Pastoral Center

HISTORY

The current Pastoral Center of the Archdiocese of Saigon is the Saigon Seminary built by Father Wibaux of the Paris Foreign Missions Society under the orders of Bishop Dominique Lefèbvre in 1863. After 3 years of construction, in 1866, Bishop Jean Claude Mich presided over the inauguration ceremony and officially opened the school with about 60 seminarians.

After April 30, 1975, with the consent of the Advisory Board, Archbishop Paul Nguyen Van Binh lent the facility to the Ministry of Finance to use as the Finance and Accounting High School IV. After many years of use, on September 20, 2004, the Ministry of Finance returned it at the request of the Archbishop's Office.

Looking to the future of the Archdiocese, Cardinal Gioan Baotixita Pham Minh Man decided to use this facility as a Pastoral Center, with the aim of training a team of mature lay people. Thanks to that, they collaborate effectively with the pastors in parish and diocesan activities; at the same time, they participate more actively in the mission of love and service of the Church.

The Cardinal chose Father Peter Nguyen Van Kham as the Director of this Center.

In October 2004, the Center began operating under the name of the Catholic Cultural Center. Later, the name was changed to the Pastoral Center, because it wanted to aim at a wide range of pastoral activities in a large Archdiocese.

The first task was to renovate the center to suit the training needs as well as to organize diocesan activities here. Therefore, the chapel, lecture hall, library, classrooms, bookstore, and canteen were successively formed.

At the end of that year, despite the complicated repairs, the Center successfully organized the first Christmas concert in 2004. The Christmas concert has become an annual tradition until now.

Since 2005, Bible and Catechism classes have been opened with the active participation of many lay brothers and sisters.

Also at this Center, the City Religious Association opened theology classes for nuns.

The classes are increasingly organized more carefully, especially when many priests come to work at the Center.

In 2007, the Center took on the responsibility of training the preparatory seminarians for the diocese, before they officially enter the seminary.

On April 2, 2008, due to the need for development, with the approval of the Cardinal, the Center laid the first stone to build a new building. The new building was built with a 500-seat lecture hall, a preparatory seminarian house and a guest house to serve conferences. The Center also repaired the existing building to meet new needs.

B. Objectives & Targets

With the wishes of the Cardinal and the pastoral needs of the diocese, the Pastoral Center focuses on two main objectives: training personnel and organizing pastoral activities of the diocese.

1. First objective: Training personnel

The first target in training personnel is the parishioners of the parishes in the diocese. The Pastoral Center has opened many classes on the Bible, Catechism, Liturgy, Spirituality, as well as instruction classes on many different pastoral fields such as Sacred Music, Family Ministry, Parish Administration, Human Education and Life Skills...

In addition to regular classes, the Pastoral Center also opens separate training courses for related components, such as training courses for Animators for Youth Ministry, classes for Catechists, members of the Parish Council...

These classes are held regularly according to the regulations of an academy, with two semesters each year, and to be granted a graduation certificate, students must complete the subjects required by the Center.

The second target group is nuns. With a favorable location, many priests, professors and teaching experts, the City Religious Association has chosen the Center to open theology classes for nuns from all over the country. During the summer courses, the number of these students is up to thousands.

The last target group is preparatory seminarians. In order to help young people adapt to religious life, they are called to the preparatory seminarian class and will live for a year at the Pastoral Center with the accompaniment of the priest in charge of the class as well as other priests of the Center.

2. Second goal: Organizing activities

The second goal is also very important, which is to organize large meetings and activities of groups and associations in the diocese. In the past 5 years, the Center has organized important activities such as:

- The welcoming ceremony of Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, former Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples in December 2005.

- The meeting of young people with Cardinals from India, Hong Kong, France and the Philippines on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the birth of Saint Francis Xavier on December 3, 2006.

- The episcopal ordination ceremony for the Center's director, Father Peter Nguyen Van Kham on November 27, 2009.

- The Opening Ceremony of the Holy Year (and according to the assigned program, from November 21 to 25, 2010, the Center is the place to organize the Congress of the People of God of Vietnam, gathering all the members of the People of God from all over the country to attend.)

- At the same time, the Pastoral Center is also the place to organize the Youth Congress, the Congress of Catechists and other activities of the diocese.

- The Center also creates conditions for the regular activities of the Clubs, such as the Lua Hong Club, the Family Club, the Business Club, the Artists' Association...

- Not only limited to the Diocese, the Center is also the place to organize large-scale activities such as the Conference of the Education Office under the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences (FABC), the Faith Doctrine Commission, the Sacred Music Commission under the Vietnam Bishops' Council...

C. People who shoulder the burden

The formation and development of the Pastoral Center of the Archdiocese of Ho Chi Minh City was achieved thanks to the contributions of many members of the People of God. Among them, it is impossible not to mention the priests and parishioners who have been working directly at the center.

On the first day of its establishment, the Center only had Father Peter Nguyen Van Kham as director, Father Joseph Tran Van Luu as manager, and Mr. Peter Nguyen Van Tra as office manager.

Over time, many priests, after studying abroad, were sent by the Cardinal to work at the center.

Currently (from the end of 2022), the staff of the Pastoral Center includes:

1. Father Francis Xavier Bao Loc, Head of the Interreligious Dialogue Pastoral Department of the Archdiocese of Ho Chi Minh City, Director.

2. Father Lorenzo Hoang Ba Quoc Huy, Principal of Studies

3. Father Roco Nguyen Kim Duy, Head of the Sacred Music Department of the Archdiocese of Ho Chi Minh City, in charge of facilities.

4. Father Gioan B. Le Quoc Kiet, in charge of facilities.

5. Father Peter Nguyen Van Hien, Head of the Catechism Department of the Archdiocese of Ho Chi Minh City.

6. Father Giuse Vu Huu Hien, Head of the Communications Department of the Archdiocese of Ho Chi Minh City.

7. Father Giuse Hoang Ngoc Dung, in charge of Psychological Counseling.

8. Father Giuse Dang Chi Linh, in charge of Psychology.

9. Father Andre Tran An Hiep, Italian lecturer.

10. Father Giuse Vuong Si Tuan.

11. Father Giuse Tran Dinh Long.

12. Peter Hoang Dinh Thanh, convalescent.

And a number of lay brothers and sisters serving in offices, libraries, bookstores, as well as in jobs related to life, order, and hygiene.

The Pastoral Center Chapel, where Mass is held for students from Monday to Friday at 6pm, since September 2014.

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Since its establishment, the Pastoral Center has always strived to fulfill its mission under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the spirit of brotherhood, contributing to the activities of the Ho Chi Minh City Diocese and the Vietnamese Church. All of this creates a chorus of God's grace, the initiative of the Cardinal Archbishop, the guidance of Bishop Peter Nguyen Van Kham, the collaboration of the clergy, the enthusiastic service of the staff, and the generous and enthusiastic contributions of all members of God's people in the diocese.

TTMV Editorial Board