ICC Note:

Recently, Father Joseph Sy Tin met and shared the story of his mission with various priests and many of the Christian community. His story is an inspiring one since it demonstrates the call of God to go out into the world and preach the Gospel, but how that command it not always easy to follow. Similar to Jesus, Joseph had no bed to lay his head on, yet went on to this village he knew nobody in to share the Gospel with them. Joseph addressed the hardship he faced at the hands of Communist authorities to preach the Gospel. This correlates to the situation faced by Christians living under Communist governments today that restrict them from sharing the Gospel freely.

09/22/2016 Vietnam (Asia News) – Fr Joseph Tran Sy Tin spent a life spent doing mission in the diocese of Kontum (west-central Vietnam) among tribal Jarai. The Redemptorist priest has lived in the area since 1969 and for almost 50 years has accompanied the local population in its journey of faith.

A few days ago, Fr Joseph met with priests, religious and faithful in the diocese, and spoke about the story of his mission.

Mgr Paul Kim Seitz, bishop of Kontum, had invited priests to work in the diocese for the first time in 1960.

The first village where Fr Joseph Trần Sy Tin settled was to Pleikly. Together with three other Redemptorist priests, he founded the “Group for going out” (Nhóm Ra Đi), whose purpose was to “go out” to live among ethnic minorities who have not yet known Jesus.

“When we arrived in Pleikly,” said Fr Joseph, “we had no house to stay in and did not know anyone in the village. We started to study the Jarai language and visit families to make friends. We ate with them and practiced the language.”

At harvest time, “we asked the villagers if we could go into the field to work with them. Sometimes we had lunch together in the rice fields. At evening, we came back home with them and often had dinner together.”

After a period of working together, one night the village chief acknowledged them for the first time. “As we ate dinner around the fire, he told us: ‘We took care of our people for years, as regards food, clothing and housing. But no one had ever spoken of the spirit, of good and evil, of happiness. You need to tell us these things.’”

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