Attending the meeting included Chairman of the provincial Vietnam Fatherland Front Bùi Thanh Nghĩa, Chairman of the provincial Party Commission on Mass Mobilization Nguyễn Văn Đồng.

Ba Ria Catholic Diocese has 78 parishes with over 51,000 Catholic households, accouting for about 28% of the province population.

It’s reported that, for the past five years, Catholics in the locality have actively responded to movements for building civilized cultural lifestyles, strengthening national unity, building new-style rural countryside and promoting to ‘better secular and religious life’ in the locality. In poverty reduction, Catholic dignitaries and followers have conducted many charity activities for the poor; the poverty rate in the local Catholic community has decreased to under 2%.

On the occasion of the meeting, Ba Ria provincial authorities awarded a certificate of merit to three Catholic individuals and three Catholic collective units; the Committee for Solidarity of Vietnamese Catholics presented the medal of recognition to 20 typical followers; and the provincial Committee for Solidarity of Vietnamese Catholics awarded the certificate of merit to 10 Catholic units and 20 followers for their outstanding contributions to social and cultural development in the locality.

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