What About Vietnam – S5-E27 – Discovering Catholic Treasures of Vietnam: Church Hunting in Ninh Binh and Nam Dinh

Get ready to discover a side of Vietnam that remains largely unknown to most Western visitors

Vietnam’s northern provinces hold secrets beyond the usual tourist trail—and in this episode, we go “church hunting” to uncover them. Joined by my returning guest, Ha (Hannah) from S5-E18 – Hanoi Below the Surface, we explore the stunning Catholic heritage in regions like Ninh Binh and Nam Dinh.

With roots dating back to the 16th century and flourishing during French colonial times, Catholicism in Vietnam has left behind a breathtaking legacy of Gothic cathedrals, convents, and monasteries. We visit iconic sites like Phú Nhai Basilica and Bùi Chù Cathedral, as well as hidden gems like the Chau Son Monastery. All in flourishing communities.

Ha shares her local insights and personal reflections as we trace the footsteps of history through quiet villages brimming with faith, architectural wonder, and community spirit. If you thought Vietnam was only temples and beaches—prepare to be surprised. These soulful spaces welcome all who seek beauty, history, and a deeper connection to place.

The Churches we visited in our trip are listed below. I urge you to go to the Podcast episode for pictures and video of our journey;- www.whataboutvietnam.com

Church 1 -Bui Chu Cathedral 

Church 2 - Phu Nhai Basilica 

Church 3 - Kien Lao Church.

Church 4 - Hung Nghia Church 

Church 5 – Chau Son Monastery

Church 6 - Phat Diem Stone Cathedral 

I also encourage you to check out this newly released book on churches in Vietnam by Peter Steinhauer - Cathedrals

The best way to connect with me is not via text, it is through the website www.whataboutvietnam.com website and email.

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Transcript

 Kerry Newsome: Xin chào and welcome to the What About Vietnam podcast. I'm your host, Kerry Newsome. And today we're stepping into the world you may not expect to find in Vietnam, the world of Catholic churches. I know it took me by surprise as well. On a recent journey through the North, I found myself genuinely surprised and deeply moved by the stunning architecture, peaceful presence and rich history of these churches. Some tucked away in the most unlikely places. You might be wondering how did Catholicism end up in Vietnam? Well, it dates back to the 16th century with Portuguese missionaries, but it was during the French colonial era, particularly the 19th and the 20th centuries, that Catholicism really took root. The French left more than just baguettes and grand boulevards. They left cathedrals, monasteries, convents, and a strong Christian presence that still lives on today. And you'll hear that in the stories that we tell. Today, about 7% of Vietnam's population identifies as Catholic, one of the largest Catholic communities in Southeast Asia. And while many associate Catholicism with the South, the North is full of hidden gems, quiet villages, with beautiful stone churches. As we were driving along the road, we could see the steeples, some over a hundred years old, where the faith and local culture intertwine in the most unique ways. I hope you'll join me and my guest as we go in search of churches, exploring their stories, their architecture, and the peaceful energy they bring to the vibrant and spiritual land of Vietnam. This show and my longer guest have had this in the works for a very long time. We've talked about exploring Northern Vietnam and certainly in the region of Ninh Binh and Nam Dinh in our search, would you believe, for churches. So you may have heard a previous episode that I did with her and we did mention it briefly and we did say look next trip we will definitely go in search for churches.

null: So today I hope you'll welcome her to the program.

Kerry Newsome: over the last 24-48 hours of exploring this area for churches. And I think you're going to really, really be surprised because I know, I hope I've captured my amazing face and expressions when I have seen these magnificent churches. So heart, please say hello.

Ha ( Hannah ) Dau : Hello Kerry, hello everybody. Welcome and I'm so happy to indeed have this opportunity to go church hunting with Kerry Newsome.

Kerry Newsome: Okay, alright, so a little bit of background to the trip and the beginning. So we of course started in Hanoi. And from Hanoi, we have engaged with a personal driver. And from my perspective as an international traveler, obviously as a foreigner, I think this was the best way to do it. Now, I have the advantage of her, and I have her for two reasons of enjoyment. One, she is extremely knowledgeable about these churches. And secondly, she has put some research into the churches that we are going to talk about. So she was able to speak to them with great fluency, and you're going to hear that as we go through the show. Plus, she can even use her Vietnamese tongue to be able to say the names and the districts and things like that. And of course, you know much better than me. and then a great company as I got to know her a little bit more and in our exploration with visiting the churches, just how lovely it was to find this part of Vietnam that I don't know, I'm not sure that many of you would think of Vietnam in this vein and think of I think Ham mentioned to me during the day that it's around about 80% of the population of Vietnamese that are actually Catholic and follow the Catholic Church. So it's still a very thriving religion in the country and as we discuss some construction stages and rebuilding and you just get a sense that the churches are very symbolic.

