Catholic followers help vulnerable in Soc Trang province

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 and followers have actively taken part in patriotic emulation movements, new-style rural area building, humanitarian and social welfare activities, contributing to the socio-economic development of the Mekong Delta province of Soc Trang, according to the provincial Committee for 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 said in a recent report reviewing the local patriotic emulation movement.

The committee of Nga Nam town alone supported the building and repair of 23 houses at a cost of nearly 800 million VND.

Parishes, including Bai Gia, Rach Trang, Bac Hai and Hoa Thuong, donated more than 1,500 tonnes of rice worth tens of billions of VND.

For traditional festivals, especially the Tet (Lunar New Year), the parishes have presented more than 8,000 gift packages, 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 provinces at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021. Several zero-VND shops were opened to 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 Solidarity Committee has well performed its role in bringing together Catholic followers in the province, said Lam Van Man, Secretary of the provincial Party Committee.

It has guided parishes to carry out religious activities and encouraged Catholics to promote the tradition of national solidarity, to actively participate in patriotic emulation movements, and to carry out three national target programmes on poverty reduction, new-style rural building and socio-economic development in ethnic minority areas, Man said./.