Thai Binh Seminary
By AsiaNews / ÉdA
Sep 24 2020
The new facility will be able to accommodate 200-300 students. The diocese has up to 40 candidates each year. In the past, the government limited the number of vocations.
THAI BINH, Vietnam – The diocese of Thai Binh (north Vietnam) is building a new major seminary that can hold up to 300 seminarians.
On 7 September, almost a hundred seminarians took part in a celebration to mark the beginning of the school year and the foundation of the new seminary, dedicated to the Sacred Heart.
Government authorization for the construction of the building was obtained thanks to the mediation of Msgr Pierre Nguyen Van De, bishop of Thai Binh, and constitutes an important novelty for the local Church.
The previous seminary was in fact closed in 1970-1971, due to the war. Then the government kept it closed until 2008, when it was possible to begin a path of formation. But officially it could only accommodate six seminarians per year, even though the diocese had up to 40 candidates each year.
In 2008, Msgr Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Sang, bishop of Thai Binh at the time, had managed to obtain permission in an extraordinary way to be able to train 25 candidates, who have in the meantime become deacons and will be ordained priests in December 2020.
Fr Dominic Dang Van Cau, 58, has been appointed as the rector of the new seminary of the Sacred Heart,
The Catholic Church in Vietnam, spread over 27 dioceses, currently has 11 major seminaries and 2,824 seminarians. – AsiaNews
