HANOI, Vietnam — It was a simple, but highly significant service of celebration, reports Graham Ogden, UBS Regional Translation Coordinator. On December 12, 1997, Cardinal Pham Dinh Tung spoke movingly of the place of the Scriptures in the life of the Christian community, and expressed the gratitude of the Roman Catholic Church towards the UBS for all their help in the production of 100,000 New Testaments.

There was a Bible reading, and a prayer given by the Bible Society representative in Vietnam, the Rev Le Cao Quy. Thanks were given to God for the great quantity of Scriptures now available in north Vietnam, and the New Testaments were dedicated. The translation had been prepared in the south, in Ho Chi Minh City, by a group of dedicated scholars working for more than 25 years. Several years ago (1991) the UBS discovered the ‘liturgy group’ working on a translation of the Bible according to UBS standards: the team had attended a UBS translation workshop before Vietnam had become closed to Bible work. (please see World Report May 1994, 285/30.)

Since then, the group has completed the translation of the whole Bible into modern Vietnamese, and is now working on notes for the Bible, a vital tool for Bible study because of the absence of study materials in Vietnamese. The group aims to complete the notes by the year 2000. Until now, more than 500,000 copies of the New Testament with notes have been printed and distributed in the south with UBS support, but this is the first order of this size to reach churches in the north. The Bible Societies have provided help and support for the ‘liturgy group’, and for the printing of this and other editions of the Scriptures in Vietnamese since 1993, and the UBS continues to enjoy opportunities for close cooperation with both the Catholic and Protestant Churches in Vietnam. (WR 328/15 - 2.98)