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.