Sao Mai kindergarten in Tam Di commune of Luc Nam district cares for children of many Catholic families.

Working hard to develop economy

There are 124 Catholic families with more than 600 people living in Cau Chinh village, Tan Dinh commune of Lang Giang district, accounting for over 60 percent of the village’s population. They mainly live in agriculture and services like flower farming and construction. “As most of the Catholic families here have applied technology in farming and grasped consumer taste, they are quite well-off. There is only one poor household left,” said Nguyen Van Loi, head of the village’s religious practice board.

Nguyen Van The, 61, and his family are among many Catholic flower growers are busy in these days preparing for Tet holiday, the busiest season of the year. His family has grown gladioli for nearly two decades.

Taking us to his flower garden, he said he went to Da Lat in 2011 to bring home high-quality, high-value gladiolus varieties. Now his family possesses about one hectare of gladioli with thousands of flowers ready for sale for Tet holiday. When the harvest comes, many traders from Bac Giang city and Lang Son province come to his garden to collect gladioli. Every year, his family earns more than 200 million VND (8,800 USD) in profit on average.

Meanwhile, the Ngoc Lien sub-parish in Chau Minh commune of Hiep Hoa district has about 300 Catholic carpentry households with 170 factories. The factories provide jobs for nearly 1,000 local people who receive a monthly salary of 5-10 million VND (220 – 440 USD) each. Nguyen The Hung, a parishioner who owns a factory, said though the work is quite hard, the parishioners in the village have been working together to bring Ngoc Lien furniture to domestic and international markets.

Many successful business models have been developed in parishes across the province, bringing higher income to locals. For example, watermelon and potato farming cooperatives in the sub-parishes of Tay hamlet, Tien Luc commune of Lang Giang district; Yen Cu hamlet, Tan Soi commune of Yen The district; and Minh Dao hamlet, Tan An commune of Yen Dung district, generate a profit of about 100 million VND (4,405 USD) per hectare per year.

Parishioners in Cong hamlet, Thai Dao commune of Lang Giang district prepare art performances for Christmas celebration (Photo: Tuyet Mai).

Together building a new life

The province has more than 27,000 Catholics, 277 of whom are members of the Communist Party of Vietnam, alongside 14 parishes and 78 sub-parishes. According to President of the province’s Committee for Catholic Solidarity Pham Dinh Cap, in order to unite Catholic and non-Catholic residents and build a better life, priests have urged parishioners to actively take part in a movement entitled “Exemplary grandparents and parents and good children to build an advanced parish” and donate to the funds for the poor and people who rendered service to the nation, and gifted students. Responding to the “New-style rural area building” movement, Catholics have voluntarily cut down their trees, removed fences and donated thousands of meters of land to for road expansion and construction of irrigation works.

In addition, thousands of Catholics have participated in groups and clubs to fight social evils, prevent illegal garbage dumping and unsafe food and manage roads, among others. These groups and clubs have significantly contributed to ensuring social security and protecting the environment.

The province’s Committee for Catholic Solidarity plans to continue encouraging local Catholics to apply advanced technology in production and contribute to the province’s new-style rural area building efforts. It will also work harder to understand their wishes and opinions and praise people and organizations with outstanding contributions to the local movements.

Khoi Nguyen