Dai Lo parish unites to build advanced new rural areas

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These days, the road leading to the church of Dai Lo Parish is brightly decorated in preparation for Christmas.

The area around the church is mostly inhabited by Catholics. The large, beautiful concrete road and the spacious high-rise buildings show the changes in the Catholic community here.

Mr. Nguyen Van Son, a parishioner in Dai Ha village, was excited because the village road had just been upgraded and widened. This road was previously a bottleneck, low and narrow, so it was often flooded during heavy rains.

"Implementing the policy of expanding rural roads to meet the criteria of advanced new rural areas, our 8 Catholic families agreed to donate more than 80 m²residential land, voluntarily dismantled the gate, surrounding wall and contributed more than 3.4 million VND per household to widen the road. Currently, the road surface is 5-7 m wide, has drainage ditches and covers, both convenient for people to travel and ensures the rural environment," said Mr. Son.

Not only the parishioners living locally but also the children living far from home have made great contributions to building the new countryside.

A typical example is Mr. Dao Tien Tuan, who is working in Laos. Over the past years, he and his family have donated about 500 million VND to renovate the village pond in the church grounds and many other welfare projects.

These projects contribute to improving the spiritual life of villagers in general and parishioners in particular.

Ha Ky commune has over 2,500 households with more than 9,000 people, including more than 1,000 Catholics, concentrated in Dai Ha and Trach Lo villages.

Because it is located far from the center of Tu Ky district, the economy has many difficulties. With the spirit of living "good life, good religion" and accompanying the nation, Catholics in the parish have contributed to building the new countryside.

Mr. Pham Van An, Chairman of the People's Committee of Ha Ky Commune, said: Regardless of religion or non-religion, people in the commune always promote the spirit of solidarity to build an advanced new countryside. The Party Committee, government, and organizations have actively promoted, met, and discussed with representatives of parishes and religious groups to mobilize Catholics and local people to participate in building a new countryside. Thanks to that, people in the commune have voluntarily donated land, dismantled constructions, and contributed working days to build welfare works, solidify village roads, hamlets, canals, plant flowers, ornamental plants, and ensure the rural environment.

Up to now, the commune has achieved 16 out of 19 advanced new rural criteria, including many difficult criteria such as environment, income, poor households, etc. Currently, the average income per capita here is over 72 million VND/year; the poverty rate of the commune has decreased to 0.9%, of which there is only 1 poor household who is a Catholic. The lives of the people here, especially the Catholic community, are increasingly improved in both material and spiritual terms. With the spirit of solidarity between Catholics and non-Catholics, Ha Ky will soon complete the remaining 3 criteria including: education, culture and transportation in the near future.

Building a "good life, good religion"

Over the past years, the parishioners of Dai Lo Parish in Ke Sat District, Hai Phong Diocese have always implemented well the Party's guidelines and policies, the State's policies and laws; actively worked, competed in economic development and carried out well the movement "All people unite to build new rural areas, civilized urban areas, live a good life, and follow the religion".

Along with the construction of advanced new rural areas, Catholics are always united, building a cultural life, practicing a civilized lifestyle in weddings, funerals and festivals. Dai Lo Parish and its parishes are always actively propagating and mobilizing parishioners to build harmonious families, foster village and neighborhood affection; promote cultural and artistic activities, physical training and sports, encourage learning and talent, and implement well the conventions and village regulations in residential areas. Up to now, over 98% of households have met the standards of cultural families.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Lieu affirmed: Here, Catholics and non-Catholics live in harmony, solidarity, love and affection, actively participate in the movement of "repaying gratitude", supporting and helping the poor and participating in humanitarian and charitable activities.

In addition, the movement “All people protect national security” has been effectively implemented by Catholics through participation in self-governing models. The parish council and the parish priest have combined propaganda and mobilized parishioners to proactively participate in protecting and maintaining security and order in the locality, regularly educating their children to live a healthy, civilized life and not to violate social evils.

In particular, the movement "All people unite to build new rural areas, civilized urban areas, and live a good life and follow the religion" among Catholics has attracted a large number of parishioners to participate, creating a strong and widespread influence and achieving positive results in the socio-economic fields.