Thu-Duc (Vietnam) [November 2024]

Project 3589 - Monastery of Thu-Duc (Vietnam)

Formation for young sisters

In June 1954, five sisters from the Sainte-Bathilde congregation of the Vanves monastery, including one Vietnamese, set sail from Marseille for the foundation of Ban Mé Thuôt (highlands of Vietnam) at the request of the bishop of Kontum, Mgr Seitz, the last French bishop at the time of the end of the colonies. The sisters arrived at the foundation site on the very day of the Geneva agreements that put an end to the Indochina war. They were welcomed as ‘the Benedictines of peace’.

Many challenges soon arose. The local Austronesian population, the Êdé, had only been evangelised for two years, whereas the Vietnamese population on the plain had been evangelised for almost a hundred years. The culture of these two populations was very different. Ban Mé Thuôt did not seem the ideal place to establish itself among the Vietnamese population and thus be able to receive young girls interested in the Benedictine monastic life. In addition, it was difficult to find a livelihood. Nevertheless, because of the American war, the bishop regrouped all his missionaries at Ban Mé Thuôt. The sisters stayed there for thirteen years, until February 1967, taking care of the training of a dozen Vietnamese novices and establishing a centre of human and Christian formation for young girls from the three nearest ethnic groups.

We had to resign ourselves to moving the monastery to the plain. An opportunity arose in Thu Duc, about ten kilometres from Saigon. The Office was gradually translated into Vietnamese and the customs specific to the country enabled the Thu Duc monastery to develop rapidly despite the war, followed in 1975 by Communist domination (the French sisters were expelled). In 2000, the community even founded a second monastery at Loc Nam, in the Dalat region. These two monasteries have acquired a fine reputation as oases where it's good to find refuge in difficult circumstances. In 2020, the Thu Duc community started a foundation at Xuan Loc (100 km from Thu Duc).

The sisters are particularly attentive to the local population, who often gather at their home for various social, cultural and, of course, spiritual occasions.

The community is made up of seventy sisters, sixty of whom are aged between twenty and fifty.

Project

Many of the young sisters are undergoing training, either at the monastery or in the faculties: psalm studies, music theory, language courses, theology of the consecrated life, theology in HCMinh Ville. Financial help is needed to cover the costs involved.

Requested amount: 5,778 euros.