This past August 28 four young Vietnamese (Duong, Duc, Nam and Tai) made their first vows in the congregation. It was an important event because it was the very first time that young Assumptionists pronounced their first vows in Vietnam.

The entire Assumption Family rented a bus for 50 to make the trip from Saigon to the novitiate some 50 miles away; there were Assumptionist brothers and Oblate Sisters, but also postulants and candidates.

"To see far and wide and in depth"

With the name D'Alzon Centre (Espace D'Alzon), the Assumptionist community in Sokode recently opened a facility which aims at organizing meetings and discussions in three areas: current events and the media, Assumptionist spirituality, and Christian formation. These programs complement those already offered at the St. Augustine Cultural Center (Centre Culturel Saint Augustin).

Pope Benedict XVI focused on Africa again in October, when he presided at the Second Special Assembly for Africa of the Synod of Bishops. The event was aimed at finding ways Africa could overcome lingering conflicts and seek reconciliation, justice and peace.

The last issue of L'Assomption et ses oeuvres (Assumption and its Ministries), an international French quarterly, presented a series of articles on the presence of the Assumption on the African continent. The following article highlights the Assumptionist presence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).