Seminaries are Overcrowded in Vietnam

HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam, MARCH 12, 2006 (Zenit.org).-

The Church in Vietnam needs new facilities and better-trained teachers to accommodate the increasing number of candidates to the priesthood, according to the archbishop of Thanh-Pho Ho Chi Minh. Cardinal Jean-Baptiste Pham Minh Mân, 72, told AsiaNews that in the archdiocese there are 230 seminarians living in a small facility. "This means a shortage of living and teaching space," he said. Also, the cardinal said, "there are not enough well-trained teachers." He said two reasons for the overcrowding is that the archdiocese (formerly known as Saigon) receives candidates from six southern dioceses, and that the government has stipulated that they allow all applicants to be admitted. In Hanoi, St. Joseph's Major Seminary supplies priests to eight northern dioceses. Currently, it has 235 students but not enough space for all of them to live. The Holy See and Vietnam do not have diplomatic relations, but for some time have been following a path of rapprochement. About 6 million of Vietnam's 83 million inhabitants are Catholic.

Awesome! Perhaps we will see this in China too!