ET02378.1443 May 1, 2007 62 EM-lines (692 words) EAST TIMOR    World Youth Day Cross Receives Emotional Welcome DILI (UCAN) -- Sweltering heat and pouring rain did nothing to dampen the spirits of the young people who shouldered the World Youth Day Cross in procession around all parishes in Timor Leste's capital. In a re-enactment of Christ's passion, groups of 15 young men and women took turns to carry the 3.8-meter-high wooden cross and accompanying Marian image, both given by the late Pope John Paul II to the world's Catholic youth. The cross and image were in Catholic-majority Timor Leste, or East Timor, for four days beginning April 20 as part of an Asia-Pacific tour overseen by Sydney archdiocese, where the 2008 World Youth Day is set to be held. On April 20 at Dili airport, thousands of people clapped and cried as the cross arrived in the midday heat, accompanied by Auxiliary Bishop Anthony Fisher of Sydney, coordinator for World Youth Day 2008. The Australian Dominican bishop handed the cross to Father Apolinario Aparicio Guterres, vicar general of Dili diocese, amid traditional dancing and singing. The dancers sang in the local Tetum language of the sorrows they went through because of the civil conflict over the past year. About 5,000 people then accompanied the cross to Immaculate Conception Cathedral. The crowd, including priests, nuns and civil leaders, walked praying and singing along the 10-kilometer dusty road from the airport. Among them were President Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao, Prime Minister Jose Ramos-Horta, Bishop Alberto Ricardo da Silva of Dili, Bishop Basilio do Nascimento of Baucau and Archbishop Leopoldo Girelli, apostolic nuncio to Timor Leste. The next day, the people carried the cross and image for dozens of kilometers around the seven parishes in Dili. Heavy rain did not stop the procession. On Sunday April 22, Archbishop Girelli presided at Mass at the cathedral. Bishop da Silva concelebrated. The nuncio told the thousands of Catholics who attended that the cross symbolizes not only the suffering of innocent people, but also God's love. He also said the cross, the origin of Catholics' faith, has become part of Timor Leste's history and is "the symbol of hope." Speaking after the Mass, Bishop da Silva linked the cross with the conflict between "easterners" and "westerners" in the country. He told the people that through love and suffering on the cross, Jesus "has destroyed separateness and revenge," and united all people as one "in the Kingdom of God." Communal violence broke out in April 2006 following the dismissal of more than a third of the country's army. The dismissed soldiers, westerners, had protested alleged discrimination by easterners in the military. The tensions degenerated into clashes in which at least 20 people were killed and 100,000 displaced. President Gusmao, who attended the Mass, said the World Youth Day Cross can reconnect people separated by political interests and bring about repentance, tolerance and love. The president recalled that in 1989, Pope John Paul II came to East Timor, then part of Indonesia, to bring hope and courage to the local people defending their rights. The Church stood with the people during the 24 years of Indonesian occupation and now appeals to the independent nation's young people to embrace peace, tolerance and reconciliation, he said. Timor Leste, where Catholics make up 96 percent of the population of about 1 million, was a Portuguese colony for four centuries before coming under Indonesian rule from 1975 to 1999, a time marked by violence linked to the independence struggle. The country achieved full independence in May 2002. Young people who spoke with UCA News on April 22 spoke of their hope for reconciliation. Julio Sarmento Lopez, 20, said he hoped the presence of the World Youth Day Cross would encourage people still intent on fighting to settle differences to reconcile instead and together develop the country. Maria da Cruz, 17, hoped young people from east and west would hold firmly to the unity the cross brought among them. Seminarian Nuno Horta, 21, said the cross teaches that violence can be countered by loving and forgiving one's enemy, rather than more violence. The cross was taken back to the airport on the morning of April 23 to be flown back to Sydney. END (Accompanying photos available with the UCAN Photo Service. Use story code ET02378.1443 or a person's name to search for related photos.) Related UCAN Reports EAST TIMOR Forgiveness, Unity Among Youths Stressed At National Easter Celebration (April 27, 2007) PHILIPPINES Value of Sacrifice Highlighted During Visit Of World Youth Day Cross (March 6, 2007) KOREA Youth Pray For National Reunification With World Youth Day Cross, Icon (February 28, 2007) IC02389.1443 May 1, 2007 60 EM-lines (649 