AS02470.1445 May 16, 2007 65 EM-lines (700 words) ASIA    Shanxi Church Leaders Visit Korean Dioceses, Impressed With Social Services TAIYUAN, China (UCAN) -- A nine-member delegation from five dioceses in Shanxi province, northern China, recently visited Church facilities in South Korea at the invitation of Columbans there. The hosts took the delegation, led by Bishop John Huo Cheng of Fenyang, to see social services of the Korean Church including Holy Family Welfare Hospital in Seoul. This facility, run by Little Servants of the Holy Family of Seoul nuns, offers free medication to poor patients regardless of religious affiliation. They also visited hospitals and social-welfare facilities of Seoul archdiocese, some parishes and the archdiocesan seminary, as well as a home for the elderly and an orphanage in neighboring Suwon diocese. Bishop Huo, 81, told UCA News the April 25-May 2 exchange deepened friendship between the Chinese and Korean Churches. He said the delegation saw how the Korean Church plays a "dynamic" role in society, "living out the true spirit of the Gospel." He praised Korean Catholics for incarnating God's love. The prelate described the Korean Church as flourishing, calling this the fruit of the services it offers. "We will continue to learn from the Korean Church and pray for it," he said. Other delegation members also appreciated the Korean Church's spirit of service and its integration into society. Father Joseph Hou Yingrong, of Xinzhou diocese's social-service center, told UCA News on May 7 that he was impressed with the good management of Church-run social-service organizations and the quality of their services. "Though the work of our center is small compared with that of the Koreans, both have the heart of Christ to serve," he remarked. Training the laity would greatly strengthen the services of the Church in China, he continued. Father Hou said he has talked with Bishop Silvester Li Jiantong of Taiyuan about establishing a Church-run social-service organization on a provincial level. Taiyuan, capital of Shanxi, is 400 kilometers southwest of Beijing. Father Joseph Wang Guizhong of Xinjiang (Yuncheng) told UCA News his diocese is scheduled to open a home for the elderly at the end of May. "This trip has given us greater confidence to serve," he said. He added that he learned that serving the elderly means providing for their spiritual needs too. The priest also said the delegation observed strong unity and collaboration among Korean parishes, Church groups and Religious congregations. Parish priests in China tend to work on their own, and there is even less interaction among dioceses, Father Wang elaborated. The visit awakened the "consciousness of the need for unity" among the Chinese delegates, he added. In Seoul, Columban Father Joseph Yang Chang-woo, who guided the delegation, told UCA News the visitors were inspired during a trip to a slum area in Seoul where they visited one of Seoul's "mission parishes," which specifically serve the poor. According to Father Yang, some members of the delegation felt such outreach to the poor is a suitable model for the China Church. The priest said the Chinese delegation presented the Columbans in Seoul with a calligraphic scroll on which the Chinese character for "love" is written 120 different ways. On April 30, the Chinese delegates met with Auxiliary Bishop Andrew Yeom Soo-jung of Seoul, vicar general of the archdiocese and episcopal vicar for its social and media apostolates. The next day they visited Bishop Paul Choi Deog-ki of Suwon in his diocese. Father Wang Jiangong of Taiyuan, who is presently a student of theology in South Korea, acted as interpreter during the trip. Father Wang was a deacon when he went to South Korea in 1999 with a priest and two other seminarians, the first group sent there by the Church in China for theology studies. He returned later, after his priestly ordination, for further studies. The Chinese delegation also included Vicar General Father Paul Meng Ningyou of Taiyuan; Father Paul Liu Honggang, administrator of Datong diocese; Father Peter Wu Junwei, rector of Shanxi Montecorvino Major Seminary in Taiyuan; and Sister Liu Qiaomei, superior of the Shanxi training center for nuns. Accompanying the delegation were a religious affairs official of Shanxi province and a staff member of the Shanxi provincial Catholic Patriotic Association. Shanxi has a relatively large Catholic population among China's provinces. Ten dioceses serve them. END Related UCAN Reports CHINA Historical Church Rebuilt With Chapel For Korean Saint Welcomes Pilgrims To