The Blessing of the New Construction

Fr. Khue, who heads the minor seminary for the Diocese of Phat Diem, is constructing a new building that will be three stories high and have sixty rooms. The entire third floor will be for retreatants. It will be quite the edifice.

 Fr. An running up the stairs to prepare for the procession.

 Three of the best seminarians lead the procession.

As always, the sisters preparing only the food I like...which is most everything.

We all gather on the foundation of the new building.

The bishop blesses the foundation with holy water and we all sing. There were many of the church elders present, both men and women.

This is a just completed arch. I always wondered how they did this, then I looked at the other side of the building.

I get it now.

Mass was held in the upper chapel. The music was wonderful. I am always impressed by the  beautiful woodwork in Vietnam. All of the doors and windows are constructed by hand and lacquered to harden them against the moisture.

Just the view from the second story. Not a bad thing to look at any time of the day.

Of course, being Catholic, it's all about praying and eating, and here we are eating after the mass. Thanks again to the wonderful sisters for the food, the seminarians for serving, and the priests for the great table conversation. Now it's back to shower and then leave for Hanoi. Thanks to everyone. I leave you until next year.

The Last Dinner for 2013

It's Tuesday evening and time for the last dinner. It's nothing big, but it is very special because so many good friends came.

 Yes, the sisters made me spaghetti. How much better does it get?

A bird's-eye view of the sisters eating dinner. Thank you all for the great food and great laughs.

Oh, and here is the dog that Thanh gave me. I put it by the little pond, next to the beautiful flowers. He will wait patiently for me to return next summer.

The High School English Class

Three times a week I got to visit the high school English class. We learned how to play Hangman, Scrabble, and Whoosh-Bong (my favorite improv game). They were lots of fun and worked extremely hard. I with them all the best in the future.

You wouldn't believe the difficult words the students thought up for Hangman. After me showing them once, they got the game and stumped me a number of times, and I've been playing since I was seven.

A formal picture of all of us in the classroom. Their teacher is Joseph Thien, and he is doing an excellent job with them.

Fr. Ludovic Gault from France

At lunch, we had our first meal with a new visitor, Fr. Ludovic Gault from France. Fr. Ludovic is Vicar General from a diocese just south of Paris. He will be visiting Phat Diem for two weeks with his friend, Fr. Huy. I have to say that Fr. Ludovic speaks darn good Vietnamese.

At left are Fr. John, Fr. Ludovic, Bishop Joseph, and Fr. Huy. Lunch was fun because we were all making jokes in three languages.

The Grotto at Night

Last night, the seminarians lit up the grotto that is next to dining hall and behind the bishop's house. They had worked on weeding it and fixing it up, but I had only seen it during the day.

 Everyone had left the dining hall and I cleaned up the cups from the last serving of tea. I walked out side and wasn't expecting this.

With the lights, it took on an ethereal feel and we stood transfixed just looking at it.

Our Last English Mass of the Summer

Today, Fr. Vong presided at our last mass in English. He said some wonderful words of thanks and I got to express my gratitude to all of my students. This is truly a grace-filled place.

Sunday Visiting - Part III - The Way Home

So, on the way home we visited four houses! In a caravan, our motorbikes first brought us to Thanh's house.

Thanh's mother gave us some much needed refreshing drinks. She lives in the countryside and is a rice farmer. In fact, all of the seminarians with us today are farmers, people who work hard and make a living for their families.

Thanh's mother also has a small store in the front of the house. She was kind to us and I will not forget her.

Next, we all went to Vang's  house. His father and mother were very gracious and had us sit down for some food and drink. Even though we eaten not long ago, we welcomed the refreshment on this warm day.

Then it was off to The's house. The is the youngest of all his siblings, so I call him "The Baby." We ate and drank, and the watermelon was welcomed. And that is Toan on the right. Somehow, he is in a lot of the photos. I wonder why.

Here The and I are with his parents, very religious people, who attend mass and are kind to everyone.

Our last stop on the way home was at Huy's house. Huy is the one person who smiles no matter what. When we feel like work is too hard or we have too much to do, Huy always keeps us going.

Huy's mother and sister posed with us for a photo. A "thank you" goes to both of you for being such good hostesses to a bunch of tired travelers.

