Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, 11 August 2022 – Four years after the opening of the Majcen Center – Bistro, Restaurant and Vocation Training Center in Ho Chi Minh City, ‘Don Bosco Bakery – Cafe’ has been inaugurated a while ago, located in one of the central districts of HCM City (Saigon), just near the British International School, where many expatriates live. Four Salesians are assigned to this new pilot project (two Salesian Brothers and two Salesian Priests), who are still members of the large Ben Cat Community (Rector Fr Peter Hoang), but fully involved in Majcen Training Centre. The new Don Bosco Bakery – Cafe offers to the young people in Vietnam not only to learn bread and sweet-making skills but also to become acquainted in management and marketing. From the idea stage the whole project has been accompanied by many Vietnamese and foreign experts, also the presence of two volunteer staff – a chef and training staff enhance the quality of training. Also this new outreach is a fruit of the cooperation among Salesians and expatriate volunteers helping the Majcen Bistro – Training Center. The Vice Delegate has visited the Center and has wished and contributed so that the new Don Bosco enterprise will help many young people in Vietnam with their integral preparation for life and also that the Salesians will learn how to grow in self-sustainability.
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, 12 August 2022 – The Vice Delegate, on a short mission in Vietnam, has also paid a visit to Nhà Thò Tân Định Roman Catholic church: its formal name is the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Located in District 3, HCM City, it was built during the French colonial period in the 1870s and completed on 16 December 1876, when Vietnam was part of French Indochina. The architecture is mainly neo-Romanesque, but it also has some neo-Gothic and neo-Renaissance elements. It has been painted pastel-pink both on the exterior and interior since 1957, earning it the nickname “the pink church”.
It is the second-largest church in Ho Chi Minh City, after Notre-Dame Basilica in District 1. They both belong to the Archdiocese of Ho Chi Minh City. The Vice Delegate had a nice encounter with Rev. Father Nguyén Quôc Hûng who rejoiced himself much of this visit and presented a beautifully crafted souvenir.