words) INDIA    Televised Attack On Christian Pastor Evokes Widespread Condemnation JAIPUR, India (UCAN) -- Political parties have joined Christian groups in condemning an attack on a Protestant missioner in Rajasthan, western India. Indian television channels broadcast scenes of the April 29 incident nationwide. News channels showed masked men kicking Pastor Walter Massey and beating him with wooden sticks and iron rods. Clips of his wife and children fleeing the scene, and of the bleeding pastor praying, were also shown. Police arrested five people the next day. A joint statement from the All India Catholic Union (AICU), the All India Christian Council and United Christian Action said the "gory visual images" have "surely" traumatized the civilized world. It also said the pastor was attacked for "no other crime" than "trying to bring education" to one of India's poorest regions. AICU president John Dayal, who signed the press release, blamed Hindu militant groups for the attack. He charged that the Rajasthan state government has "abdicated" its responsibilities to Hindu extremists. The pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP, Indian people's party) rules the state. On April 30, several Rajasthan Christian groups, under the banner of Jaipur Christian Fellowship, organized a peace march in Jaipur, the state capital, 260 kilometers southwest of New Delhi. As an expression of Christian solidarity, the march moved from the city square to Pastor Massey's house. The same day, Christian leaders joined the opposition Congress party to meet Governor Pratibha Patil of Rajasthan. They submitted a memorandum seeking her intervention to have the culprits arrested. Pastor Massey heads Masihi Sanghti (Christian fellowship). The attack occurred after his congregation's Sunday morning services. Joyce Massey, the pastor's wife, told UCA News the attack was planned and began with three young people ringing the doorbell and asking to "hear about Jesus." The unsuspecting Churchman let them in, where they started beating him. "You are misleading the people," she recalled them saying. By her count, about a dozen people aged 16-22 ended up inside the house, destroying furniture, kitchen utensils and anything else they could find. Pastor Massey is a native of neighboring Punjab state. The couple has lived for the past 10 years in the rented Jaipur house, just half-a-kilometer from the official residences of the state's chief minister and the governor. Joyce Massey said her husband holds prayer meetings on Saturdays and Sundays at their residence, but had received no threats. She added that they have maintained good relations with their neighbors. She and her daughter were unhurt, but Pastor Massey was hospitalized. A day later he needed special trauma care. His condition is listed as stable. Christian sources said the immediate provocation could be the pastor's work in a slum area about a kilometer from his house. Some poor residents of that area have attended the prayer meetings. Although media reports blame Hindu fanatics for the attack, leaders of right-wing Hindu groups have denied the charges and condemned the attack. "This is a pre-meditated move to defame the Hindu front organizations," said Awdesh Pareek, local spokesperson of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (world Hindu council). "Only an inquiry will reveal who the attackers were, and how the electronic media accompanied them," he told media persons. Others, too, questioned the role of the media people who covered the attack. "From the time the intruders rang the doorbell, the television crews were present, and they were unhindered by the partly masked goons," Girdhari Singh Bafna, a lawyer and civil rights activist, told UCA News. Rajasthan Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria said the attack was "the handiwork" of groups hoping to "discredit" the state's BJP government. But Dushyant Ojha, state secretary for the Communist Party of India, said the incident demonstrated the state's "failure to protect minorities." Muslim leaders expressed similar thoughts. Engineer Mohammed Saleem, state president of a Muslim organization, told UCA News members of his organization warned the government about a threat to religious minorities from sectarian groups, "but no action was taken." END Related UCAN Reports INDIA Christians Plan Statewide Protest Against Violence In Rajasthan (March 7, 2006) INDIA Catholic Team Attacked On Christmas Eve, Church People Upset (December 28, 2005) INDIA Catholic Nuns Attacked In Rajasthan (October 28, 2005) INDIA Christians Attacked in Rajasthan, Threats Against Bible Gatherings Continue (February 22, 2005) IJ02366.1443 May 1, 2007 65 EM-lines (699 words) INDONESIA    Catholic Widows Follow Saint Monica's Persistence In Praying KEBUMEN, Indonesia (UCAN) -- The