What do Vietnamese Catholics say about their faith life during the pandemic?

(CGOL) The fourth wave of COVID-19 broke out and spread rapidly to many provinces and cities on the S-shaped strip of land, which has shown no sign of stopping so far. Fear and anxiety are common feelings of many people, especially Catholics at this time. Faced with that situation, the reporter of Catholic Online Newspaper had a survey of Vietnamese Catholics about their faith life in the midst of the Covid-19 season to listen to their sharing during this time!

Ms. Ngo Thi Hien – Office staff:

Ms. Ngo Thi Hien

For me, the life of faith is very important to every Christian. The closure of churches because of COVID-19 is perhaps an opportunity for us to look at our faith life most deeply. At first I felt nervous because I was afraid that I would not be able to keep up my faith. But thanks to the online Mass I have strengthened my faith life. Although online Mass is only a temporary solution, it is a safe way to maintain personal affection in this time. This is also an opportunity for me to appreciate the value of the Mass, sympathize with those who are in concentrated isolation areas but cannot attend Mass. With faith in God’s providence, I still hope our country will soon extinguish the epidemic so that I will be able to go to church to attend Mass more enthusiastically.

Mr. Tran Ngoc Thien – Director of Maria Media Office:

Mr. Tran Ngoc Thien

The outbreak of Covid-19 has had a huge impact on people’s lives. During this time, I personally feel a bit worried if I keep the Mass online for too long, because I see that most people watch rather than attend, look more than feel, break old disciplines, lose pastoral connection and flock in the parish because it is comfortable to watch different places, compare sermons, etc. Lead to a more conservative, even eroded faith life. I know this is just a solution of the situation, but if we know the sense of attending Mass fully, as well as the sense of good prevention of the epidemic, I am sure our faith life will be solid and healthy. Live Mass will be back soon.

Ms. Pham Thi Canh – Teacher:

Ms. Pham Thi Canh

Although the Covid epidemic has turned my work upside down. But for the faith life of Christians, I see this as a convenient opportunity for people to have more time to come to God. For me, instead of rarely going to Mass with my family before, I now feel the love and unity with all of my family members through attending Mass online. After Mass, our family was able to sit together and share more stories about how did this Father preach today? How was today’s Mass?… and we could talk more and understand each other better. I feel happy and no longer panic and fear like at the beginning of the epidemic.

Mr. Do Duy Tung – Travel guide

Mr. Do Duy Tun

The Covid-19 pandemic greatly affected my work, there were times when I was depressed thinking I had to change to another job to be more stable. But at this time, I still know that the whole country is joining hands to fight the epidemic and that the difficulties will be more than advantages, so I have to work together with the whole country to fight the epidemic. At the same time, I still believe in God and entrust myself in His hands to hope that the epidemic will soon end and my work will return soon. Besides, thanks to the online Mass, it has helped me to better prevent the epidemic and nourish my faith life more strongly than before.

Ms: Nguyen Thi Hoan – Housewife

Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoa

For the first time, I felt that Mass and pastoral activities had to stop due to the impact of the Covid epidemic. The power of digital technology has quickly come into play to nurture and strengthen each person’s faith life. Although I am not used to attending Mass online, I am nonetheless happy and thankful to God at this time because this is the way to keep the faith. This is also an opportunity for us to show our material and spiritual solidarity with those who are sacrificing on the front lines of epidemic prevention.

As we all know, the fourth wave of Covid-19 outbreak has greatly affected people’s lives. But through the survey, we see that the majority of Vietnamese Catholics’ faith life, despite difficulties, still has a sacred value in each individual at this time. As Pope Francis had his last words when he spoke of those infected with the Corona Virus:

“May God help you discover new ways, new expressions of love and the way you live in this new context. Ultimately, this is a wonderfully beautiful and creative opportunity to    rediscover ourselves.”

Tran Ha