Sunday Visiting - Part II - Tuan's House

The major part of Sunday's trip was spent at Tuan's house. It was so much fun I don't know where to start.

Tuan's mother put on quite a spread for us. The seminarians who came along made sure to enjoy the great food.

We ate Vietnamese style, sitting on the woven mats. That lets everyone sit together and pass the food easily.

I have to say that all of the food was delicious, but the sauce that Tuan's mother made that we dipped the meat into was especially good. This is one of Tuan's brothers talking with The.

I had the chance to work the room, talking with everyone. Thanks go to my students who translated for me.

It's all about the beer. The two most famous brands are Bia Ha Noi and Bia Sai Gon. Can you guess where each is from? And can you guess how to spell "beer" in Vietnamese? Don't worry, it's not as strong as American beer.

I spent some time with Tuan's sister-in-law and sister. With the kids I did a magic trick and then had them practice it.

Here is everyone together after the delicious meal. It was hot, but there is nothing like time with good people to make you feel comfortable.

Before getting on the motorbikes to leave, we took one last picture with me and Tuan's mother. She is a saint, raising these kids and making sure they each grew up to be adults she could be proud of.

Sunday Visiting - Part 1 - Chau and Ba

Sunday morning, about 10 a.m., Can picked me up on his motorbike and the next five hours we visited seven houses. It was a great time and I now have many new friends I didn't know I had.

A couple of years ago, Chau was in an accident that killed his brother and left Chau paralyzed from the waist down. He is confined to his bed. He is a rather shy guy and he is very intelligent.

His wife left him and now his father, aunts, and sisters take care of him. This is Chau's father, a good man, who works hard to make sure that his has the best care.

I finally got Chau to smile, and you can see he has a great smile. It will now be a part of my summer each year to visit him and see what's new.

Close to Tuan's home lives a woman who has been like a second mother to him. Ba (that means mother) is lots of fun and she has great stories.

This is her son who helps to take care of her. He made me laugh so many times.

And Ba's daughter laughed and talked. We had a great conversation and I will definitely make this one of my yearly visits.

The Festival of Sts. Peter and Paul for the Diocese

Today, Saturday, was the Festival of Sts. Peter and Paul in the nearby city of Ninh Binh. Peter and Paul are the patron saints of the Diocese of Phat Diem, so the bishop presided over a huge mass that included  all of the priests and seminarians of the diocese, many of the sisters, and 300 representatives from the parishes. It was quite the event.

Five of us met at the bishop's car at 8:30 a.m. for the 30 minute trip to Ninh Binh. Hai got the biggest kick out of my clip-ons.

When we got to the church in Ninh Binh, I saw over 70 of my present and former students. There were numerous pictures taken. Here are a few of the guys I have worked with. So proud of them.

While everyone was lining up, I walked around the church grounds. This is just a small number of the motorbikes that were parked everywhere.

The church is built above a parking area, so there are many steps to climb.

This relief is on the front of the church.

The bell tower is built like a pagoda and has seven stories.

I was taking a picture of this statue of St. Joseph and two more students came to say hello.

The women of the choir were dressed in the beautiful traditional ao dai, and they sounded like angels.

Fr. Bo and I just before the procession. He is not only the guy in charge of all the money for the diocese, he is the guy who looks out for every one of the poor. I am so proud to know him.

Bishop Joseph in the  procession. I know he looks very stern here, but he is always kind and gentle, two characteristics that endear him to the people of Phat Diem.

The seminarians in procession. The procession wrapped around the church.

Afterward, the mothers of the parish put on quite a spread. The best was the fresh pineapple, a specialty of Ninh Binh.

Just one of the sisters mugging for the camera...

...and another. There is never a dull moment when the sisters are around.

This is Thanh. He is working at the church in Ninh Binh and he gave me this beautiful carved dog. It's quite a treasure. Since it is too heavy to bring back to the States, I'm going to put it in one of the gardens here in Phat Diem for everyone to enjoy.

Ling, our driver for the day, decided that the dog needed to be safe and comfortable, so he did this.

Before leaving, I thanked the wonderful mothers of the parish for the tremendous food. Of course, there is always one dad who photo bombs. A great day with a fine mass, good food, and great people. Whew, I'm exhausted.