Thousands of young people in Bùi Chu diocese met in youth congress
The event was part of the 33rd World Youth Day. To ensure kids from every parish participated, meetings were held in many districts.
Hanoi (AsiaNews) – The annual Youth Congress of the diocese of Bùi Chu, suffragan of the archdiocese of Hanoi, took place on Palm Sunday.
Young people took part in, among other things, pastoral works, listened to the word of God, and performed religious songs.
Responding to Pope Francis’s call, the diocese held the congress on Palm Sunday as part of the 33rd Youth Day, an event the universal Church celebrates at the diocesan level around the world.
This year’s them was “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God" (Lk 1:30).
In Bùi Chu, the annual event took place in several districts to allow young people from each parish to participate.
On 25 March, parish priests and children from 18 parishes in the Lạc Đạo district, home to more than 40,000 Catholics, met in the village that gives the district is name, just east of the Vietnamese capital, for the Missionary Youth Conference.
The youth met to discuss and share experiences from their religious life and received the sacrament of confession.
Fr Joseph Trần Văn Thiết, head of the District Youth Ministry, illustrated the message the pope issued for this occasion, and explained it to the children.
Fr Jean Baptiste Vũ Văn Vinh, vicar at the Đồng Quĩ parish, instead urged them to live a life full of meaning, for the Church and society.
More than 800 young people from the district of Tứ Trùng, north-west of Hanoi, took part in the conference in Xuân Thủy parish. To make it easier, local priests held early morning confessions for participants.
"Do not be afraid of evil and bad things,” said Fr Vincent Ngô Viết Lục during the solemn Mass, “for God loves you. You are called by name, as the Holy Spirit called Mary. Do not be afraid but live according to what Our Lord has taught us. We must make sacrifices, renounce materialism in society."
Thousands of kids from the 13 parishes in Đại Đồng district, northeast of Hanoi, met at the church in Thuận Thành for the conference to discus "Light up the Faith". With great enthusiasm, they joined in the dances that started off the day, followed by services and pastoral activities.
Fr Joseph Phạm Văn Hy, the priest in charge of the district, told his audience what role young people must play in the family and urged them to "light up the faith of everyone around". Priests and young people then discussed the challenges and difficulties that a hectic life poses to the faith.
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