Indians!

The Spiritans are a fairly international bunch, here in Vietnam we have one Irish priest, one Belgian priest, and four Vietnamese-American priests. As seminarians, each Spiritan brother spends two years of his formation on mission in another country.  Currently there are Vietnamese seminarians in England, Tanzania, Kenya, and Ethiopia. Spiritan seminarians from Vietnam spend four years learning Theology in Manila. (Unfortunately they attend Ateneo de Manila, the Jesuit university, and not De La Salle University which I and my Filipino cousins attended.) Despite all of the internationality surrounding us, it was still a treat last week to get to know two aspiring brothers from India.

The Indian brothers, both from Tiruchirappalli, are here to spend their novitiate year with their Vietnamese brothers. As the Indian Spiritan community is fairly small it makes sense for them to join the larger Vietnamese group. The Vietnamese group joins the Filipino group for their years of theology for similar reasons - as well as the availability of theological instruction in English.

Tiruchirappalli, India

The novitiate year is a year of spiritual life free from the more rigorous study found in the years learning English (2 years), philosophy (2 years), or theology (4 years). It involves some pastoral work, but not with the intensity that the two years spent on mission require. The novitiate year is one of spiritual focus and personal development.  It takes place in Cu Chi, a smaller town in the countryside, about 30km outside of Ho Chi Minh City. You may remember the name Cu Chu from our visit to the Cu Chi tunnels, which spread through the jungle in the area.

Brother Michael and Fr. Bonaventure, our Indian guests, arrived last Monday and stayed with us until Saturday morning. Brother Michael is following the more typical path of Spiritan aspirancy, and is not yet ordained. He recently finished his missionary years in Ethiopia. Fr. Bonaventure was a priest in another order and has decided to join the Spartans - he was working previously in Kenya. Both are in Cu Chi now.

It was very nice to be able to speak with some brothers who are not also our students. We only have the first two years worth of students with us in the city. The rest are off studying or working in other cities and countries or are at home for the summer before they take up their studies again. Being able to speak with brother Michael and Fr. Bonaventure about their travels and experiences without the expectation that we would also correct their English was nice. In addition, being from India, and having lived in many countries already, their English was excellent and very easy to understand. They also had a very broad understanding of world politics that was interesting to discuss. Most of our students are from rural areas, and have never left Vietnam, so world politics is not really an available topic of discussion.

Both brothers left Saturday morning to join the rest of the novices in Cu Chi. At some point this year we hope to be able to visit that community, perhaps for a small retreat.

The Indian brothers join the Vietnamese brothers for the novitiate