community of about twenty-two.

We had at least five courses of food, ranging from a delicious chicken soup with noodles and vegetables to thinly sliced goat cooked at the table with onions, chili peppers, and other vegetables as well as sliced beef with mushrooms and garlic which was also prepared at each table. Everyone at the table shared from the same hot plate and we ate the delightful foods with generous portions of sticky rice and rice noodles. Dessert consisted of fresh watermelon and a wonderful coconut jello. No one left the table hungry and again, the message was brought home loud and clear to me — the poor are always willing to share what they have with anyone in need.

On Monday I left for Ho Chi Minh City for an overnight stay and on Tuesday morning I departed for a quick three day trip to Manila in order to visit our Hilaire Valiquette who is teaching Greek, Latin, and English at Our Lady of the Angels Franciscan seminary. It was a quick two hour flight from Ho Chi Minh City. I eventually found Hilaire in the middle of the ocean of greeters who were waiting outside of the terminal to receive relatives and friends. And off we went to OLAS.

Needless to say, my mind began almost immediately to compare the two Asian realities — Vietnam and the Phillipines. Now, I need to say from the very beginning that I was only in Manila for a very short three day visit. I did not get out into the countryside and so my impressions are of Manila only. I certainly do not claim to be an expert on the social, political, or religious life of the Filipino or Vietnamese people. This is what I experienced and how it affected  me — nothing more and nothing less. My focus was immediately turned to the difference in traffic between Ho Chi Minh City and Manila. All of a sudden, the roads here in Manila are totally saturated with cars, busses and jeepneys with a scant smattering of motor bikes. It was the exact opposite of Vietnam where the motor bike rules the road.

As a consequence of the increased horsepower, the air was considerably more polluted than in HCM City (Believe me — they are both BAD). I was saddened to see what I considered to be the over abundance of English in the city. I would estimate that about 90% or more of all the billboards were in English. The American influence of the past seventy years is very hard to miss. I thought to myself as we were negotiating the impossible traffic that it would hard to make a distinction between this and perhaps a city like Chicago or New York in the USA.  I would hope that the rest of this country has more of a native feel to it. After all, this is an Asian country, right?

After about an hour and a half of fighting with the traffic we finally arrived at Our Lady of the Angels Seminary in Quezon City. It is an oasis of peace and quiet from the craziness of the Manila streets. If I was living here, I would think long and hard before venturing out into that mayhem. The seminary grounds consist of about five hectares (approximately twelve to fifteen acres) and all of the buildings are conveniently arranged to allow for a minimum of walking from the dormitories to the classrooms, dining room, chapel, etc. Like the Vietnamese  Province, the Philippine Province is doing very well with vocations.

There are approximately sixty students at various stages of education who are living at the seminary. There are also students from a few other congregations as well. The friar faculty is international in makeup, including our own Hilaire. English is the dominant language here at the seminary and I found it to be very understandable in comparison to the Vietnamese English.  

Another ministry site that the friars have in the area is that of their parish in the Forbes Park area of Manila. I came to discover that this area is quite exclusive and it is where the foreign diplomats live. The current US Ambassador to the Phillipines is one of the regular attendees at the Masses which are offered on the weekends (as well as the former president Imelda Marcos). I stayed at the parish overnight before my departure to Ho Chi Minh City in order to avoid the madness ofthe traffic gridlock. It is only about a fifteen minute trip to the airport. I think that it is most fortunate that the Franciscans are doing their ministry at this parish because it offers a window of opportunity for the simple message of Franciscanism to enter into the lives of people who might otherwise not be exposed to it. Unfortunately many of the rich and powerful leaders of government and business live in both an  economic and political bubble and they seldom have the exposure to the "real world" of the working class and the poor. The friars at Forbes Park offer a subtle reminder to one and all that Jesus loves even the weak and the helpless and that we all have a responsibility to care for them.

I am writing this from the Franciscan Novitiate at Da Lat which is situated in the highlands of Vietnam. I arrived here yesterday afternoon after a nine hour bus trip from Ho Chi Minh City. My former students and now the current novices were very happy to receive me. I know that the next couple of weeks will be filled with much joy and happiness. I wish the same to all of you!

Year of the Snake — February 10, 2013

One of the highlights of the week was a wonderful breakfast of Pho on February 6th (my 66th birthday). I purposely did not say anything to the novices about it because I knew that they would go out of their way to celebrate the day. I discovered that most of the country-side Vietnamese lebrate the birthday the way that we do. They actually focus more on the mother who suffered the pains of childbirth to bring the child into the world. So, the birthday person will usually visit or call his mother on the appointed day to thank her for her sacrifices to bring the person into the world. Now, how neat is that? I gave a hundred dollar bill to the novice master the night before and asked him to use the money to treat everyone to the Pho breakfast (on my birthday - unbeknown by anyone). Basically, Pho is a beef broth based soup that is spiced with such exotic spices as cinnamon bark, star anise, ginger, garlic, and a myriad of other ingredients. It has to cook for about eight to ten hours. It is served with fresh bean sprouts, lettuce, parsley and cilantro which the diner can add to his or her liking. So, we had a feast of Pho for my birthday and the cost was about fifty dollars for the entire community of thirty.

The Secular Franciscans are a true blessing to the Church of Vietnam and to the First and Second Order Franciscans. The latest number of active members is in the seven thousand range. They are very involved with the various projects of the Franciscan friars and they also manage many social programs on their own. This past week we were visited by one of the local OSF Fraternities in honor of Tet. What a delight to be with them. We all sat in the dining room for about two hours and told stories as well as sing songs. This action is typical of the Vietnamese people. They truly enjoy visiting family and friends and need very little to entertain themselves. A good lesson for those of us who might think that it is necessary to have the TV on in the background (for football or some other sporting event) while visiting. 

Saturday was the equivalent of New Years Eve and so a special Mass was celebrated at the St. Joseph Church at 10:00 PM to welcome the New Year. The church was filled and everyone was dressed in their finest. The celebrant (Fr. Alphonse, OFM) wore the traditional garb of the early Vietnamese people. After Mass he distributed Banh Chung rice cakes to each family as their first New Years gift. It is made out of what they call sticky rice and it is filled with a ground meat paste and some spices. The whole loaf is wrapped up in banana leafs and is steamed. Very tasty. The friar community, including the novices, devotes all of its labor time to running and operating a huge floral nursery. They are known for the high quality and the variety of their chrysanthemums which are very popular during Tet.

 

They told me that they have developed over one hundred different varieties. The flowers are started from seeds and then allowed to grow for about fourteen days. At that point they are sold to other farms and growers to complete the process. The monies realized from this cottage industry provide enough funds to maintain the novitiate program as well as to help sponsor a lot of social programs that the Diocese of Da Lat offers. The oldest member of the community is Fr. Paul. He is eighty-eight years old and can still run circles around most of us. He goes to the cathedral every week to hear confessions for four hours. He is quite an inspiration to all of the novices who affectionately call him "Father Ho" (as in Ho Chi Minh).

Life here in Da Lat is very tranquil. It is a good preparation for my more active schedule at Binh Gia where I will be teaching conversational English. The postulants return there on February 14 or 15 and I will most likely do the same. Your prayerful support is most welcome. I enjoy hearing from all of you from time to time because it helps to verify the Internet transmission. Unfortunately the government continues to monitor and censor a lot of the Internet traffic. Until the next time . . .

Peace and All Good!

Bruce.