Divorced Catholics and Catholics forced by the government to use contraceptives say they are grateful to two priests for understanding their plight and reaching out to them.Joseph Nguyen Van Thong, from a northern diocese, who remarried two years after his marriage at the age of 18 failed, said he has felt ostracized by his parish for half a century.
He said he and his wife "felt miserable because we were banned from receiving Holy Communion."
However, the 70-year-old Catholic is much happier now, thanks to help from his parish priest.
"My faith life revived rapidly since I received Holy Communion on Easter last April for the first time in five decades," Thong said.
The parish priest here has been trying to welcome Catholics in such situations back to his 3,000-strong Catholic community since 2007, when he was assigned to the parish.
The priest said he visits, hears confession and gives Communion to 20 people in the same situation as Thong.
He pointed out that Catholics whose earlier marriage is still valid, but who divorce and remarry, are prohibited from receiving Communion according to Church law. However, he explained that he gives them Communion during Easter as a way to show them God's love and empathize with their suffering.
He notes the Church states that Catholics are required to go to confession at least once a year and receive Communion during the Easter season. He added that the Church loves and welcomes all people and that he is trying to bring Catholics such as Thong back to the Church.
Thong said he now finds life more meaningful after the priest allowed him and his wife to receive Communion. "People like us need to feel God's closeness most through Holy Communion, which heals us spiritually," he said.
The "Catechism of the Catholic Church" says that a Catholic who divorces and contracts a new civil union "commits adultery" and cannot receive Communion or go to confession as long as this situation persists.
Priests in other dioceses explained that they allow such Catholics to go to confession and receive Holy Communion in private once or twice a year. If people receive Holy Communion in public, they might cause scandal, they added. They noted that as divorced Catholics have been ostracized, allowing them to receive Holy Communion is a way to welcome them back.
Following the Church's teaching is also a tough call for Catholics forced by the Vietnamese government to use contraception.
The "Catechism of the Catholic Church" says that any action whose purpose is to make procreation impossible during the "conjugal act" is "intrinsically evil."
Priests in various dioceses say that those who use contraception should be allowed to receive Communion after they go to confession as people are forced to comply with the government's two-child policy. Moreover, many Catholics cannot use natural family planning methods because they have a poor education, they added.
Father Michael Nguyen Tien Quang, pastor of another parish in a diocese with 5,000 Catholics, visits, hears confessions and gives Communion once a year during Lent and Easter to hundreds of women forced to use contraception. The parish has had no resident priest for 42 years before Father Quang started serving the parish in 2006.
Marie Nguyen Thi Huong, a farmer from the parish, said she was forced to use an intrauterine device after she gave birth to her third child. "If not, our farmland would be partly confiscated and our children would have no access to free health care and school fees from the government," she said.
Huong, 35, said she is grateful to Father Quang who gives her an opportunity to receive Communion once a year. "I am eager to receive Communion many times a year and God's love will strengthen my faith," Huong added.
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