Shanghai (July 21, 2005) CHINA Priests Say Overseas Experience Will Enrich Church In China (July 19, 2002) CHINA Cardinal Kim Of Seoul Pays First Official Visit To China (August 26, 1997) ASIA Growing Exchanges Between China, Korea Churches Consolidate Friendship (November 6, 1995) CH02476.1445 May 16, 2007 23 EM-lines (232 words) CHINA    Two Underground Priests, Arrested After Pilgrimage, Sentenced Six Months After Arrest HONG KONG (UCAN) -- Two underground Church leaders from Wenzhou, eastern China, received prison sentences in March, six months after their arrest upon returning from a pilgrimage in Europe. Fathers Peter Shao Zhumin and Paul Jiang Surang (alias Jiang Sunian), vicar general and chancellor of the diocese respectively, were arrested on Sept. 25, 2006, in Shenzhen, southern China. They were subsequently transferred to Putaopeng Detention Center in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, 1,380 kilometers southeast of Beijing. According to local sources in Wenzhou, the two priests were charged with "illegal exit," and the court sentenced them in March. The sources told UCA News that Father Shao has been sentenced to nine months, and Father Jiang to 11 months, as the latter is a "repeat offender." Father Jiang had been imprisoned, from 2000 to 2004, for illegally publishing hymnals. Since the two priests had already been detained for about six months as of March 2007, a source told UCA News in May that Father Shao will be released in late June, and Father Jiang in late August. The underground Catholic community in Wenzhou has known about the sentencing, but the Catholics have not been allowed to visit their two Church leaders, the source said. The source added that Father Shao's mother seems more able to cope with the situation now compared to last year, when Father Shao was arrested one month after his father died. END Related UCAN Reports CHINA 'Underground' Wenzhou Church Leaders Charged And Likely To Face Trial (October 26, 2006) CHINA Two Priests Detained In Wenzhou After Arrest On Return From Europe (October 3, 2006) CHINA Two 'Underground' Priests Freed Before Chinese New Year, One Hospitalized (January 27, 2006) IC02478.1445 May 16, 2007 48 EM-lines (519 words) INDIA    Catholic Priest Shot In New Delhi, Police Unclear About Motives NEW DELHI (UCAN) -- Two unidentified men shot and wounded a Catholic priest in New Delhi on May 15. A Church official says the incident has no "sectarian colors." Father George Philip, 35, was hospitalized with chest and scalp wounds. His condition "is stable and he is out of danger," R. Singhal, an attending surgeon, told UCA News. The priest, a school principal, is still in the intensive care unit of a local hospital. Father Philip belongs to the Society of Catholic Apostolate, popularly known as the Pallottines. The incident occurred a day after the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India (CBCI) expressed "serious concern" over an increase in attacks on Church people around the country. CBCI spokesperson Father Babu Joseph, who issued the statement, told UCA News on May 16 that the attack on Father Philip was the first case of a Catholic priest being shot in New Delhi. According to Divine Word Father Dominic Emmanuel, Delhi archdiocesan spokesperson, "we do not know" the attackers' motive. But he insisted the shooting has "no sectarian colors." In his account of the incident, two young men came around noon to Pallotine Primary School in Sangam Vihar, a New Delhi suburb. They asked for Father Philip, who was then at his residence, adjacent to the school. The two left, saying they would return 10 minutes later to meet the priest. When they returned, Father Philip welcomed them into his office, since one had come the previous day seeking admission for a child. As he asked them to sit, one pulled out a homemade pistol and shot at the priest. Julie Kindo, a maid at the priests' residence, told UCA News they shot three rounds but only one bullet hit the priest, in the upper left part of his chest. Another bullet grazed his scalp, and the third hit the wall. As Father Philip shouted for help, the men ran away. No students were at the school, since they are on their summer break, and most of the reduced summer staff had left for home, but those still at the school rushed the wounded priest to the hospital with the help of police. Father Joseph said the Sangam Vihar area is infested with criminals. The Divine Word priest expressed happiness the police are seriously probing the case. Police officer P. Dixit, who is assigned to the case, told UCA News, "It is premature