Reactions from Religious Circles to Resolution 24

    

To the outside observers, the Resolution No. 24 of the Communist Party, which was issued after the Sixth Congress, and the new directive of the Politburo did not reflect the true situation of and solution to the question of religion. In addition to implementing the existing administrative regulations, the Communist Party arbitrarily adopted other rigid measures to abort  possible opposition from the religions. Plans for action for cadres at all levels of the Party hierarchy were devised to carry out political schemes. The Party, in effect, was cautious in its intention but failed to dissimulate its artful scheme to subordinate the religions to submission to its established order. Cadres were instructed to be on guard against potential confrontation with the elements who the Party thought would use religion to destabilize the socialist regime politically. At the same time, it heighten vigilance against the covert and ever-lasting opposition of the religions on the ideological plane. Weaknesses of the administration in dealing with the religions were also mentioned, and, as a matter of fact,  particular attention should be focused on evil tendency. Party cadres must be alert to execute programs of action and correctly implemented them since the coordination between the responsible of various services in this domain were still lax, and the methods to solve the difficulties were somewhat incoherent.  Still, there was  lack of a comprehensive understanding of the problem and loose union in  the conduct of affairs. The distinctions in viewpoints as regards religions between diverse political, cultural and social organizations remained wayward.  Amid complex difficulties, staffs and cadres working in the domain of religion were still a small number. They were even poorly educated and professionally weak. Diverse services at all levels were not really conscious  of their responsibilities. Even more, they were not keenly aware of the objectives in this domain.  Hence, more tasks were to be done. One of them was to prepare a new law in response to the new situation     

The Decree 26/1999/NDCP

The Decree on Religions 26/1999/ND-CP signed by Prime Minister Phan Van Khai in April 1999, reaffirms the rules and regulations on religious activities applied since the 1950’s and, with some additional clauses, tightens  the control of the State on the religions. Under this Decree, all religious properties confiscated by Communist authorities after 1975 become the permanent property of the State. Government agencies are empowered to recognize the legality of a religion,  the appointment of religious dignitaries, and the the privilege to publish religious materials. All subjects concerned are subject to the Prime Minister’s approvals. Priests and religious officials under “administrative detention” are not permitted to assume religious functions. All activities believed to activate" opposition to the State” or “go against the healthy culture of the nation” will be severely punished. The State Bureau of Religious Affairs, the ominous interpreter of the Decree, will issue instructions concerbing the applications for permission and approval.

Article 1 of the Decree 26/1000/ND-CP provides candidly: “The State of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam guarantees the liberty of belief and religion as well as the liberty to adhere or not to adhere to a religion. Any discrimination for reason of belief or religion is strictly forbidden.”  Article 4 of the Decree 26/1999/ND-CP stipulates: “Religious activities accomplished in the interest of the faithful are protected when these interests are legitimate and comply with the law. Religious activities accomplished in the interest of the fatherland and people are encouraged.” Article 5 of the same decree further stipulates: “All activities causing harm to the liberty of belief and religion, any activity utilizing belief and religion to oppose the State of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, prevent the believers to accomplish their civic duties, sabotage the union of the whole people, encounter the sane culture of our nation and engender superstitious practices will be sanctioned in conformity with the law.”

The decree stresses that, as  the manager of the society, the State only intervenes in matters that are within its responsibility and competence and in conformity with the law and policy of the State. The State does not interfere in the matters  that are purely religious and the matters that are theological.  Primarily, it protects religion. It opposes the use of religion as cover for illicit purposes as well as superstitious practices. All progressive States in the world do the same thing. Thus, in conclusion, the government firmly assured the public of the credibility of the law. The Decree 26/1999/ND-CP is a step forward, the first phase in the process that allows everyone to build, improve and complement the juridical system of the State.  The Decree 26 itself will be a perfect  complement to a future order and a prospective legislative code.  This action is essentially correct. It is opene to the path of a good will uniting the religion and the State within the framework of building the country. One may find in it some natural insufficiencies. Remedies will nevertheless be made all along the process of application. of the law. (EDA 303).

Remarks

The Decree 26/1999/NDCP of the government came into existence as a result of growing tension between the government and the Churches. It aims to implement the existing laws on religion,  performing in emergency one of the crucial tasks, preventing popular opposition from the religion as foreseen by the Politburo. Pitfalls surfaced, however, as the State, again, made erroneous ideological judgments on the social nature and political character of the religion. In fact,  right in the first part of the legislation,  for instance, the decree does not specify the legal requirements a religion must meet. Rather, it imposes intricate interpretations and twits of equivocal lexical terms, instead. In Article 5, in particular, the lexicon “associations,” which is used to designate “Churches,” is vague and confusing. It is first defined positively in paragraph 1, and negatively in paragraph 5, respectively. Religious organizations, under the new law, must be authorized to operate under the law by the chief of government.  Religious goals, practices, and activities, which are practically theogical, must comply with rules and regulations of the law. Only if these requirements are met, “ will they  be protected by the law, if not, they have to stop to function.” These “provisions” are not the prescriptions of a law. They are merely the rules and regulations the religion must observe.

