(Bac Ninh, Vietnam) Joseph Pham Van Toan, C.Ss.R. along with 11 other deacons was ordained to the priesthood at the Bac Ninh Cathedral by Bishop Cosma Hoang Van Dat, S.J., Bishop of Bac Ninh Diocese in the evening at 7 pm on the 3rd of June, 2019.
Bac Ninh Diocese is in the Northern part of Vietnam. It has 140 thousand Catholics out of 9 million inhabitants. With these newly ordained priests, the number of priests in this Diocese has been increased to 117. However, that number is not enough to meet the needs of the faithful and to proclaim the Good News in this vast mission area.
Because of those urgent needs, the Naphac Redemptorist community was established in 2012 to do the missionary works in the Bac Kan parish which had only 750 parishioners. After 7 years, this community now has 4 confreres caring for 1,200 parishioners who are desperately poor and scattered in 8 missionary areas of 486,000 square km. Recently, there were 250 Hmong people have been baptized and 70 catechumens are to be baptized next year.
We pray for the newly ordained priests to be “the true Icon of Christ in the world” as the Bishop emphasized in his homily, to wholeheartedly proclaim the plentiful Redemption to a wounded world.
Fr. Dominic Tra, C.Ss.R.
Province of Vietnam
