The Catholic community in Vietnam is a part of the Roman Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope and the Roman Curia. Vietnam is a country with the proportion of Catholics ranked fifth in Asia. The Catholicism has been spread into Vietnam since the sixteenth century preaching from European missionaries. In the first half of the twentieth century, Vietnamese Catholics developed a more present and powerful sense of religious community that stretched beyond parish, mission, or region (Keith, 147). Through many historical changes and development in religion forms, despite of the oppression and restrictions from the government, Catholicism has gained tremendous achievement and become widespread throughout Vietnam. Growing up with the Catholic faith, I was taught that I supposed to have the religious beliefs that my religion teaches in Catholic school. The way I was raised and my family’s religious practice also have influence on my religious beliefs. A belief system is the actual set of precepts from which you live your daily life, those that govern your thoughts, words, and actions (Xavier, 2010). When I was very young, about five or six …show more content…
Since I had an opportunity to get involved in the Catholic activities, lessons, and practices when I was so young, I used to have my own standard about goodness and badness based on the teaching of Bible. I used to think that only people who follow the words of the Lord were good, and that’s why good people were usually Catholics. Moreover, I was also taught by my grandparents that only Catholic couples can marry and live in happiness. I had obeyed that until I came to America; everything changed. I have a friend; he is a “good” Catholic as he always talked about himself. Since he went to church every Sunday, volunteered in a church group, and went to confession regularly, I thought “yeah, he is following what Jesus wants, devoting his lifetime to God.” However, during the time being around with him, I noticed something else. He ignored the homeless people in the parking lots, made up stories and lies about others, and told me to check every restroom every time I used because people usually forgot their phones in it. I couldn’t tell how I was shock when hearing those “dirty” words from a Catholic. Meanwhile, my other friend, who is a Buddhist, stopped to pick a bug on the ground and throw it back to the soil to prevent other people