Still, the instructions in the application for authorization for a new religion of July 1999 further stresses that operative religious organizations must meet the legal requirements as stated in the directives of the Politburo on July 18, 1988. The directives specifically emphasize the “illegality” of certain religious activities, such as the activities that are practiced outside the places of worship or the activities that operate in contradiction with the ultimate interests of the country, and, especially, the activities that are superstition-tainted and activities “that must be criticized and eliminated.” Such activities are, in effect, not clearly defined, thus causing disturbance and nuisance to the observer of the rules and regulations of the law.

The imperatives that mark the directives of the Politburo and the rules and regulations provided by the said decree do not always match. The directives, it is noted, don’t particularly mention anything about the kind of religions practices or activities of any Churches, legal and illegal.  As regards religious activities, the Decree 26  prescribes only one general disposition in Article 3: “Religious activities must be conducted in conformity with the legislation of the State of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.”  What would be a religious activity that is considered to operate suitably to  the ;aw of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. And, an activity like this is not clearly defined in the said law or any other law on religion of the Socialist State of Vietnam.

RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION IN THE MODERN ERA

Overview

During the eleventh session of the National Assembly, April 7, 1997, Deputy Phan Khac Tu, a Catholic priest and State’s “protégé,” came up  with the theme of civil liberties. His speech, which was published in its entirety in the Catholic review Catholicism and the Nation (No. 1104, May 4, 1997), devoted all the last part to the application of the politics of religious freedom. The deputy particularly criticized the gross manner with which certain regional authorities had executed with regard to the policy: “The applications depend on the manner in which the rule is interpreted, mostly on the whims and wishes of diverse services, regional authorities, and the cadres in this specialized domain. Twenty years after reunification of the  country, no uniformity of application of the rules has been applied, as far as religious freedom  is concerned.”     

    

The compilation of a new law as regards religious policy constituted a primary concern of the Eighth congress that took place in June 1996. Special considerations were given to the compilation of a new law for the religion with well-defined provisions. Expert compilers were entrusted with the task. The keynote presenter from the Politburo nevertheless kept a complete silence on a promulgation of the coming law. In his presentation before the congress, the presenter even showed himself  discreet. The religion constitutes a factor and also an impediment to socialist buildup. The presenter seemingly thinned out the issue in certain aspects. To the observer, the term religion, for instance, was used but sparingly in his speech; it was later mentioned without clear-set definition in Chapter VII entitled “Accentuate the Reinforcement of the Unity of the People on the whole.” This caution on the part of the presenter constituted a negative attitude of the State toward the religion; it suggests some significance of an ill omen to a concerned observer  (EDA 226).

The Catholics, in general, expected the government, after years of hard time would eventually relax its control on the religion, Attempts were made to revive activities of religious groups in various parishes rekindled new hope. Within a short time, all initiatives of voluntary will of this kind proved to be futile, however.  For the diocese of Xuan Loc, as a case in point, the local authorities flatly repressed suspected troublemakers, placing them under house arrest. A report in 1997 from  a parish in Dong Nai Province recounted that, while in a meeting, members of the Catholic Mothers received a visit of the police for unspecified reason. The president of the association was then convoked for interrogation at the police headquarters. The authorities of the province of Dong Nai, in another instance, raised question on and probed into the existence of several religious councils of parishes in  the diocese of Xuan Loc,  Dong Nai Province.

Curiously enough, while, in the Dong Xoai Parish, Saigon Diocese, where the State-affiliated member of the Committee of Union of Catholics Phan Khac Tu was the vicar, activities of all forms were performed without approbation from the authorities of the city,  In truth, for many years, the parishes in Xuan Loc suffered suppression. The authorities of Dong Nai Province pronounced the dissolution of all Catholic associations in the Xuan Loc diocese. As a result, beginning in April 1997, conflict between the local authorities and the parishioners ever  intensified. The diocese is a large congregations of Catholics the majority of whom came from North Vietnam after the Geneva Agreements in 1954 and was well-known for anti-Communist action. 

Tension persisted. In August 1997, The State tightened control, fomenting discontent of the local Catholic population. Tension escalated to such an extent that the Politburo had to send to  the diocese of Xuan Loc one of its members, Pham The Duyet, the Head of the Office of People’s Actions. Pham was appointed the politics mediator representing the Politburo to settle the complication between the population and the local administration in the riot in Thai Binh Province previously. Upon his coming to the  diocese of Xuan Loc, he met with Bishop Nguyen Minh Nhat and his coadjutor, Nguyen Van Tran, and some other priests. The meeting between the two parties, according to the local sources, was short and comic. 

