opening ceremony announcing the start of the 2010

Hanoi (VNA) – The opening ceremony announcing the start of the 2010 Jubilee Year
will take place in the Parish Church at So Kien in the northern province of Ha Nam
from November 23-24, reported a government official.

At a press conference in Hanoi on November 20, Nguyen Thanh Xuan, Deputy Head
of the Government’s Committee on Religious Affairs said the ceremony will
draw the participation of bishops, priests and parishioners from 26
archdioceses and dioceses nationwide as well as representatives from foreign
Catholic organisations and central and local authorities.

The 2010 Jubilee Year has been organised by the Vietnamese Catholic Church and
will run from November 24, 2009 to January 6, 2011 to mark the 50 years since the
Catholic Hierarchy in Vietnam was first established.

The year includes three main events, the opening ceremony in So Kien Parish, the
congress of Catholic followers at the Ho Chi Minh City Archdiocese from November
21-28, 2010 and the closing ceremony at the La Vang Parish in the central
province of Quang Tri on January 6, 2011.

The Jubilee Year is an important event in the religious lives of Catholics. In a
letter announcing the Year to Catholics, the President of the Bishops Council of
the Catholic Church in Vietnam, Bishop Phero Nguyen Van Nhon, called upon
Catholics to be good citizens and actively participate in building a just and
equal society, which will contribute to human and social development.-Enditem