Vietnamese Msgr. Pietro Nguyen
Van Tai will be remembered as a successful communicator who spent all life
serving the church in Asia for decades.
Tai died of abdomen cancer
Tuesday at age 67 in a hospital in Ho Chi Minh City. His funeral Mass was
scheduled for Friday at the Assumption Cathedral of his native Vinh Long
diocese.
He was considered the
cornerstone or one of the pillars of Radio Veritas Asia, the 45-year-old
continental short-wave radio station owned and operated by the Federation of
Asian Bishops' Conference in Manila, Philippines.
"He was a jack of all trades
and he was instrumental in shaping various policies and activities of RVA as a
natural leader and mediator" for more than 36 years, RVA said.
Tai started his
career as a program producer of Vietnamese broadcasts in 1978, then held other
senior positions, including coordinator of the Vietnamese language service and
program director of RVA's 16 Asian language services.
He was appointed as
priest-in-charge for Vietnamese refugees flocking to the Philippines to avoid
persecution from Vietnamese communists after the end of the Vietnam War.
"Tai took various initiatives
in communicating good news values to people and especially nurturing faith life
among Vietnamese Catholics in difficult times without ministers," said Fr.
Anthony Nguyen Ngoc Son, a close friend of Tai's.
Son said Catholics, including
ethnic minority communities throughout Vietnam and especially in places without
priests or religious, reg ularly gathered at homes to listen to church news,
catechism, hymns, prayers aired by RVA and "attending" aired Masses celebrated
by Tai on Sundays to keep their faith alive.
Joseph Nguyen Tien Hiep, a
former lay missionary based in Yen Bai province in northern Vietnam, said
through Vietnamese programs produced by Tai, Catholics remain true to the
church, update themselves on church developments and get close to God. Many
others have been inspired by his services and embraced Catholicism, he
added.
Even today, government
authorities have not yet allowed priests to give regular ministries to Catholics
in northern provinces of Dien Bien, Lai Chau and Son La.
Hiep said "many Catholics still often listen to reflections and
church news aired by RVA, and Dang The Dung [Tai's penname] is very popular
among listeners."
Son, w ho was with Tai before he died, described his friend as a
priest who lived a humble, gentle and simple life who always smiled and brought
joy to other people.
Son said although he was based in the Philippines, Tai helped
develop the church in Vietnam by asking for scholarships from foreign charitable
organizations and granted hundreds of Vietnamese priests and religious to study
further in the Philippines.
Born in southern Tra Vinh province in 1947, Tai graduated from
Pius X Pontifical College in Dalat and was ordained a priest in 1973. He
obtained a doctorate in philosophy from Pontifical University of Urbaniana,
Rome, in 1978 and was tasked with RVA's Vietnamese language service since
then.
[Joachim Pham is an NCR correspondent based in
Vietnam.]