Ha ( Hannah ) Dau : Meaning that I'm not even a Catholic, but me being brought up in Hanoi and have been to the Hanoi church, the Hanoi Cathedral, and seeing the splendor, the beauty of it, I eventually got interested to know more about the church. And I have to admit that I didn't really understand the differences between Catholicism and Protestantism up to I was quite a young adult. So Northern Vietnam, where I come from, is about Catholicism. In the provinces that we visited this time with Carrie, Nam Dinh, and Ninh Binh, are the cradle of Christianity, specifically Catholicism in Vietnam. And the first church that we visited is the Bùi Chù Cathedral. And Bùi Chù Diocese is the longest serving and one can say it is like truly the cradle of Portuguese missionaries who came to Vietnam and started the dioceses there. Bui Chu Cathedral used to be, it had a 150 years history, it used to be quite run down. And the fathers at Bui Chu were worried before COVID about it being the risking to collapse anytime. So despite all the old history and the splendor of it and all the non-stop discussion with architects, they actually had to make the painful decision to take down and build a new one. So when Carrie and I visited this time, We actually see the mostly completed new cathedral built, I think, mostly to the same exact design and decoration as the old one. It's beautiful and it sits in a majestic area. And the people, the workers, the contractors who are working there, were beaming with pride about what they are doing and they are completing. And they told us that the grand opening of the new cathedral, Bùi Chù Cathedral, is going to be sometime next year, 2026. But as soon as August this year, masses and services could be started to be conducted inside the church again. And for visitors who come to Nam Dinh to see the beauties of the cathedrals and churches there. I think if you had to, if you can plan to be on a weekend, it would be wonderful because you wouldn't see the masses, you wouldn't see the churches as a community center with activities, with all the living actions in there, and it is actually seeing it is, in a way, is also as interesting as seeing those churches and cathedrals just as like old wood relics or old building architectures. So that is something that both Carrie and I were very happy to see, including we were able to speak to the people around and hear them expressing their joy and pride of the cathedral that they are contributing to.

Kerry Newsome: And you know it was intriguing for me to learn during the journey that Hart was saying that you know we were spotting churches on the road like we were driving along and we would see the the churches and the steeples. The spires. Yeah, the spires. And it was like every couple of miles in some places. And I think, what did you say, you said there's about two churches?

Ha ( Hannah ) Dau : Yes, so the density and the frequency of you spotting churches in Nam Dinh, especially, is so much that it's almost like two churches per village. To be admittedly, not all villages in Nam Dinh are Christian and Catholic churches, villages, but they have a very dense areas, almost like whole districts, where the Catholic population is so dense and so long-serving that you do have two churches per village. And it's such a big fun because it is literally church hunting because we will see two churches to the left and three churches to our right and it is like oh like to trying to see which one is bigger, which one is more beautiful, which one has a more interesting bell tower, that kind of thing.

Kerry Newsome: And as we're going along, I was like, oh look, there's another one, and Carrie, you missed this one. And I was like, you know, my head was on a swivel. Spinning. Just, I was, because I think Once again, going into this trip, obviously I had the headset to look for churches, but they would be easy to dismiss if you were just taking the journey to get from Hanoi to Nam Dinh or to Ninh Binh, because this is the area that we are in. Do not keep your eyes open to this. And what was lovely about this cathedral in particular, the father that was there. Unfortunately my French is very poor, as poor as my Vietnamese. So Hart did a great job to sort of say hello and tell the father about what we were doing. But we made the comments about the construction and some of the decisions to make it all look perfectly new and all the rest building and obviously with that age and sure it is destruction and it can't be sustainable but it shows the history you can see the history and the brickwork and what is left so we were able to wander around the grounds we weren't able to actually go inside because of the construction but it began We went on a little bit further and we went on to explore the Basilica. As you would know of the Basilica, it is recognised by the church as an official part of their, of the religion and recognised by the Pope and all the rest of it. So over to you Hap.