to say ... but it seems the motive was to rob the priest." The investigation is on, and police have "identified a few who could be behind this incident," he said. "Soon we will find them." What is clear, Father Emmanuel said after visiting the wounded priest in the hospital, is that "the miscreants came prepared with the intention of harming" Father Philip. P.D. Jose, a parishioner in Sangam Vihar, told UCA News some nearby schools might be likely suspects. "Who knows? Some people are jealous of the Catholic school," he said. Many schools have opened in the area, but people "usually people prefer the Catholic school, because they consider a Catholic school far better than other schools," Jose explained. END Related UCAN Reports INDIA Two Catholic Missions Attacked In Northern India (November 29, 2000) INDIA Attacks On Missioners Continue, Newspapers Sound Alarm (April 24, 2000) INDIA Delhi Archdiocese Plans To Face Attacks On Christians (September 18, 1998) IE02480.1445 May 16, 2007 54 EM-lines (629 words) INDIA    Priest, Nun Attacked In Eastern India, Church Calls For Police Action RANCHI, India (UCAN) -- A Catholic priest and a nun were attacked in a village in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand on May 14. Church people and officials say the attackers wanted to kill the priest. Father George Minj and Sister Teresa Kindo were attacked as they returned to their Gara Lodhma parish in the evening, after leading prayers in a nearby village. The parish is 55 kilometers west of the state capital of Ranchi. The priest, wounded in the head and body, was admitted in Ranchi's Rajendra Institute of Medical Science, the state's premier hospital. Doctor C.B. Sahay of the neurology department there told UCA News on May 15 that Father Minj "has a blood clot in the head, but is out of danger." He added that the priest "has been kept under observation." Priests in Ranchi archdiocese, quoting Sister Kindo, said the attackers left Father Minj when they saw the headlights of an approaching vehicle on the isolated village road. Father Telesphore Ekka, one of the priests who met the villagers, parishioners and nun, told UCA News Sister Kindo was riding pillion on the priest's motorbike when they heard someone shouting for them to stop. Five people suddenly appeared from a bush and began beating Father Minj. "They beat him so heavily that the priest's helmet was damaged," Father Ekka said, adding that both the priest and nun fell to the ground. The assailants then dragged the priest to the bush and continued beating him. Sister Kindo cried for help, saying he was a priest and should not be attacked, Father Ekka continued. One of the attackers then hit the nun's legs and covered her mouth with a hand. At that point the assailants saw the approaching vehicle and fled. Govinda, a Hindu villager, was driving the vehicle. He took the injured priest to the parish and later, with the help of others, brought him to the hospital. Father Ekka insisted the intention must have been "to kill the priest," because the attackers did not "ask for anything" from Father Minj or the nun. "They didn't even take the priest's cell phone or his purse from his pocket." Gara Lodhma is a new parish that does not yet have its own church. Priests use a small chapel in a residential building for daily Mass and prayers. A nearby school hall is used for Sunday Mass. A week before the attack, according to Father Ekka, a group threw stones at the church of another parish in the area and broke its windows. They also tried to damage sacred items inside, "but they did not harm priests or nuns." Cardinal Telesphore Placidus Toppo of Ranchi, who is currently in Rome, told UCA News over the phone that the Church wants the state government to book the culprits as soon as possible. The cardinal, president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India, said it is a matter of "grave concern" that "priests are brutally attacked" again and again, but no police action is taken. Condemning the Jharkhand incident, Cardinal Toppo said the Church wants the government to "unearth the conspiracy that leads to such incidents at regular intervals." Such attacks, he added, reveal the "state of affairs" in society. "Priests go to the most remote of villages, unarmed and unescorted to serve the poor and needy," he remarked. Police official Saket Kumar told UCA News police consider the attack on Father Minj a "serious issue" and have registered a case against the "unidentified attackers." Bandhu Tirkey, Jharkhand's minister for human resources development and a Catholic, visited the injured