Joseph was born into a multi-generational Catholic family that passed on to him a true and strong faith. "I grew up surrounded by the love of my parents, relatives and my religious community, which is about 100 Christians," he says.
Like other children, he spent most of his childhood in the church playground. He was an altar boy in his parish, so he was able to experience the celebration of Holy Mass at close quarters on numerous occasions. This pushed him at a very young age to desire to live the consecrated life as a priest. "I kept my dream of becoming a priest in my prayers for a long time."
After that, he left his hometown for Vietnam's largest city, Saigon, located in the south of the country. There he studied for four years at the Vietnam National University. During his time as a student, he became more clearly and firmly aware of his inner calling. And this is what he thought: "I want to become a diocesan priest so that I can serve the people in the land where I was born and raised in peace."
After graduating from university, he returned to participate in the diocesan priestly formation program before going on to study officially at St. Joseph's Seminary in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam.
"During my eight years of seminary study, I always tried to study diligently so that I could acquire knowledge, as well as form myself to acquire the best spiritual and human life, preparing me for my pastoral ministry in the future," he recounted.
After graduating from the Hanoi Grand Seminary, he returned to his diocese of Thai Binh and was ordained a priest in 2021, during the Covid pandemic. His bishop sent him to take care of a rural parish. "I was very happy to be able to live and care for the faithful entrusted to me as a parish priest," says Joseph Dinh Quang Hoan.
After some time, his bishop sent him to learn how to Rome with the intention of preparing himself for the mission of forming new diocesan seminarians. "This is also what I have always wanted: to go to Rome, the eternal city and capital of the Catholic Church, to broaden my knowledge and open up new cultural horizons, which will be so useful for my professional tasks in the field of seminarian formation," he says enthusiastically.
To Joseph Dinh study and reside in Rome is not only his dream, but that of many Vietnamese believers. "For us, Vietnam, a country with a lot of economic difficultiesvisiting Rome is not so easy. In fact, my diocese of Thai Binh is currently building a major seminary, called Sacred Heart Major Seminary of Thai Binh".
The seminar needs many teachers of various subjects. His diocese also has more than one hundred major seminarians studying in the diocesan seminary at the moment. Therefore, Joseph Dinh Quang Hoan is even more aware of his responsibility to study in this beautiful land.
He wants to study as much as he can so that he can return to serve the Church in the formation of seminarians in his diocese.
For all of these reasons, he is very grateful to the benefactors of the CARF Foundation for having made it possible for her to study at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross (PUSC) in Rome. "This is a significant and extremely important grace and support for me and also for my diocese," he says.
In addition, he says that his diocesan bishop was also very grateful and happy to hear the good news that he had received a scholarship from the PUSC, thanks to the CARF Foundation.
He bids farewell to all the benefactors: "I would like to sincerely thank all the benefactors who generously supported me financially so that I could live and study in Rome. I always pray and remember those who have helped me in my journey to live a consecrated life and achieve a good education".
Gerardo Ferrara
BA in History and Political Science, specializing in the Middle East.
Head of the student body at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome.
