Outstanding individuals and collectives, who have made a lot of contribution to local patriotic emulation movement, receive certificates of merit. (Photo: VNA) Soc Trang (VNA) – Catholic priests andfollowers have actively taken part in patriotic emulation movements, new-stylerural area building, humanitarian and social welfare activities, contributingto the socio-economic development of the Mekong Delta province of Soc Trang, according to the provincial Committeefor Solidarity of Vietnamese Catholics.
Over the past five years, they have, in coordination with the provincial administration, donated more than 10 billion VND (nearly 422,000 USD) in total to the construction of 150 charity houses, it saidin a recent report reviewing the local patriotic emulation movement.
The committee of NgaNam town alone supported the building and repair of 23 houses at a cost ofnearly 800 million VND.
Parishes, including Bai Gia, Rach Trang, Bac Hai and HoaThuong, donated more than 1,500 tonnes of rice worthtens of billions of VND.
For traditional festivals, especially the Tet(Lunar New Year), the parishes have presented more than 8,000 giftpackages, worth about 600 million VND, to poor households in the locality.
They made donations of rice, vegetables and fruits,and necessities for Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong, Long An and Dong Nai provincesat the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021. Several zero-VND shops were openedto help the poor who were affected by the pandemic.
The province is home to 64,340 Catholic followers and 69 priests.
Over the past five years, the provincial Catholic SolidarityCommittee has well performed its role in bringing together Catholic followers inthe province, said Lam Van Man, Secretary of the provincial Party Committee.
It has guided parishes to carry out religiousactivities and encouraged Catholics to promote the tradition of nationalsolidarity, to actively participate in patriotic emulation movements, and tocarry out three national target programmes on poverty reduction, new-stylerural building and socio-economic development in ethnic minority areas,Man said./.
