The General Minister, José Rodríguez Carballo, OFM, visited the Province of St. Francis in Vietnam Feb. 23-28. Ambrose Van Si, OFM, a General Definitor and a member of the Province, accompanied him.
It is the first time that a General Minister of the Order officially visited the Province, thanks to a special visa given by the government of Vietnam.
During the visit, the General met all the solemnly professed friars and the friars in initial formation, and visited nine of the 17 houses of the province. He also visited the two monasteries of the Poor Clare Sisters and various fraternities of the SFO. The General had a meeting with almost all the sisters of the Vietnamese province of the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary, the cardinal of Ho Chi Minh City and the president of the Episcopal Conference of Vietnam.
The Franciscan Province of Vietnam, founded 77 years ago, has 120 solemnly professed friars. It also has 53 simply professed friars, 13 novices, 13 postulants and 80 aspirants. The friars, among many other pastoral activities, take pastoral care of some “ethnic minorities.”