Volunteers sought to teach English in vocation-heavy Vietnam

Sacred Heart parishioner building program for seminarians

Mark Turner (back row, middle) is a member of the Lay Fraternities of Saint Dominic and teaches English to seminarians in Vietnam. Above, he is shown with children at an orphanage in Ta Nung, which received renovation funding from Boise-based Church Builders, a Catholic charity that raises money for projects worldwide. (Courtesy Photos/Mike Turner)

By Philip A. Janquart

ICR Assistant Editor

BOISE—Sacred Heart parishioner Mike Turner is looking for volunteers to teach English to seminarians in Vietnam.

Young men in the southeast Asian country seem especially called to serve the Lord as priests. Once ordained, they could be assigned anywhere in the world, which means they must be able to speak English, the international language of many nations.

Turner, 70, would know. He has spent a part of his retirement as a lay Dominican teaching English to seminarians at the Dominican House of Studies in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) and the Vincentians’ Durando Institute in Da Lat.

He belongs to the Lay Fraternities of Saint Dominic, which trace their origins back to St. Dominic in the 13th century. The first and second orders consist of priests and nuns, respectively.

The Vincentian community, associated with St. Vincent de Paul, includes the priests of the Congregation of the Mission. In the U.S., the Western province of the Congregation of the Mission is headquartered in St. Louis, Mo. (The Vincentian family also includes the Religious sisters of the Daughters of Charity and the St. Vincent de Paul Society, a lay organization with branches in most U.S. states, including Idaho.)

Both the Dominicans and the Vincentians operate seminaries in Vietnam. The Vincentians ordain eight to 10 new priests annually.

“The Church in Vietnam is interesting … there is no vocation shortage,” Turner told the Idaho Catholic Register. Turner’s first trip involved teaching Dominican seminarians and his second, the Vincentians.

“The Vietnamese Vincentians still want to invite English teachers to come to teach at the seminary,” he said. “However, the Vietnamese Dominicans are not able to invite teachers at this time.”

As a result, Turner has decided to build a program for the Vincentians, but he needs volunteers.

“While working under the Dominican umbrella, there was a certain budget to work with, but now I am essentially starting from scratch,” he explained.

Mike Turner at Sacred Heart parish in Boise (ICR Photo/Philip Janquart)

WORLD TRAVELERS

“Quite frankly, the teachers feel that many of these guys are going to be sent overseas; some of them to Pakistan, others to Australia or wherever,” Turner said of the Vincentian’s newly ordained priests. “They may be sent on a mission or simply need to go to an international conference, which could be in Thailand. And in Thailand, you may end up speaking English.”

Turner noted that much of the theological literature seminarians study is printed in English. He explained that the ability to read and write is critical, but they must also pronounce words correctly.

“You don’t need a good accent to read English,” he said. “But the ones that are going to be traveling need to have a certain comfort in spoken English and have good listening comprehension skills. Teachers must be willing to speak slowly and to listen attentively when thry try to speak English.”

“The teachers have to be patient about it and be able to read facial expressions to know when the students understand and when they don’t,”said Turner.

Volunteers are not required to hold an English as a Second Language degree but must have a working command of the English language. Teaching experience is helpful.

Turner added that the most logical candidates are those who have the time and opportunity.

“I imagine the sweet spot for volunteers would be newly retired people, but I have no interest in imposing that as a restriction on our volunteers,” he said. “Speaking for myself, I’m more serious about things now at 70 than I was at 26. So, we want the people who can go to Vietnam to be there for the service, for the mission, rather than for the adventure: ‘This is my opportunity to be of service to the Church and to teach seminarians who are going to be the next generation of priests.’ That, to me, is my motivation.”

Turner’s ultimate goal is to have a big enough pool of teachers to prevent instructional gaps.

The Vincentians provide teachers with room and board but not airfare. “They can’t help you with the airplane ticket. That is something we would need to provide; we would help the volunteers cover that expense,” he said.

“So, we really need to come up with a pool of volunteers who want to teach, and people who are interested in administrative work. You know: ‘How do we raise money? How do we keep track of who is going and when?’ Those sorts of things.”

Turner noted that although airline tickets can be expensive, raising a vast amount of funds is not necessary.

“We don’t need to raise huge bundles of money,” he said. “I traveled there for twelve hundred bucks. You have to pay a little bit for visa fees and that kind of stuff, but we aren’t talking about gobs and gobs of money.”

Those interested in learning more about the program can email Mike Turner at turnmike@gmail.com.

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