priest in the hospital. "The injuries show that attackers wanted to kill him," he told UCA News. "We cannot deny" that this is a "conspiracy of some communal forces," he added. END (Accompanying photos available with the UCAN Photo Service. Use story code IE02480.1445 or a person's name to search for related photos.) Related UCAN Reports INDIA Catholic Priest Attacked Savagely In Apparent Robbery Attempt (November 21, 2006) INDIA 'American Money' Lures Robbers To Loot Church In Eastern India (December 5, 2005) INDIA Catholic Mission Attacked For Third Time In Three Months (September 30, 2005) INDIA Catholic Priest Sentenced To Three Years Of Hard Labor, Will Appeal Verdict (December 14, 2004) INDIA Catholic Priest Paraded Naked, Bishops Ask For Judicial Inquiry (September 17, 1997) PL02467.1445 May 16, 2007 64 EM-lines (656 words) PHILIPPINES    Foreign Poll Observers Cite Irregularities On Election Day MANILA (UCAN) -- Foreign election observers, including Church workers, have reported cheating and other irregularities in the May 14 Philippine elections. Twenty-five foreign delegates of Peoples' International Observers Mission (IOM) visited at least 13 areas in eight regions of the country where massive fraud and violence were considered likely. On election day, American Jessica Tulloch, who led the IOM team in Lanao del Sur province, some 850 kilometers southeast of Manila, said group members saw "wanton cheating, confusion, and near chaos." They witnessed rampant "vote-buying" and coaching of voters inside election precincts, she reported in a statement sent to UCA News. "IOM delegates saw poll watchers sitting beside voters and dictating candidates' names to be written on the ballots," she wrote. Tulloch added that Board of Election Inspectors (BEI) personnel had "practically given up" policing the precincts. "BEI appeared to deliberately ignore these acts, often appearing hopeless to stop the illegal acts," she remarked. BEIs carry out the work of the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) at the local level. BEI personnel, mostly schoolteachers, verify voter registration records, prepare election materials, and oversee balloting and vote-counting. Tulloch's team also reported voters admitting they had voted several times or had received payments ranging from 50 to 2,000 pesos (US$1-40) a vote, and minors as young as 15 years old being allowed to vote. In Makati, just east of Manila, another IOM group reported several incidents of vote-buying on the eve of the election. Japanese delegate Wataru Arizumi, 25, told UCA News on May 15 that he has heard reports of vote-buying in Japan but was surprised to find that it happens "publicly" in the Philippines. One of the vote-buying incidents his group identified involved a parked vehicle surrounded by people who were "apparently in queue" and waiting their turn to approach it on the eve of the election. The delegates saw another group of people, holding envelopes and pens, gathering in front of a house early on May 14 morning. The cheating was "so open and astonishing," said Freda Guttman, also a member of the Makati team. The Canadian delegate expects that perennial vote-buying and fraud will breed "cynicism and hopelessness" among voters. Philippine Sister Cecil Ruiz accompanied an IOM team in Pampanga province, northwest of the capital. The Immaculate Heart of Mary nun told UCA News the team was using audio and video to document reports of vote-buying and voter disenfranchisement, as well as harassment by candidates. Disenfranchisement occurred when people's names did not appear on the list of voters for the precinct in which they registered. "We will collate all the data we have gathered here and all over the country and we intend to submit this to the COMELEC," Sister Ruiz said, speaking by phone from San Fernando City, the Pampanga capital, 60 kilometers from Manila. According to the Religious, her group arrived in the province on May 13 to inspect various polling places, and to observe initial vote-tallying through May 15. Reverend Larry Emery, an American Presbyterian minister, served as spokesperson for the IOM team that visited neighboring Nueva Ecija province, northeast of Pampanga. He reported that militarization had "instilled" fear among villagers, keeping them from voting for party-list groups linked to leftists. Party-list seats in the House of Representatives, introduced in the 1998 elections, represent causes and sectors, not geographical districts. "Militarization and human rights violations have spawned a new type of disenfranchisement that is borne out of