President of the Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF) Central Committee Nguyen Thien Nhan on December 16 visited the Phu Cuong parish in Thu Dau Mot city, the southern province of Binh Duong, as Christmas is just around the corner.
Nhan wished Catholic followers in the parish a merry and healthy Christmas and praised the solidarity between them and the local authorities.
He asked Catholic priests to continue performing their model role in serving both God and the country as to follow the Pope’s teaching that a good Catholic must be a good citizen.
Priest Nguyen Van Rien, President of the Binh Duong Committee for Catholic Solidarity, said Catholic followers in the province will exert more efforts, together with the local authorities, to make their secular and religious life fulfiled.
According to the committee, the Phu Cuong parish is home to 140,000 Catholic followers, who have played an active role in the locality’s socio-economic development, contributing to building the national great unity.
On the threshold of Christmas, the same day, leaders of the People’s Committee, the People’s Council and the Fatherland Front of the Central Highlands province of Dak Nong met with local Catholic and Protestant dignitaries.
Provincial leaders briefed Catholic and Protestant dignitaries on achievements their province has gained in various areas ranging from politics to economics, culture, social affairs and national defence in 2013 as well as the past decade since the province was established.
They acknowledged contributions made by Catholic and Protestant followers and parishes to patriotic emulation movements, new-style rural building, production, political security and social order and safety.
Catholic and Protestant dignitaries pledged to well popularise the Party’s guidelines and the State’s policies and laws, contributing to the locality’s socio-economic development./.