Catholic widows who gathered for a belated Easter ceremony and advance celebration of their national union's 25th anniversary hold Saint Monica as their patron and model in prayer. "We widows try to follow Saint Monica's persistence in prayer. We pray for our family, our children and our late husbands. We also pray for the Church, the pope, bishops, priests and our state and nation," said Theresia Sri Supartini. The coordinator of Purwokerto diocese's branch of the Saint Monica Catholic Widows Association (PWK Santa Monika, Indonesian acronym) spoke with UCA News during the April 15 celebration in a government building in Kebumen, 350 kilometers southeast of Jakarta. About 250 widows, from nine member parishes and several non-member parishes, attended the celebration with seven priests and 10 nuns. The diocese has 21 parishes. PWK Santa Monika, founded in Jakarta on June 12, 1982, has more than 10,000 members in 20 out of the country's 36 dioceses, according to founding chairperson Angela Maria Rena Karim. The association's 25th anniversary will be officially commemorated in Jakarta on June 17. Supartini also encourages her children to pray. "During their childhood I always invited them to pray the rosary together every night. They had their own parts in the prayer ... they prayed for their father, for me, for family, and night prayer, but the one in kindergarten just said a brief prayer: Lord, bless our family. Amen," she recalled. The 67-year-old retired teacher, whose husband died in 1973, admitted that as a single parent she faced difficulties raising her six children alone, "but I surrendered them all to God," and now they all have married, and given her seven grandchildren. Her becoming a widow was God's will, she believed. "God entrusted the children to me. I raised and educated them alone," she added. Another widow, Bernadet Endang Ristawati, 59, admitted that she shares Saint Monica's belief that "prayers are powerful." A year after her husband's death in January 2003, she recalled, she had breast-cancer surgery in Yogyakarta, 60 kilometers east of Kebumen. "I prayed for complete recovery, but in fact, after the surgery I needed a lot of money for chemotherapy and radiation treatment in Yogyakarta," she told UCA News. Thanks to three Hail Mary novenas, added the teacher of a public junior high school, "God gave me a way out. I had a present from a bank in the form of a motorcycle. I sold it to pay the medical treatment," said the head of PWK Santa Monika of Christ the King Cathedral of Purwokerto. Maria Magdalena Sumartini, 61, told UCA News that after the death of her husband she felt useless and stayed by herself, while her three children were in Yogyakarta and Jakarta. "But in PWK Santa Monika I rediscovered my reason to live," Sumartini related. Through prayers and fellowship, she said, she realized that God loves her and many people need her, including her children and grandchildren. The celebration began with a prayer service led by Father Ambrosius Adiwardaya, chaplain of the diocesan PWK Santa Monika. After the service, member parishes presented performances that included pantomimes, dances and drama. "We held such a celebration to show that the Church does not forget the widows," the priest told UCA News. A 30-member team of dancers and musicians performed a sendratari, a story expressed in a dance accompanied by traditional musical instruments, produced by Franciska Untariningsih. According to Untariningsih, the dance is about Saint Monica's persistence in praying, which mothers should follow. "She is prayerful. She prayed at any moment and God answered her prayers," the choreographer explained. In a book published for the celebration, Jesuit Bishop Julianus Sunarka wrote: "The spirituality of PWK Santa Monika originates from Jesus Christ's life, which was interpreted in the daily life of Saint Monica. The question now is how basic spirituality enters the widows' daily life." Saint Monica, who lived in the fourth century, is the patron saint of mothers, wives and widows. It is said that the mother of Saint Augustine of Hippo prayed constantly for the conversion of her husband, who finally converted on his deathbed. She also converted her son after a wild and rebellious life. END Related UCAN Reports INDONESIA Catholic Widows Come Together To Share, Pray (January 9, 2007) INDONESIA Being Elderly Widows Not An Obstacle To Bearing Witness To Christ (April 25, 2002) INDONESIA Catholic Widows Comfort Victims Of Church Bomb Attack (December 26, 2001) INDONESIA Catholic Widows Committed To Serve Church, Society Through Prayer (December 3, 1996) INDONESIA UCAN Feature - Catholic Widows Celebrate First 10 Years Of Service (August 6, 1992) INDONESIA Catholic Union Of Widows Plans Nationwide Expansion In Five Years (July 22, 1987) INDONESIA Catholic Union Of