Nha Trang (AsiaNews) – Entering a seminary “does not mean seeking fortune for oneself or one’s family; it means even less hoping for a life full of glory and success. It means instead make a commitment to a path of sacrifice in the service of others as Christ was in our service,” said Mgr Nguyen Van Tan, bishop of Vinh Long, in an address he gave at the Annual Congress of Vietnam Seminaries held in Nha Trang from August 20 to the 25.

Mgr Nguyen Van Hoa, chairman of the Bishops’ Council of Vietnam and bishop of Nha Trang, as well as Mgr Van Tan and Mgr Vu Huy Chuong, who chairs the Bishops’ Commission for the Clergy, attended the event as did many teachers and professors from around the country.

Officials from various seminary schools presented reports on their activities of the last year. They discussed training programmes for the priesthood and presented proposals for the coming year, which will eventually be vetted by the Bishops’ Council, including a proposal to improve teaching qualifications through co-operation with Vietnamese universities.

A young participant told AsiaNews that the “most important thing for Vietnam’s new clergy is training and quality teaching. We must organise courses to upgrade our teaching staff’s skills, but we must especially find unanimity and work closely together with our teachers.”

It is also “fundamental that we maintain close relations between dioceses and Churches in various countries, and find a way to invite guests and for us to attend courses and seminars abroad,” he added.

At present, the Vietnamese government does not easily allow Vietnamese seminarians to travel abroad to study or foreign scholars to teach in Vietnam. In fact, all religious publications in the country are controlled by the government, making it more difficult to train seminarians and improve their cultural background.