fear and terror," Reverend Emery said in a May 14 statement. Nueva Ecija province was placed under COMELEC control on April 28, in a bid to prevent escalation of violence after two rival political groups clashed, killing two people and wounding 17 others. IOM was convened by civic groups in the Philippines in cooperation with several election watchdogs, some of them Church-based. The IOM teams were to submit their reports to the IOM national secretariat, which has responsibility for formally submitting election observations to COMELEC. END Related UCAN Reports PHILIPPINES Church Calls For Intensified Prayers Amid Rising Election Violence (May 4, 2007) PHILIPPINES Poll Watchdog Launches New Manual For Election Monitors (February 23, 2007) PHILIPPINES 'Crucial' Election Day Marked by 'Usual' Confusion, Vote buying (May 14, 2001) PHILIPPINES Cardinal Hits Vote buying, Violence As Country Prepares for Polls (January 13, 1988) SG02473.1445 May 16, 2007 111 EM-lines (No count of words) SINGAPORE    UCAN Commentary - How Does One Die With Joy?     SINGAPORE (UCAN) - Juliana Ng, a Catholic, has been a counselor and social worker since 1989 in various settings, including suicide prevention, hospice care, dementia care and pastoral work in hospitals. Her desire to integrate secular counseling with spiritual care led her to pursue pastoral care studies in the United States and the Philippines. A few years ago, she wrote a book, Joy in the Moment, on her experience of ministering to dementia patients. She is scheduled to give a talk to a local Catholic audience on May 18 on the topic, Going Home with Joy, on how one can view one's own death. Ng, who is in her early 40s, is currently completing a New Zealand-based degree in theology. In this commentary for UCA News, Ng shares how to regard one's death with joy, rather than fear and apprehension, by viewing it as a "transit point" to eternal life: Dying with Joy Is it possible to die happy? If asked what we want in life, we would have no qualms about saying we want to be happy. Yet it seems almost callous to suggest "happiness" in death -- relief perhaps, or even a saintly joy, but happiness? I believe the key to whether we die happy or joyful depends on whether we see death as an endpoint, or a transit point. Is this life all we have, or is there an afterlife? Some years ago I was helping a friend train foot doctors in counseling skills in the depths of Yunnan, China. More than 50 years of communism have brought atheism to the people. As we explored the meaning of life, many of those doctors saw death as the end of everything, a darkness they were terrified to meet. Their wish thus was to live as long as they could on this earth, hopefully in good health. Catholics believe in eternal life. Yet when I was working in hospice care, I observed that Catholic patients and families seemed to struggle more with dying than Protestants and Buddhists. There was a determined effort to stay alive in this world, so much so that little energy seemed vested in accepting and preparing to embrace eternal life. Why is this so if death is only a transit point? Some people say they are not afraid of death, but fearful of how they might die -- preferably not slowly and painfully. The ideal situation is going to bed and never waking. Judging by Singapore's health statistics, that ideal situation may not happen. Cancer is responsible for 26.4 percent of deaths, heart disease 18.1 percent, pneumonia 15 percent, and stroke or infarct at 9.9 percent (Singapore's Ministry of Health statistics, 2005). This means that unless your heart attack is an extreme one, or a major brain hemorrhage dispatches you immediately to eternity, death will be slow and painful for most of us. My sister, aged 53, died last July from complications due to a very weak heart and diabetes. Although she prepared me for a year that she was likely to die from her failing health, I was a very reluctant participant in those conversations. In spite of all my training, exposure and faith, I could not bear the thought of her leaving, and preferred to coax her to fight on in this life. My sister also wondered what dying would be like. She finally encountered it -- collapsing at home, she was revived in hospital and appeared on the mend for three days. However, when her respirator was removed, she could not breathe on her own and went into coma. She died a few days later. I felt very pained by the experience. I also felt her physical pain in those few days that she was lucid, and certainly witnessed the more persistent cross of illness over her last years. It would be