Widows Expands Beyond Java, Now Has Chapter In North Sumatra (October 8, 1986) IS02375.1443 May 1, 2007 70 EM-lines (706 words) INDONESIA    Thousands Of Catholics Welcome The Body Of Divine Word Archbishop Emeritus Gabriel Manek ATAMBUA, Indonesia (UCAN) -- Thousands of Catholics welcomed the body of Divine Word Archbishop Emeritus Gabriel Wilhelmus Manek, an Atambua diocese native, who died and was buried in the United States in 1989. The body of the first Timorese missioner and bishop was returned at the request of Daughters of the Rosary Queen (PRR, Indonesian acronym), the congregation he founded in 1958. The body arrived at Denpasar, Bali, on April 17. Denpasar Bishop Benyamin Yosef Bria, an Atambua diocese native, led a procession to Kuta's St. Francis Xavier Church and to Denpasar's Holy Spirit Cathedral Church. The body was received with Balinese dance, and the East Flores hedung and Timorese likurai dances. Archbishop Manek resigned as the head of Ende archdiocese in December 1968, after eight years, due to ill health. He went to the U.S. that year for treatment. "In America, despite his old age and sickness, he did pastoral work; zealously visiting Catholics, including American Indians. He was close and attentive to the poor," said the bishop, who visited Archbishop Manek in Denver, while studying in Washington. He also attended the 1989 funeral at Divine Word Cemetery in Chicago. The body was exhumed on April 13, 2007. Sister Maria Benediktis Gromang, PRR superior general, who was at the exhumation, said it had not decayed. "Our original plan was to bring back his bones, but we found his body undamaged; as if he just died," she said. From Bali, the body was flown to Kupang, West Timor, on April 19. Kupang Archbishop Petrus Turang, priests and Religious, and government officials including East Nusa Tenggara province Governor Piet Alexander Tallo, a Protestant, received the body. "Welcome back, Archbishop Manek," Catholic lay leader Fabianus Harry Luwalu, said in his address. Thousands of Catholics accompanied the body to PRR community house, then to Christ the King Cathedral Church, where Archbishop Turang led Mass. "The PRR congregation was the late archbishop's life's work, besides other noble works he had done during his life," he said. From Kupang, the body went 325 kilometers northeast to Lahurus, the archbishop's home parish. Archbishop Manek, whose priestly ordination was on Jan. 28, 1941, was its first priest. On April 20, Catholics lined the streets waiting for the motorcade, to pay homage. They built altars with crucifixes, Marian statues, the late archbishop's photo, lit candles, and flowers. They gathered and prayed, and knelt when the motorcade arrived. In one village, lepers and their relatives chased the motorcade asking for one stop. They approached the ambulance, and kissed the coffin through tears. In Ailomea, Archbishop Manek's native hamlet, his relatives received the body in "Kapela Mgr. Gabriel Manek," a chapel erected six years ago by relatives and PRR sisters. Jadokus Manek said the family thanks God for accompanying Archbishop Manek throughout his life. "It is God's work that his body remains undamaged," he said. After a prayer service, the body was taken to St. Peter's Church in Lahurus, one kilometer east. Divine Word Father Feliks Kosat, Timor's SVD superior, led Mass, with thousands overflowing the church and its yard. In Atambua, on April 21, thousands more welcomed the body at St. Mary Immaculate Cathedral Church with likurai and the student drum band. During Mass, Divine Word Bishop Pain Ratu of Atambua said the late archbishop came from a royal family, and was a good example of a true follower of Jesus Christ the King. "Gabriel Manek was supposed to have power. He was supposed to be served by servants. But he chose to follow Jesus, to serve," he said. "I am speechless and just feel incredible" about his body's state, the bishop said. "I cannot but acknowledge that he is a holy man." The congregation responded with long applause. The body was then taken by naval boat to Larantuka, where Gabriel Manek was bishop from 1951 to 1960. On April 25, the 56th anniversary of his episcopal ordination, his body was reburied at PRR headquarters. Bishop Frans Kopong Kung of Larantuka, East Flores; Archbishop-elect Vincentius Sensi Potokota of Ende, central Flores; and Sacred Family Bishop Fransiskus Xaverius Prajasuta of Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, led the funeral Mass. Sister Gromang said in her speech at the funeral, "we wanted his body returned simply because we love him." END (Accompanying photos available with the UCAN Photo Service. Use story code IS02375.1443 or a person's name to search for related photos.) Related UCAN Reports INDONESIA Nuns Help Locate People In West Timor To Benefit From Free Surgery (December 30, 2003) INDONESIA Atambua Vicar General Appointed Bishop Of Denpasar Diocese (April 26, 2000) INDONESIA Flores Women's Religious Congregation Marks 40th Anniversary (August 31, 1998) MY02345.1443 May 1, 2007 61 EM-lines (669 words) MYANMAR    Laypeople Given More Say In Church But Old Attitudes Die Hard MANDALAY, Myanmar (UCAN) -- The change is small, and a rather late response to the greater prominence the Second Vatican Council gave laypeople half a lifetime ago, but it might be revolutionary. In a country where bishops and priests are still considered the unquestioned leaders of the Catholic Church, a layperson heads Mandalay archdiocese's newly established Laity Commission. It is a small step initiated by Archbishop Paul Grawng of Mandalay to offer laypeople a greater role in the Church. All the other archdioceses and dioceses in Myanmar have lay associations headed by priests, but Doctor John Khin Maung Pyone is the "lay face" of Mandalay archdiocese. Archbishop Grawng appointed the 60-year-old medical doctor president in July 2006, after consulting local laypeople. "I have an idea that our laypeople could initiate efforts to develop Catholics as well as help with Church activities," Maung Pyone told UCA News. He spoke about the changing role of laypeople in the Catholic Church following Vatican Council II (1962-65) and the role of the new laity commission at a one-day laity meeting in Mandalay city, 580 kilometers north of Yangon. During the March meeting, held at St. John's Church, 37 laypeople and two priests discussed catechism classes, education, faith, economics and social issues. It was the first official meeting of laypeople in the archdiocese since the commission was set up last year and its president appointed. Maung Pyone said he was concerned "that our Catholic people are weak in faith, economics, education and social dealings." He suggested that laypeople need to take the initiative in promoting personal development. "We also need to get more laypeople involved in Church activities," he continued, but "we don't want to clash with the priests." Emphasizing that laypeople want to serve, he said some of them already help priests with evangelization, other Church activities and social work. "For example, when a flood occurred in some parishes near Mandalay city in 2006, our laity commission collected donations of money, clothes, rice and oil from city parishioners," he reported. One of the priests who attended the meeting, Father Richard Hla Min Oo, the St. John's parish priest, told UCA News that laypeople in his parish are active and conduct monthly meetings. He said he has "no problems" with them and even depends on them to help with social work. Since laypeople live more like the other people around them, they know more about the people's situation, he reasoned, saying priests need to listen to the laity and not ignore them just because "some laypeople are against us." Reiterating that priests need to collaborate with the laity, he predicted laypeople "would become more active if priests appreciate their activities." Vatican Council II marked a turning point for the Catholic Church, as it emphasized that the laity are full members of the Church and have a responsibility to be active in Church work. In a recent interview with UCA News, Archbishop Grawng stressed the "great improvement" he has seen in lay participation in the Church. "It is heartening to have laypeople come up with suggestions and proposals, for example, for teaching the faith, getting necessary funds for the work of the Church, and ensuring proper formation and support of seminarians," he remarked. Archbishop Grawng was appointed archbishop of Mandalay in 2003. Theory and practice, though, are not always the same. Eusebius Aung Nyunt, from the archdiocese's St. Francis Xavier Parish, spoke of a lingering perception that only bishops and priests, not laypeople, have the authority to conduct meetings. "When the parish priest calls a meeting," he told UCA News, "that is when our laypeople attend." Aung Nyunt, who has been active in Church work for 30 years, added that they carry out Church activities "only when the parish priest asks us to do so." On average, the Myanmar Church has nearly 1,000 laypeople for every priest. According to the 2007 Myanmar Catholic Directory, there are about 675 priests, including three archbishops and 12 bishops, serving 627,510 Catholics in a national population of 47 million. END Related UCAN Reports MYANMAR Lay Mission Seeks To Empower The Poor, Even As It Struggles With Funding (August 23, 2006) MYANMAR Mandalay Priests Expand Role Of Laity (January 25, 2005) MYANMAR Clergy And Laity Need To Understand Lay Role, Bishop Tells (July 30, 1986) PM02376.1443 May 1, 2007 61 EM-lines (702 words) PHILIPPINES    Catholic Parents Aim For Quick Baptism Of