Ha ( Hannah ) Dau : Yes, so we have four basilicas in Vietnam, two in the north, one in central Vietnam, and one is right there in the center of Saigon. So it is actually for you to find out more about the four basilicas, but this time Carrie and I, we were able to visit Phú Nhai Basilica, and it is I think number two or number three largest Catholic churches in Vietnam. And Phu Nhai Basilica is also famous because it appeared in many films and documentaries in Vietnam. And when you are either in Bui Chu Cathedral or Phu Nhai Basilica, you would be easily thinking that you are not in Vietnam. The Gothic architecture, all the details, all the design and decoration, all the bas-relief on the walls surrounding the basilica are European, are so like, even like Greek in some ways. So it is kind of intriguing to to look further and see rice fields and some very non-Vietnamese edifice being there. And the Basilica is wonderful in the sense that it is truly the center of that community and we were able to walk around and children running around and families next door to the basilica, creating beautiful bonsais and, you know, leaving cross using like ornament trees and plants. So all those smaller details add to the living beauty of Basilica in a thriving community. And I'm sure that many visitors could also, we would recommend you also to walk around and many of the houses actually open and people are very welcoming. people to come in and whether you are a Catholic like them or you are not, like in my case, they would be like very, very willing to tell you about the basilicas, the importance of it in their community.

Kerry Newsome: Was that the one where we went to the very elaborate houses?

Ha ( Hannah ) Dau : We did, we did. It's actually next door. Yes, next door.

Kerry Newsome: Because the grounds were immaculate. They were well maintained. The bonsais were beautifully crafted. Hannah tells me that the area is well known to have bonsai masters who do take great care in looking after the bonsais because they are everywhere. And what was crazy and kind of doing my head in a little bit is that you can be forgiven for thinking, am I still in Vietnam? This looks and feels like it could be somewhere in Italy because the craftsmanship is Gothic, is Roman, is Catholic in every sense of the word. So what you are seeing in some of the statues and some of the engravings and some of the architecture. There's nothing that they have adapted to make it look Vietnamese. It's the other way. It's made to look very, very, very Catholic and obviously religious.

Ha ( Hannah ) Dau : I really hope that since we asked Vietnam Stats to have the representative of the Pope residing in Hanoi since 2022, one day the representative of the Pope would be able to come and visit this magnificent basilica around the country.

Kerry Newsome: We moved on from the basilica and we went to another church. and I got to have a really good walk around this one, and I'll leave it to you, Ha, to give a little bit of context to, is it Kien Lao?

Ha ( Hannah ) Dau : Kien Lao, yeah. Actually, we stayed there a little bit too short time. You flew the, yeah? Yeah. But I think we, since we, you going to do that but you know with the flycam was it good enough to

null: imagery I was able to capture using a small drone.

Kerry Newsome: I'll be able to show you just how magnificent it is but we kind of got chewed up with time with a little bit of technology issues but

Ha ( Hannah ) Dau : So we went to Kien Lao Church, which is beautiful and special in the sense that we were able to go inside and the acoustics as well as the lighting inside the church is just mesmerizing. It's just so captivating. And we are not in a very like sunny day, but the light inside, outside, inside the church makes me feel very special. And that is one thing that makes me wanting to go back to the Catholic churches all the time, because I can see the harmony of the light and the beauty of the the sound of the acoustic inside when we step inside a church. So it is really special when thinking that those churches being built like 100 years ago, and the craftsmanship and the people who built them at that time already must, in the countryside of Vietnam, already mastered. the engineering that makes the light and the acoustics work so wonderfully, almost like in any other Catholic churches elsewhere in Europe.

Kerry Newsome: Was this the one where the children were singing and we caught the children?

Ha ( Hannah ) Dau : Yes, it was.

Kerry Newsome: That was such a lucky chance. That was so beautiful. They were so enthusiastic and maybe I made sure that they kind of knew that I was filming them because I thought they would sing to that knowing that I was doing some filming. But it was just lovely. And then we walked around and there was the pulpit stair, that was the one with the staircase up? Yes, yes. That was just incredible.

Ha ( Hannah ) Dau : Stunning, isn't it? For visitors, I think if you can time your time to Kien Lao Church, or like some of those bigger churches, at after 11 in the morning, at around before lunchtime, I think you have a very good probability catching those children learning, children's choir. practicing singing chanting in the church because that is when they came back from their morning school and they would have church class hours quickly. So we were very lucky that in the morning we hear the children singing and the afternoon we hear another wonderful chanting, yes.

Kerry Newsome: next church and this one was very, very different. In fact, Halloween has been referred to this church and she'll explain a little bit about that.

