Religions in Vietnam, be they exogenous or endogenous, have all created religious values in their processes of existence and development. Catholic values have great influence on Catholic followers, which has resulted in their attachment of great importance to labour and the marriage and family relations, living in solidarity and mutual assistance not only among the followers themselves, but also between them and non-Catholic people in Vietnam. | Influences of Catholic Values on Vietnamese Catholics Nguyen Hong Duong1 1 Institute of Religious Studies, Viet Nam Academy of Social Sciences. Email: duongvtg@ Received: 20 June 2017. Accepted: 5 July 2017. Abstract: Religions in Vietnam, be they exogenous or endogenous, have all created religious values in their processes of existence and development. Catholic values have great influence on Catholic followers, which has resulted in their attachment of great importance to labour and the marriage and family relations, living in solidarity and mutual assistance not only among the followers themselves, but also between them and non-Catholic people in Vietnam. Keywords: Catholicism, values, Vietnam. Subject classification: Religious studies 1. Introduction Catholic values exert a strong influence on the life of Vietnamese Catholics. How those influences are is an extensive issue. This paper contributes in analysing the influences of Catholic values on Vietnamese Catholics. 2. Influences of Catholic values on Vietnamese Catholics’ conception of working That people have the right and duty to work is a Catholic value. According to the New Testament, Jesus is a working man. As God became man and dwelt among us, 12 he spent his years on earth to work. Working demonstrates a fundamental dimension of human living, as the participation not only in creation but also in salvation. Since time immemorial, Vietnamese Catholics have designated the third day of the Lunar New Year as the “Day of the Sanctification of Works”. That holds working in high regard, and requires the faithful to perceive working as a right and a duty, being temporal but also spiritual in transforming the self. Vietnamese Catholics, through many General Letters, recognise the value of working. One of the General Letters to mention is General Letter 19762, in which section 8 (The value of labour) read: “We Nguyen Hong Duong pledge you brothers and sisters to specially perceive the value of .
