Bishop Michael Hoang Duc Oanh of Kontum diocese has just issued an open letter
to local government questioning the motive of local government behind their relentless
effort to urge Catholics in a remote village to destroy a makeshift church.
In his letter summarizing in chronological order the series of actions taken by the
local communist officials since June 2015 to harass his flock in Daknu Msgr. Hoang
Duc Oanh on the behalf of thousands poor Catholics in the region expresses a strong,
resentful feeling of people of faith when the authorities keep ignoring the people's
repeated request for the permission to build new church to provide service to an expanding
Catholic population. The prelate laments that local authorities at all levels have
tried all tricks to take down any house of worship the faithful trying to build regardless
the size or material being used to set up the shack.
In one typical episode, on June 28, 2015, Daknu parishioners attempted to upgrade
their old worship hut with corrugate roof and new columns made from tree trunks. The
government immediately responded with an order to dismantle the new shack. The order
was followed by bribe of alcohol to families to push for compliance. Even the priests
were summoned by the People's Committee to be lectured on the need of parishioners
to obey the order. None of their efforts were successful and people started to take
turn guarding the new build church around the clock.
The bishop, quoting Dakto county's Correspondence No. 03/KH-UBND dated Jan 30, 2015,
expressed his concern about the ripple effect on other 202 worship huts throughout
Kontum should this makeshift church be brought down. He reiterated the need for respecting
the law on freedom of religion as guaranteed by Vietnam Constitution. He even suggested
a fine payment in exchange for the newly reconstructed house of worship to stay in
existence, or even a court trial to settle the dispute once in for all.
He concluded his letter with a warning: "while people may label us as being anti-government,
non-compliance with authorities, or constructing without a permit. ..I ask the officials
to calm down and take a look around the area to see who are truly the ones who are
sabotaging the people's confidence in the government, and the regime, pushing it closer
to a total collapse?”
Vietnam's 87 million people include 48 per cent Buddhists, more than 7 per cent Catholics, 5.6 per cent syncretistic and 20 per cent atheist. As a small, albeit significant minority, the Christian community is particularly active in education, health and social affairs.
Recently, the Vietnamese bishops - among them the Bishop of Kontum and the Bishop of Vinh - have strongly criticized Hanoi’s bill on "Faith and religion" which violates the freedom of religion and limits worship. The prelates have stressed that the proposed norm contrasts with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam which, in principle, protects worship. (Vietcatholic.net)
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