Babies With Or Without Limbo TAGUM CITY, Philippines (UCAN) -- Ester Berayo never really believed the little she had heard about limbo, but all seven of her children were baptized within six months of their birth as a kind of "protection." Baptism is "like an armor you give to infants to ward off spirits," Berayo told UCA News on April 24. Infants are favorite targets of "mischievous elements of the other side," so baptizing them serves as a kind of "protection," she explained. The health worker in La Filipina, a village 945 kilometers southeast of Manila, also volunteers as a catechist once a week for her Basic Ecclesial Community. Her parish is in Tagum diocese. Berayo disclosed that until her children were baptized, she put colored shell bracelets on them. Popular belief holds that the bracelets, sometimes sold outside churches, protect against spirits and elements. Berayo, 50, recalled her late mother teaching her that the souls of infants who die without Baptism go to limbo, but she stressed that this is not why she had her children baptized as infants. Her eldest was baptized at three months, her youngest at one month. "I believe that if infants die, they still go to heaven and God will receive them," she said. In her understanding, Baptism is "asking God to bless the child," so it is her "duty" as a parent to have her children receive the sacrament because it gives them their Christian "identity." Even if she did not believe in limbo, she welcomed the International Theological Commission's stance in the new document The Hope of Salvation for Infants Who Die Without Being Baptized. The Vatican commission identified "serious theological and liturgical grounds for hope that unbaptized infants who die will be saved and brought into eternal happiness." Berayo described it as "good news," especially for parents who believed in limbo and "carried the cross of guilt." Another mother, Leah Casilac, had all three of her children baptized before they were seven months old, to keep them "safe" from "spells, incantations and spirits lurking around" that make unbaptized babies sick. "I make sure my child is baptized before I even let other people carry the baby," the 40-year-old mother told UCA News on April 24. Casilac, who works in an appliance store, said she had not heard about limbo, and always believed that babies go "straight to heaven" if they die unbaptized. "An infant is innocent, and therefore is free from sin," she elaborated. "God will receive infants (in heaven) who are just unlucky to have not received Baptism. After all, he is a loving God." Limbo is a concept based on "tradition beginning from Saint Augustine and picked up by medieval theologians, then incorporated into the popular life of the Church," Archbishop Leonardo Legaspi of Caceres told UCA News on April 23. The theologian explained that the tradition produced two limbos. Infantium was for infants who died unbaptized, and patrum was for good people who could not receive Baptism because they "died before the coming of Christ." The prelate, who formerly chaired the Episcopal Commission on Catechesis and Catholic Education of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), also acknowledged that limbo is not mentioned in the Catechism for Filipino Catholics, which he helped draft in the 1980s. Where the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which the Vatican issued in 1992, mentions limbo, he said, it "refers to the mercy of God but does not talk about limbo as a place. Limbo is not a doctrine but a theological hypothesis, retired Bishop Teodoro Bacani, a theologian, told UCA News on April 24. "It was not official teaching, never was. It was speculation," he clarified. Bishop Bacani, who teaches sacramental theology and ecclesiology at University of Santo Tomas and Loyola School of Theology, both in the Manila area, pointed out that Gaudium et Spes, the Second Vatican Council's Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, asserts that Christ died for all people. This includes unbaptized children, he noted. Pope John Paul II wrote in Redemptor Hominis (redeemer of mankind) that, "Christ united himself with each man." This "applies precisely to babies," said Bishop Bacani, a member of the CBCP Commission on Doctrine of the Faith. END Related UCAN Reports PHILIPPINES Pre-Baptism Seminars Reorient Parishioners in The Basics of Faith (September 8, 2006) PHILIPPINES UCAN Feature - Priest Stresses Parents' Witness in Baptism of Children (July 23, 2002) PHILIPPINES 1,000 Babies Baptized On Archdiocesan Feast Day Despite Bombing (September 5, 1997) PHILIPPINES Filipino Catholicism Has Traits Of Pre-Christian Folk Religion (February 19, 1990) VT02360.1443 May 1, 2007 67 EM-lines (720 words) VIETNAM    Church Social Workers Hone Professional Skills HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam (UCAN) -- Church social workers in Vietnam are learning how to better manage, supervise and evaluate work they undertake, as well as how to write up projects to tap foreign resources. "I had no clue how to develop projects. We have done charity work spontaneously. We share with the poor what we have asked from other people," Sister Marie Nguyen Thi Kim Loan told UCA News. Sister Loan, of My Tho diocese's Committee for Charitable and Social Actions, attended an April 11-13 course organized by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Vietnam's Commission for Charitable and Social Actions. The course was held at the Catholic Center in Ho Chi Minh City, 1,710 kilometers south of Ha Noi. The member of the Lover of the Holy Cross in Tan An congregation said she was not trained in practical social-work management and did not even know how to write up a project, which is essential for describing their work, asking for financial support and auditing. Thirty-five priests, Religious and laypeople from diocesan charity and social-action committees attended the course. Participants represented 17 out of the country's 26 dioceses. Also present was commission chairperson Bishop Paul Nguyen Thanh Hoan of Phan Thiet. Commission secretary Father Antoine Nguyen Ngoc Son told participants that some dioceses ask his commission for financial support for social-work projects but do not send him reports on those projects. Other dioceses that received financial support for victims of a natural disaster in 2005 have also not provided reports. "That creates difficulties for me to give financial reports to the foreign Caritas centers that made the help possible," Father Son said. Caritas is the Catholic Church's social and development agency, which usually has a center in every diocese around the world. This year, he continued, foreign charities will require audits, so "we will not be given any financial support unless we change our working ways." Father Son cited Vinh Long diocese, which has many poor people but receives no support from foreign organizations because it does not know how to write up project proposals. On the other hand, he continued, Vinh diocese receives much financial help because it can develop good project proposals. Bishop Hoan told participants they have to learn how to work with foreign organizations and the Universal Church in order to get financial support for their projects. Project reports and audits are required for transparency and credibility, to show that funds are used efficiently, and for the right purposes, he said. He recalled how a bishop planning to visit a diocese-sponsored new road project was told by parish council members that they had used the money to buy a new bell for their church instead. "The course helped me understand difficulties the commission faces," said Father Marcel Doan Minh from Da Nang diocese, as he promised to explain such matters to his bishop. During the course Father Son gave participants project forms in Vietnamese and English from Misereor, the German Catholic bishops' agency for development aid, Manos Unidas, a Spanish Catholic NGO, and Caritas Australia, the Australian Church's social-service arm. He taught participants about donors' information requirements and how to fill out those forms. Two other Catholic social-work experts also explained to participants how to design and appraise projects before carrying them out. They explained how to choose projects that would best help their beneficiaries. Participants also shared their observations about local needs and limitations. Father Pierre Truong Van Khoa, from Ban Me Thuot diocese, was glad to learn about projects for training health-care workers during the course. His diocese, which has many ethnic groups, should provide health-care workers with midwifery skills. Villages where ethnic people live are far from hospitals, making it difficult for pregnant women to visit, he said. Others shared that their dioceses do not have facilities for social workers and that they are not trained professionally or given salaries. Only Xuan Loc diocese pays each staff social worker 600,000 dong (about US$40) a month, they found out. Others, such as Father Francis Phan Van Triem, from Can Tho diocese, said the diocesan committee for charitable and social actions has seven priests but each is busy in his own parish. Participants urged Bishop Hoan to provide more such courses for them. One previous course, with 30 participants, was held in 2005. END Related UCAN Reports VIETNAM Thrust Toward Internal, External Collaboration Signals New Era For Church Social Ministry (August 27, 2004) ASIA Emerging Caritas Units Try To Serve Poor, Despite Daunting Challenges (February 11, 2003) ASIA Asia's Small Churches Get Top Attention At Caritas Asia's First Meeting (May 16, 2000)