HUE (UCAN): Some 150 fathers of Catholic families in the Archdiocese of Hue, central Vietnam, spoke about how they overcame difficulties and bad habits thanks to St. Joseph’s power of intercession, during a special gathering titled, St. Joseph Lights Families, at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church on May 3.
Participants heard talks about the saint’s examples, shared their faith experiences, went to confession and attended a Mass concelebrated by 10 priests. The event was part of a series of activities to observe the current Year of St. Joseph announced by Pope Francis.
John Le Van Phuc from Tan Thuy Parish said St. Joseph’s intercession saved his two children from death.
In 2001, his 12-year-old daughter suffered food poisoning at midnight and he had to carry her on his back for more than a kilometre to a dispensary from where she was taken to Hue Hospital by an ambulance. Doctors decided to perform an operation on her the following day, March 19, the feast of St. Joseph.
‘I prayed to the foster father of Jesus on the way home to collect money to pay the hospital and he answered me. When I returned to the hospital, my daughter got better and did not need an operation’
John Le Van Phuc
“I prayed to the foster father of Jesus on the way home to collect money to pay the hospital and he answered me. When I returned to the hospital, my daughter got better and did not need an operation,” Phuc recounted.
The 56-year-old father of two said that in 2018 his son was saved from drowning in a river by a bricklayer who was on his way home. The rescuer was one of four bricklayers who had erected a statue of St. Joseph at the compound of the neighbouring Nam Pho Church.
“The saint always supports and protects our family in difficult times. We trust him absolutely,” he said.
James Ngo Van Xuan from Binh Dien parish, said his family always gets quiet intercession from the saint, especially during hard times.
The 69-year-old carpenter said that he and his first son and played at being Infant Jesus and Joseph at a nativity scene outside the church during the 1984 Christmas Vigil Mass.
“My son did not cry but smiled in chilly weather. That taught me how to put implicit trust in God’s hands and commend our life to him. I daily follow the saint’s examples in fulfilling my fatherly roles and work hard to support my family,” Ngo said.
Redemptorist Father Joseph Dinh Tien Duc, who heads the Our Lady of Perpetual Help parish, said St. Joseph quietly sponsors Catholic fathers, although many of them ignore him in hard times.
The father of three said he taught his children how to live a good life, give up personal interests for the common good, respect other people and look after animals and trees.
“We are over the moon that our son is a Cistercian and was ordained a deacon in March 2020,” Ngo said.
Redemptorist Father Joseph Dinh Tien Duc, who heads the Our Lady of Perpetual Help parish, said St. Joseph quietly sponsors Catholic fathers, although many of them ignore him in hard times.
Father Dinh recalled that on the feast of St. Joseph in 2020, a bricklayer made an urgent calle for him to go to his home soon as he had been beaten by his wife. The 51-year-old priest asked the wife why she beat her spouse and she said her husband, Joseph, drank alcohol every day and refused to go to church. She works at a garment factory and has to prepare dinners for him before she goes to church each day.
Father Dinh, 51, said he asked the man to apologise to his wife for his bad habits then he brought him to the church for Mass on his motorbike.
“Since then the man has given up alcohol and brings his wife to church daily,” the priest said.
He said St. Joseph protected the church building from damage during the Vietnam War and gathered Catholics after the war ended in 1975. Only 10 families had stayed in the parish while others moved elsewhere. Now the parish is home to 150 families with 2,200 Catholics.
Father Anthony Nguyen Van Thang, who is in charge of the archdiocese’s Catholic Fathers Association, recalled that in the past his family suffered lack of food but they attended Masses daily at the church and gathered at home to pray for their health and peace.
“We prayed to St. Joseph for one of us to be a priest and I was ordained in 2000,” said Father Nguyen, who has seven siblings.
He called on people to come to the saint who loves them and walks with them to lead their families in faith practice and in hard times.
Members of the Catholic Fathers Association from different parishes meet on the first Wednesday of each month, reflect on God’s word, study Catholic social teachings and discuss how to bring up children, protect the environment and protect their families from diseases caused by climate change. They also visit patients, do charity work and recite rosaries and the Divine Mercy.
