A new book on caring for our common home has been written and published for a Vietnamese audience, with a number of Divine Word Missionaries from the Australia Province and beyond contributing their knowledge and skills to it.

Entitled, ‘Caring for Our Common Home: A Christian Mission - A Human Responsibility’, the book was edited by Fr Anthony Le Duc SVD, who is a member of the Australia Province based in Bangkok.

Other members of the Province who contributed are Fr Michael Quang Nguyen, Deacon Cuong Dang, Fr Thien Nguyen, and Fr Hung Nguyen.

Fr Anthony said the Vietnamese-language book aims to contribute to the ecological discussion in Vietnam.

“In the face of an increasingly severe ecological crisis, the mission to protect the ‘Common Home’ of humanity has become an essential task for all Christian believers,” Fr Anthony said.

“The contents of the book draw inspiration from theology, the Bible, and Catholic social teaching to present various reflections, emphasising the vital connection between spiritual life and the urgent call for environmental responsibility.

“Through diverse perspectives on the topic, readers are invited to build knowledge about ecological issues, discern the challenges of our time, experience ecological conversion, and develop awareness of their role in caring for our shared home.

“This book, with its urgent nature, adds its voice to the call of the Church, especially through Pope Francis, urging all Christians and humanity as a whole to unite in the mission of caring for and safeguarding the Earth, the precious gift that God has bestowed upon us.”

Fr Anthony said the book is comprised of 14 chapters that address the theme from various perspectives, including eco-theology, Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation, spirituality, scripture, and inter-religious dialogue.

Fr Michael contributed three essays to the book on the topics: Vietnamese Women: Custodians of Ecology; Ecological Human Model: Jesus; and Common Home – The Green Church, in which he argued that every part of the Church, from communication to parishes and institutions, schools and evangelising tools must become “green”. “Today’s Church, as the Holy Father says, must be an environmentally friendly Church.”

Cuong’s article in the book discusses discipleship in the context of ecological degradation, injustice, and poverty today. Cuong explicates on the various ways that the task of proclaiming the Gospel needs to take place in order to address these concerns. His essay especially focuses on various channels of communication that need to be employed more actively, such as preaching, education, and witnessing actions. One of the key takeaways of Cuong's chapter is that promoting ecological flourishing on behalf of the vulnerable and marginalized need to be an essential part of the identity of Christian discipleship today.

Fr Thien contributed photographs showcasing the beauty of the natural world. And Fr Hung contributed photographs from his current assignment in the Tiwi Islands, north of Darwin.

“In my photos, you can see the beautiful landscapes, and how people and nature work together,” Fr Hung said. “However, these are also images of the dry trees, reminding us of the challenges our planet faces. Each picture tells a story about how we need to take care of our planet. My photos remind us to respect and admire the special beauty of the Tiwi Islands' nature.”

In addition to the contributions by SVDs from the Australia Province, there were also contributions in the form of chapters or photos from SVDs working in other provinces: Fr Joseph Do Nguyen Vu (Vietnam), Peter Hoang Van Loan (Vietnam), Joseph Nguyen Van Xuyen (Vietnam), Nicholas Duc Le (USA), vanThanh Nguyen (USA), JB Trinh Dinh Tuan (Chile), and Paul Steffen (Italy).

Fr Anthony said he wanted to direct the book primarily to a Vietnamese audience because he had found that there was a lack of scholarly writings in Vietnam on the topic.

“For example, at the Catholic bookstore next to the Notre Dame Cathedral in Saigon, there were only three books on the shelf on this topic,” he said.

“Two of the books were Vietnamese translations of Pope Francis’ exhortation Laudate Deum. The remaining book was a Vietnamese translation of a book on environmental ethics. While there are online articles that address Church teachings on environmental safeguarding, published books written by Vietnamese scholars on the topic are almost non-existent. So, I was trying to respond to this gap with this modest volume.”

He said he hoped the book would be an additional resource for Vietnamese Catholics to be more acquainted with the Church’s teachings on ecological safeguarding.

“As Vietnam is one of the countries most at risk due to climate change, Vietnamese Catholics need to be more equipped with knowledge of the crisis from the theological and spiritual perspective in order to respond to the situation – both locally and globally –  with greater clarity and conviction,” he said.

“Upon the book’s publication, Bishop Joseph Tran Van Toan of Long Xuyen Diocese in South Vietnam ordered 320 copies as a gift for seminarians at a major seminary in South Vietnam after having received it as a gift from one of the contributors.

“I saw this as a sign that the book could offer something important to Vietnamese Catholics on this particular topic. Because it is not possible to have the book available in bookstores throughout Vietnam, I am also making it available for download free at the website of the Asian Research Centre for Religion and Social Communication, which is the Centre that I am directing at this time.”