Along the left bank of the Cu De River, in the Nam Yên village area, nestled among the sugarcane fields, you will see a small church, its back against the mountain foot, standing tall and proud. It is Hoi Yen Parish Church.
Three things will come to mind for the people of Hoa Bac if you asked what the symbol of Hoa Bac, they must be answer: the Cu De River, the Co Tu community, and the Church. In our first days in Hoa Bac, from the Pho Nam bridge, taking a general look around, we all stopped at that church, something very strange, something very “Western”, for a moment we thought we were in some valley in Europe.
This land was once the land of the Cham people. According to the historical records of Tran Trong Kim, in 1471, The King Le Thanh Tong defeated the Cham Kingdom and established the Thua Tuyen Dao Quang Nam (one of administrative apparatus) comprising 3 prefectures: Thang Hoa, Tu Nghia, and Hoai Nhon. However, at that time, Hoa Vang and Dien Ban commune still under the Trieu Phong Prefecture belong to the Thua Tuyen Dao Thuan Hoa. At this time, the court brought people from Thanh – Nghe – Tinh to reclaim the new lands and establish villages. In the 20th century, during the French and American invasions, the Hoi Yen people dispersed, and only after the liberation in 1975 were the people able to return home and start all over again. According to information from the website of the Diocese of Da Nang, Hoi Yen Parish was originally a chapel built of straws and muds in 1990. On December 10, 2008, Hoi Yen Parish was officially separated from An Ngai Parish (belonging to the Hoa Vang parish group), with 130 households and 525 Catholics among a community of more than 5,000 people in Hoa Bac commune. From a young parish, facing difficulties and divided by war, thanks to the care of the government and the solidarity of the pastors and Catholics, the chapel has now become a parish, constantly developing and reforming.
Like the name Hoi Yen, this place seems to gather all the most peaceful things of a countryside. The village road runs right in front, the fields stretch out creating an endless expanse of green. Every afternoon, the sound of children playing happily in front of the yard, and there are also times when Hoi Yen is strangely quiet, when the Christian are sitting on chairs, looking at the Virgin Mary and praying, listening to the sound of bells ringing in the mountains and forests
When you come to Hoa Bac, try visiting this church! Sit on a very quiet stone bench and listen to the sounds of peace emanating from everywhere in the mountains and forests and also from within your heart.
