During the summer Fr. Paul Grizzelle Reid, SCJ (photo), spent several weeks in the District of Vietnam teaching ESL (English as a Second Language). Br. Te, one of his students, shared photos and information about Fr. Paul’s time in Vietnam. He writes:
“Fr. Paul met us at a retreat for members of the Vietnamese District; it was held in the Da Lat Province. Every Saturday Fr. Paul and our priests from the formation house celebrated Mass at the Pastoral Center in District 1 in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). This is the Sunday Mass for English-speaking people who live and work in Ho Chi Minh City. Normally there are between 500-600 people who attend this Mass.
“Father Paul had classes from 8:00 – 11:00 am each weekday. In the afternoons and evenings he met with students individually. The classes consisted of reading, speaking, role-playing, listening and pronunciation.
“In one of our classes we reflected on Matthew’s gospel about the ‘sower and the seed.’ And so we planted many kinds of seeds in the garden. Some fell on good ground, some on rocky ground, some of them were eaten by the birds and some died. But some of the seeds found fertile soil and grew; we had corn and tomatoes.
“Weekly we watched a movie in English. The movies were centered on the lives of saints, such as Mother Teresa, St. John Paul II, Padre Pio, St. Teresa of the Child Jesus, and Mary of Nazareth. We discussed what we understood from the movies.
“Fr. Paul even taught English while we were in the kitchen together making meals. We cooked American, Jamaican [Fr. Paul, a member of the US Province, is originally from Jamaica] and Italian dinners.”
Click here to view a photo album from Fr. Paul’s weeks in Vietnam.