Ha ( Hannah ) Dau : we went to Hung Nghia Church, which is not too far away from Kien Lau Church. And in the past, it was like dark and reddish color, which is very striking among the Vietnamese lush green rice field and everything. But this time when we visited it, it's painted, being painted, yes, dark black, and in another striking way, because some of the decoration details are intentionally, I think, painted red and white, and so, and the contrast is striking, and it is a super big complex of a church, so I thought they are going to use it for filming of some Halloween story, but I asked the people around, the locals, and they said no, no, no. They are serious about keeping it officially in this appearance. So it is like painting dark black with red windows and decoration details in white. So it's kind of, really out of this world and In a few months time in few months time yes And

Kerry Newsome: It doesn't have too much of a surrounding area that you would want to spend time with. You just need to add it into the trip to just see the striking difference against the setting of Vietnam rice fields and all of that area. But I do want Hutt to talk a lot about the next stop. have an experience there that we didn't expect. It was at dusk. So we did this on a Friday, which is probably, Hartley's going to say probably the weekend is probably better, but it will be busier. So we got to experience a lot of these without any big crowds. There was no see that kind of experience in these places. So, you know, it is a journey very personal and I think for those of you who do follow the faith, you know, you would go with that mindset. It's not a touristy kind of experience and I don't actually want it to be. I do not want big buses rolling up at these places, but I do want you to know about them, so that if you do want to take this personal journey like I did, and not be fed out of curiosity that in a country where over 90% of the population is Buddhist, to find in our thriving Catholic communities that exist and and are there with these magnificent churches you know you kind of have to see it to believe it but this particular cathedral is the setting just let me try and paint this picture before I leave it was like about 5 p.m and it was just coming into dusk so you can imagine this over to you so you can talk through our total experience including some of the acoustic experience.

Ha ( Hannah ) Dau : So Kerry and I saved the best for last because in the afternoon we crossed the borders from Nam Dinh province to Ninh Binh province and we visited a hidden treasure the Choson Monastery. It is a functioning monastery. It's a little bit far away. It is actually next to Dao Mountain. And the driver was also a little bit unsure of how to find that place. And certainly there are no busloads of tourists. It is a quiet, tranquil place. It is a gothic monastery just like you are stepping in a Harry Potter world. It is so beautiful and well kept with minimal restoration, I would say. So you really have to see it in order to be stunned by the Gothic architecture against the beauty of Ninh Binh mountains with a magnificent garden with the underground caves and all the immaculately manicured lawns and bonsai. And we were so lucky that the chapel was opened and the monks who lived there, trained there, studied there, came in and did a wonderful afternoon chanting. Again, as you might know, I come to those places because I admire the acoustics. And this time, of course, it didn't disappoint me. The acoustics in this beautiful location and looking a little bit out to see the sunset, the dusk, it's like unbelievable, unbelievably surreal. Choson Monastery, as I mentioned, it's going to be 90 years old next year, and they have been a functioning monastery with practicing monks all the time, and they are very thoughtful to make it available and accessible to the public. gradually, because I have visited that place maybe 15 times. So the first few times when I came there, I actually had to call in advance, ask for permission from the father to come in. And then eventually they open it like one, two days per week. And now it looks to me that they are not like open for massive tourism, but they do open and they do welcome the guests. And it is pretty far away. It is pretty unwell-known yet, but it is truly somewhere you really won't feel that you are you touch the beauty of your spiritual soul and the setting is there for you to really to see the grandiose of nature with thoughtfulness of people. And the rabbits in the garden. And the roosters fighting nicely. Yeah, I mean the gardens are just something else.

Kerry Newsome: to the actual church itself. So it's a place where you could spend and you should allow a little bit more time I think. Now Hart was surprised that we were able to be there at about five o'clock and experience of the of the bumps and we don't know yet we're going to do a bit more research around whether that is actually typical because she was kind of told it's normally at two o'clock not at five o'clock and you know i had i kind of put my two bobs in in the sense that i was trying colors of dust in the sky to surround this area and I was right when we were there and I was taking photos and doing a little bit of video. It was just mesmerizing the color mixtures and the feeling I could have spent more time there and I wish we did have more time and that's going to lead into the next thing I want to talk about is timing because we were able to fit those five in that we've just talked about Now, if you pushed yourself, you know, with still having time for lunch and to come back to wherever you're staying, now we're staying at the Emeralda in Tampcock. And I have to say, we were really impressed. It's really only been open here for a couple of years, and the setting of it and where it is, as much imagery and photos because I did go a bit nuts with the photos and video so please watch the social pages and you know you can talk to me anytime reach out and I can give you some more information about these places. But specifically I do want to talk about the timing and the time allowance that you should consider when you're putting your trip together from Hanoi to visit this area. So today we have experience where we're going to see one more and I'm going to ask her to talk about this one because we won't get to come back on the microphones again. from her experience. So today we have one more. That means that in two days, one night, we will have seen six and that is allowing me time to get back to Hanoi and Hanoi airport. Now, personally, now that I've done this, I probably would be recommending you to do two nights and take your time and with your driver and with your guide, you know, allow yourself a little bit more time at these places, building a nice place we would look at for you to spend for lunch, and then come back to enjoy the resort. You know, Hart and I wanted to come back later, we've had a great day, we've had a chance to have a nice swim, sit by the water side, and just take in the ambience of the actual resort. I still think one night is rushing it a little bit, two nights is definitely allowing you to luxuriate and really feel the area. And you could still fill it with more churches because there's plenty of them to see. So how can I ask you to just speak to a little bit about the one we're going to see?