extremely callous to call her death "happy and joyful." Is our difficulty with death due to the haste with which the Grim Reaper executes? Would people who are given more "notice" about their eventual death, such as in terminal cancer, have time to arrive at a peaceful, joyful departure? No doubt, some people are blessed with resolution and acceptance of their last page of life. More commonly, though, friends and family hover gingerly over the dying person, awkwardly keeping to optimistic small talk. Then as we fuss over toileting, medications and comfort, the dying process sets in. The person slips into a coma and our understanding of what he is going through is at best guesswork. We hope we see serenity on his face. What kind of pain does death and dying bring? We are conscious of physical pain in most illnesses. We are also aware of the emotional pain of eventual separation from loved ones. There may also be the pain of unresolved conflicts, broken relationships and an estranged relationship with God. Like Jesus, we encounter our Calvary. It would not only be callous, but inhuman, to call Jesus' passion and death "joyful and happy." Similarly, it would be cruel in most situations to call our dying a joyful event. Yet Christ came that we may have life, and life to the full, now and beyond. The sting of death, says the apostle Paul, is no more. The terror of eternal darkness is overcome by the hope of Christ leading us into eternal light. There is sweetness in the bitter when we embrace that death is a transit point. I suspect that we do not hope and rejoice enough because we do not know enough of heaven (the next life), unlike Paul, who felt it was much better to be with Christ (Philippians 1: 21-24). I suspect too that when what gives joy and happiness in our current life differs greatly from that in heaven, then our vision of joy in the next life gets blurred. What do fast cars, luxurious houses and fame have anything to do with heaven? It is not easy to comprehend heaven. Even the most qualified guy to do so, Jesus Christ, who came from there, depicts the kingdom of God in metaphors: a wedding banquet where all are welcome, a mustard seed that grows into a huge tree to shelter birds from the sky, yeast hidden in dough that leavens the whole. John in Revelations 21 speaks of a new heaven and earth, and a new Jerusalem adorned like a bride for the groom. The imagery may work for some, but for others, it may sound as fantastic as a scene from Lord of the Rings. To add to our ignorance, popular propaganda (like the Hollywood movie Ghost) alludes to earthly relationships that will continue in heaven. Jesus makes clear that in heaven, our relationships as we know them are different. "... Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage; but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection neither marry nor are given in marriage. Indeed they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God..." (Luke 20:34-36) A group of grieving relatives cornered me at my sister's wake and asked, "Will we still recognize each other in heaven?" Inspired, I told them, "Yes, but we are not related in the same way." It will be a much purer and permanent love without our hang-ups, and our focus will be on God. God's love is what will unite us, not our individual efforts and earthly affiliations. Heaven will feel very familiar, like going home after a long trip, if in this life, we start finding joy in relationships, both with God and with people. That joy is multiplied a zillion times in the next life. The hope of reunion will ease us through the "customs" at the transit point. "And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." (John 17:3) Joy in heaven, as on earth, is all about relationships. I picture at the pearly gates my beloved mother, my prayerful sister, a few good friends who died too young by earthly reckoning, and yes, Jesus, somewhat hidden in earthly life, now totally familiar to me, all waving and beckoning. Then, sordid, messy, painful and/or sudden as my last moments may appear to people on this side of life, my dying is strangely joyful. END Related UCAN Reports SG7982.0933 July 25, 1997 57 EM-lines (631 words) SINGAPORE CATHOLIC CARE-GIVERS ALERTED ON CARE OF THE DYING JA2521.0619 July 18, 1991 26 EM-lines (247 words) JAPAN SOCIETY FOR DYING WITH DIGNITY SEES SUDDEN RISE IN MEMBERS JA4604.0346 APRIL 23, 1986 no EM-lines (410 words) JAPAN JESUIT'S BOOK AIMS TO HELP JAPANESE DEAL WITH DEATH AND DYING ISSUES Commentary writer: Juliana Ng Address: Block 319, Hougang Ave 5, #10-13, Singapore 530319. Email: jungbehs@yahoo.com.sg VT02466.1445 May 16, 2007 64 EM-lines (708 words) VIETNAM    Ethnic-Minority Catholics Overcome Superstitious Funeral Practices MUONG RIEC, Vietnam (UCAN) -- Muong Catholics who had no resident priest for nearly half a century are adapting to Church funeral practices, now that priests, brothers and nuns live among them. "We love priests and Religious who teach us how to pray, visit the dead and give up our superstitious funeral practices," Joseph Bui Van Chien told UCA News recently. The 74-year-old Muong Catholic belongs to Muong Riec parish in Hoa Binh province, 130 kilometers southwest of Ha Noi. Two Ha Noi archdiocesan priests, two major seminarians, two Annunciation brothers, six nuns and two novices from three congregations are now based at the parish. They have worked in the parish since Christmas 2004 but now have temporary permission to live there. They also tend to six neighboring parishes, serving a total of about 7,000 Muong Catholics. The seven parishes come under Ha Noi archdiocese. Chien recalled his parish's last resident priest was killed in 1964, when the communists controlled what was then North Vietnam. Churches were closed or confiscated and religious activities severely curbed, he added. The Church still needs the government's approval to ordain or transfer priests. He said that many elderly Catholics became resigned to dying without seeing a priest or receiving the sacraments. "Since people could not invite priests from other places to provide religious rites for the dead, they invited village shamans instead." Now people close to death receive the sacraments from priests, and their bodies are brought to the church for a funeral Mass before being buried. People visit and say prayers for the dead at homes, Chien said. Annunciation Brother Joseph Vu Nhu Phi, who began serving the parish in 2005, told UCA News local Catholics have followed superstitious practices for funerals, weddings and new houses. Some also invite shamans to offer sacrifices to "evil gods" when their relatives are ill or die, he added. Brother Phi, 48, said local Catholics traditionally have kept dead bodies in the house for three days before burial. Relatives of the deceased are not allowed to work in the field for three days after burial. Muong Catholics burn incense and offer money, rice, flowers, fruit, cake and wine to the dead. Before a burial, relatives slaughter a black dog and eat it, believing that the dog's spirit leads the dead to their ancestors, the Religious continued. When someone in a village dies, all villagers dress in white and wear mourning headbands. Each family donates a kilogram of rice, firewood and 2,000 dong (US$0.13), and sends one person to help the bereaved family during the three-day funeral. Brother Phi said unmarried women cut two-thirds of their hair if their father dies, and cut one-third if their mother dies. Muong women traditionally keep their hair long. He said priests and Religious have urged people to keep their good customs alive but give up superstitious practices. They should not invite village shamans to cure the sick, offer money and rice to the dead, keep a body in their homes, or hold lavish parties, he explained, saying these go against Catholic teachings or good sense. The brother pointed out that customs such as cutting hair or wearing white show the community's respect for the dead, whereas keeping a dead body at home without proper facilities violates basic hygiene. Throwing lavish funeral parties and incurring debt when one is very poor also show poor judgement, he added. Practices that contradict the Catholic faith, he said, include the belief that shamanic rituals can cure the sick or that the dead need money to spend and rice to eat in the world beyond. Brother Phi said priests and Religious also hold catechism classes, teach prayers and provide Church funeral rites for local Catholics. They also urge them to visit cemeteries on All Souls' Day. His confrere, Brother Antoine Tran Van To, told UCA News many Catholics now bury their dead within a day. Muong women have also begun to visit and clear tombs, which they were not allowed in the past, he added. Brother To said local people lack food several months each year and many are illiterate. According to government records for 2006, Hoa Binh province is home to 15 ethnic groups. The 500,000 Muong form 60 percent of the population. END Related UCAN Reports INDIA Church To Integrate Tribal Practices To Correct Historic 'Mistakes' (October 14, 2002) INDIA UCAN Feature - Church Revives Tribal Festival's Traditional Spirit (December 11, 2000)