How old are you?
This question is not easily answered by our Vietnamese
brothers. Traditionally, Vietnamese babies were
considered one year old at birth and their age increased
each year at TET (Lunar New Year). Only in June this
year, did Vietnam scrap it’s ‘two child’ per family policy,
first established in North Vietnam 1963.It is generally
accepted that the policy was more strictly enforced for government officials. After
the reunification of North and South Vietnam in 1975, the policy was extended
throughout the country and after 1983, families were requited to limit their
children to two children. Financial penalties were imposed but it was not strictly
enforced. A significant cost of the one and two child policy is that the abortion rate
in Vietnam is among the highest in the world at 2.5 per woman!

What are people actually seeking from religion?
A response to American sociologist Christian Smith’s book reflecting on the demise of
traditional religion in America. (Kaya Oakes June 2nd 2025)
Religion is fading away, but faith and belief, somehow, are not. The
problem is that how people define faith and belief is just as
individualistic as the culture we live in. And the root cause of this
drift remains debatable.
Christian Smith brings a sociologist’s expertise to the topic. Key to his
thesis is the notion in the book’s subtitle—what’s dying out are
“traditional” ideas about religion, not necessarily the idea that God or a higher
power exists. In exploring the idea of “religious obsolescence” and pinning its
beginnings to the post-Boomer generations—
with a particular focus on Millennials—Smith
finds that not only are people drifting away
from religion, but that religion has given them
plenty of reasons to do so: “Something
becomes obsolete when most people feel it is
no longer useful or needed because something
else has superseded it in function, efficiency,
value, or interest.” Religion’s obsolescence wasn’t planned, but is instead the
inevitable result of social and cultural structures that have changed over time.

Changing worldviews
Part 5 finished at the point where we noted that Thomas Berry, an American
Passionist o-wrote ‘The Universe Story’ with Brian Swimme in 1992. He referred to
the reinvention of the human as ‘the Great Work’ of our times. He suggested that
“our greatest challenge is to discover the meaning of being human”.
Hominoids are a sub-group of primates (Great Apes) and include humans,
chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans, and gibbons. They various species lived
have been living on earth for 7
million years having branched off to form the primate family. Humans have lived
here for at least 2 million years and evolved and died out, intermingling and sometimes
interbreeding along the way. As time went on, their bodies
changed, as did their brains and their ability to think. It is
suggested a species like the one in the photograph
appeared 500,000 years ago, about two hundred thousand
years before Homo Sapiens.

Pope appeals for end to Gaza ‘barbarity’
By Joseph Tulloch
Speaking after the Sunday Angelus, Pope Leo mourns
the three Gazans killed in an attack on the Holy Family
Catholic parish in Gaza city, which he says is “just one”
of the “continuous” attacks on Gaza’s people and holy
sites. Pope Leo XIV has expressed his “deep sorrow”
over the recent Israeli attack on the Catholic parish in
Gaza, and called for “an immediate halt to the barbarity” in the Strip. After the
Holy Family church was struck on Thursday morning, three of the approximately
600 Gazans sheltering there were killed, and several others, including the parish
priest Fr Gabriel Romanelli, were injured.

Thomas Thanh
It was a shock to us to learn that our brother Thomas died
suddenly in Vietnam last Sunday. He was just 46. He was
introduced to the Passionists twenty years ago in June 2005
and was professed fourteen years and ordained for nine years.
He and Peter Truc were the senior Vietnamese Passionists.
Thanh had been working hard to establish and build a new
residence in Xuân Lộc, Đồng Nai. On Sunday he celebrated
Mass with some religious sisters and then met with some of
his family (both of his parents are deceased but he has nine
siblings including a brother who is a priest). Soon after he arrived he complained of
a severe headache. He was taken to hospital immediately, but died soon
afterwards. Thanh was buried in his home parish on Wednesday morning He is the
first Vietnamese Passionists to leave here for heaven.

Birthday
I was able to celebrate my birthday, with a round of
gold with friends Kevin and John and a very nice
community meal and cake (acknowledging Erick’s
birthday as well. This was all provided by members
of our Holy Cross Passionist family, which was really
appreciated.
The guys went a bit far with the tee shirt as you can
see, and gave me a Rugby type top and Mike, from
his monthly allowance. also gave me a really nice
jumper. The next birthday is Jerome’s (in Augu

Jerome underwent close observa?on at Knox hospital and returned home early on
Tuesday aCernoon. Chris is his Power of A#orney’ and he has been to no end of
trouble and ?me, to visit Jerome, collect appropriate informa?on, speak with
doctors, arrange medica?on supplies etc etc. Jerome from now will be on daily
doses of insulan and a daily visit from a nurse. He will rely on us to assist with
monitoring meals etc. He has some short memory loss, so all of this support is
important and necessary to assist with what he needs.

Trí
Trí ’s diaconate last Saturday was a wonderful experience. It was
led by a gentle and encouraging bishop Thinh Xuan Nguyen, who
is one of fourteen children. He was born in Saigon in 1973 and
came to Australia with his family as refugees, in 1985. We had
two Vietnamese choirs, a beautiful arrangement of flowers, an
exceptional MC who had to work in a confined space, students
from Our Lady of Mercy Heidelberg who welcomed us, and
aided by Tri’s preparation, much of the ceremony was displayed in both
Vietnamese and English.
Tri’s parents were present at the ceremony,
and his father invested Tri with the deacon’s
stole, which is worn over the left shoulder.
In the background is Deacon Vinh, who was
recently appointed to our community and
parish in Endeavour Hills.

Finding contemplative moments
I shared the reflection below with Tri during his retreat last week and thought
some readers might appreciate it.
It is vital for any of us to decide what we are doing with our life. This is not a focus
on what you have done, or what you might do........but what are you doing now?
Eckhart Tolle, the author of ‘The Power of Now’ says we
need to balance our interior, with the exterior.
"Be at least as interested in what goes on inside you as
what happens outside. If you get the inside right, the
outside will fall into place". (‘The Power of Now’
…)
We need to attend to our ‘inside’ (that’s the real me, not the false ego). This
echoes Jesus’ caution… “What does it profit a person if she/he gains the whole
world but loses her/himself” (Mark 8:36). Many people spend their lives either
living in the past or the future. Tolle says, "To be identified with your mind is to be
trapped in time: it becomes a compulsion to live almost exclusively through
memory (the past) and anticipation (the future)"

Ecclesial Governance and Administration
This week four of our men, Justin Durai-Raj (Hobart), John Auram (Port Moresby)
Joseph Doan (Marrickville, Sydney) and Paul Kien (Pooraka, Adelaide)
have been involved in a workshop held at YTU, Box Hill. The opening prayer
expressed something of the hopes for the workshop.
Blessed are you, Lord our God, Creator of all that exists.
Source of life and growth, of peace and joy, we bless you for
all your sons and daughters. The gifts of governance and
administration are yours, and in your goodness, you share
these gifts with people like us. Please give vision and wisdom
to those engaged in governance; good judgement and
courage to administrators; faith and a sense of justice to all
who work in Church offices. Help us to remember that you
share with us the power to govern and administer, and that
the work we do is your work.
Give us the satisfaction and joy in the performance of this work. Bless us always
with your presence, your insight, your compassion, that we will recognize and
praise you as You really are: the Master of all that we are and do. Blessed are you,
Lord God, who share with us the gifts of governance and administration. Amen.