Ha ( Hannah ) Dau : So, Carrie, yesterday we have seen very, very European-style church, cathedrals, and basilicas, right? Today we are going to see a church, which I would jokingly call a fusion church. It is going to be the Phat Diep stone cathedral, it is the other quadrant of Catholic system in the Nam Dinh and Ninh Binh area, together with Bui Chu cathedral. Phat Diep cathedral is enormous. It is a stone complex of cathedrals and chapels and praying area. And it is built with the Ningbing limestone, which is famous in this area, on what used to be a swamp. So the engineering work that goes into it is enormous, and it is a combination of Catholic church architecture and Vietnamese traditional communal houses. So it's going to look kind of funky in a way. Very traditional but also very unexpected and like very intriguing in many ways. modernistic as well and like if the nuns there would explain to us why certain things are designed or made a certain way and the story behind all those smaller details are also exciting. So I look forward to go with you in a few minutes to that place and for sure please do add more of your own feeling and impression of Phat Diep Stone Cathedral to our podcast, Kerry. For sure.

Kerry Newsome: So the other aspect of the trip that it has brought to me is that you definitely could add more churches into your experience. We have done only a small snapshot

Ha ( Hannah ) Dau : We have not even done 1% of these over 600 churches in Nam Dinh province alone, right? We have 99% more churches to see.

Kerry Newsome: So you're now getting the gist that this is a snapshot of what is open to you to explore and we could build that in. For the purpose of your planning, I would, as I said, have a look at just how much time you have on your hands to explore this region. The lovely thing about this region from Hanoi is that it is still only in the vicinity of two, three hours in time. So it's not like having to go on those bigger trips where you're going into Yen Bai or you're going to Mu Chai or where it's five, six, seven hours each way, which chew up a lot of time. So this is like some magic very close to Hanoi. I will put in the show notes and list the cathedrals and the basilicas and the churches that we did see. You, as I said, can reach out to me any time and I can access the right information because there is no church tour that you can kind of just buy off the shelf. And I think that's good. I think it should be something that, you know, we craft for you as a person, as an individual, as a person who follows the faith, maybe, or like her, who doesn't follow the faith. However, her curiosity in the churches and Catholicism in Vietnam kind of gave her the insights to want to know more and explore more and I mean you know the one we went to yesterday 15 times she's been there so she still looked in awe of the experience as I did for the first time so I think there's a lot to be had I hope you've enjoyed the show And thank you, for spending the time with me. I so enjoyed it. I knew it would be good and it's lived up to my expectations.

Ha ( Hannah ) Dau : Wonderful. So happy to hear that you are enjoying it as much as I did, Kerry.

Kerry Newsome: we will get on to the next church, the Modernistic Fusion Church. Let's go! Just wanted to finish off everyone referring to the Phat Diem Stone Cathedral that Hannah refers to just as we were closing off there. We did get to cover it off. It was really hot about kind of 10 o'clock in the morning. So, you know, would recommend you going earlier in the day or in the cooler of the afternoon. A massive area. Look, it is modernistic, very futuristic in the way it's trying to combine the two religions. It didn't kind of capture my soul, I have to admit. However, you know, to see just the expansiveness, the devil of detail. that obviously the architects have gone to to try and combine them as best they can is really quite amazing. It is a big area, so you really need to allow plenty of time to walk around it, to get the gardens and just the full area. They do run masses and you can look up their times to attend those masses. It was truly impressive, but as I said, would it? Did it kind of do it for me? Probably not as much as the others did that we covered off yesterday. And because there's so many more to cover, I probably wouldn't include this one. I'd probably go seeking some others that we didn't get to do on this trip. That's not to say we won't do it in the future. However, I just wanted to cover this off as Hannah said, we were going and she was very excited to see this one again. I hope you've enjoyed the show. We have covered off quite a lot and please reach out if you need any further information. I look forward to bringing you future shows of the What About Vietnam podcast and just want to say thank you for listening.

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