by Andrew Doan Thanh Phong
Hung Hoa – 19 is the biggest number of priests ordained in the 130-year history of formation and development in Hung Hoa Diocese, Northern Vietnam on November 11, 2025, among them there is a special priest whose name is Peter Sung A Ang, an ethnic man of H’Mong ethnic people. This is not only a joy for the family and parish and the H’Mong community, but also an important step on the journey of caring for the faith of Catholic communities in the ethnic minorities of Vietnam .
Of the 53 ethnic minorities, about 83.4% still maintain their traditional beliefs, such as polytheism and worships following traditional customs; the remaining 16.6% have a specific religion. Recently, religions have gradually increased in the areas inhabited by ethnic minorities, following recent statistics, there are about 3,025,174 religious followers in 33 ethnic minorities, of which Buddhism stands the most numerous with 1,448,366 people, followed by 874,359 Protestant believers and then the Catholicism with 548,130 people.
The H’Mong people rank the highest rate of Catholic followers among the ethnic minorities in Vietnam with more than 30,000 Catholics against the total population of 1,300,000 H’Mong people residing widely in the Northern provinces of Vietnam. Catholicism was introduced to the Hmong community in the early years of the 20th century, but for a long time from 1948 to 1989, the Catholic community of H’mong did not develop and even declined in number due to war, difficulty in transportation, and lack of priests. However, in recent years, the Catholic life has been improved in many villages of the Hmong ethnic group.
In addition to attending masses regularly and taking part in church’s activities, the number of newly baptized Catholics has been increasing, and has changed their spiritual life fundamentally, from polytheism to monotheism, from traditional beliefs to Catholicism. Despite living in remote areas, and facing difficulties in daily life, the H’mong people are very devout.
“When I was three years old, my parents taught me to make the sign of the cross before meals and pray before going to bed. I started praying the Rosary when I was five,” said Mr Mua Vang Sang, a catholic of H’Mong ethnic living in Van Chan district belonging to Yen Bai province, Northern Vietnam. “And now the seven members of my family gather in front of the altar praying the Rosary in the H’mong language every day after dinner.”
Sister Maria Cu Thi Huynh Hoa, a Dominican H’mong from Giang La Pan parish in Hung Hoa diocese, said: “When I was a young girl, my parents taught me to pray and guided me to follow a religious vocation and currently my mother is 83 years old but still visits the villagers and shares the Catholic faith with them”.
Ms. La, a Hmong Catholic woman living in Yen Bai province, northern Vietnam, shared: “In the past, my family had to walk 15 km to the parish church every time when there was a priest came to this area for celebrating Mass. I remember that once I carried my 3-month old baby and walked there, then I was so exhausted but very happy to attend Mass”.
Recently, in the diocese of Lang Son in Northern Vietnam, 47 people received the Sacrament of Baptism, among them were 46 people from the H’mong ethnic and 1 person from the Tay ethnic group.
Father Giuse Nguyen Van Thanh, former parish priest of Lao Cai said: “Most of the parishioners here are farmers, and their faith very strong and steadfast. Through Catholicism, H’mong people do not only have access to a new religion with its quite strict doctrines, creating a new lifestyle such as monogamy, ban on using alcohol and gambling but also have access to good traditional cultural values, especially the behavioral culture in family.
Up to date, the Hmong Catholic community has 6 priests, more than 20 religious and seminarians, and about 50 young boys and girls staying and studying at religious orders across the country. And when the first Hmong priest, Father Joshep Ma A Ca, was ordained in 2021 Mr. Lo Minh Thong, a Hmong from Sapa parish, Hung Hoa diocese could not hide his joy by saying: “We, Catholic Hmong people, are happy and proud to have a priest of H’mong ethnic community. We had been praying every day for him to receive the full grace until he ordained” He continued: “We hope that he will return to serve the H’mong parishioners and help translate scriptures into the H’mong’s language because many people are illiterate and cannot speak Vietnamese”.
And that was also Father Joseph’s reflection after being ordained as he confided: “My top priority is to proclaim the Gospel to the indigenous villagers, educate their children and help them preserve their cultural traditions and language.”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.