At the outset, the friction between the local authorities and the prelacy of Xuan Loc  began with the publication of a brochure entitled “Guidelines for Parochial Activities of the Parish Council” by the diocese of Xuan Loc.  He act was to the t authorities an infringement on the law of the State. The  People’s Council of Dong Nai sent to its subordinate district people’s councils  a circular with remarks and directives on the subject, specifying that the brochure was published without permission and that its contents  were erroneous and were in contradiction with the actual regulations of the State concerning the legal status of the diocese as a social association, in general, and as a religious entity, in particular.  It blamed the bishop of the diocese for reorganizing the diocese in contradiction to the law. The orientations in the brochure were attributed  to as mistakes repeatedly committed, first, by the former bishop of the diocese, Msgr. Lang, who had signed the common letter of 1981, then by personal engagement in the publication of the said 00brochure of Bishop Nguyen Minh Nhat  

    

Substantially, the circular accused the Bishop of Xuan Loc of forming religious organizations which were not qualified for religious ones. These organizations, in reality, are simply religious associations operating in conjunction with and under the supervision of the Church’s clergy in the domain of fraternity such as the Alliance of Sacred Heart, the Legio of Mary, the Association of Heads of Families, the Catholic Mothers, the Eucharist Crusade, and so on. They are simply the religious groups of the Church that operate within the Church and under the supervision of the clergy. The bishop was also blamed for having reshaped the Church's organization, creating milieus of activities for the youth, and placing their supervision of a Church committee chaired by a priest or a lay person. The status of these organizations of new groups had not been prescribed in the organization program for ordinary religious practices. 

      

To adorn what is considered as a serious deviation, the circular of the People’s Council of the province of Dong Nai announced a number of measures. The most important one dictated the dissolution of all movements, organizations, and milieus. The new measures evinced a strong emotion among the Catholic population of the diocese. Discontent was manifest at the meeting between Pham The Duyet and the  Catholics. This member of the Politburo tried to appease the audience’s anger, promising to facilitate a peaceful dialogue between the authorities and the Catholic community. The Catholic side demanded with firmness that the problem in question be solved and the decisions adopted by the local authorities be revoked.

Message from U. S. Catholic Conference of Bishops

Bishop Daniel P. Reilly, Chairman of the U .S. Catholic Conference on Internal Policy, on September 15, 1994, released a statement of the Committee on religious freedom in Vietnam which is as follows:

“On February, third of this year, President Clinton, ended the United States trade embargo against Vietnam, making another milestone in the long and painful journey from the devastation of war  toward greater contact and mutual understanding. As we welcome this change of policy on the part of our government, we wish also to note the areas of our  special concern  with regard to Vietnam, particularly the matter of religious freedom in that country and the still  unsettled fate of thousands of refugees.

         

In our 1989 pastoral statement on relations  between the United States and Vietnam, “A Time for Dialogue and Healing,” we affirmed the solidarity between the Church of Vietnam and that of the U. S., emphasized our concern for  religious liberty, and said “it  is time to move beyond the legacy of war, to begin to respond to the pressing needs of those affected by that war, and to address  better both the problems and possibilities of a new relationship between the American  and Vietnamese peoples”. We renewed the appeal made on December 2, 1975 by the leadership of our Conference and other religious bodies that  the trade embargo be lifted as soon as possible. Now, after nineteen years, a more equitable relationship may be possible, but serious challenges remain.

       

The issues that have governed relations between our two countries over those years have centered largely on the geopolitical role played by Vietnam, chiefly with regard to Cambodia , and the abiding concern of the American people for full accountability of our POWs and MIAs. The Cold War concerns have failed  and most agree that Vietnam has been generally forthcoming on the POW/MIA issue, with prospects for still greater cooperation enhanced now by ending the sanctions.

        

Less attention has been given to the question of the religious rights of the Vietnamese people and specifically to the ability of the Catholic Church to function freely As in several other countries in our time, the Vietnam Communist Party’s control over and hostility to religious belief and practice was exceedingly harsh in the years immediately following the war. By all accounts, the present situation, while less than satisfactory, may represents one improvement over the previous period.

Maryknoll, begun to work in Vietnam and five of the country’s seminaries, with a variety of limitations, were allowed to reopen.

   

"Yet, serious restrictions on religious practices remained intact," a priest who asked anonymity said.."  Our concerns about religious liberty begin with each own family of faith, but they do not end there. Recent crackdowns on religious groups have tended to be directed  most directly at members of the Unified Buddhist Church, and against the evangelical house church movement, and are just as objectionable as the restrictions imposed on the Catholic Church. Government efforts to interfere with the Catholic Church's internal affairs. It is neither the function of the State to approve or withhold approval for candidates to the priesthood, nor to restrict  a bishop’s freedom to name his pastors or transfer priests should clergy be restricted  from traveling freely within his diocese. just to perform his ministry. It is up to the Church to run its own affairs, to nominate bishops, to receive student-priests without government interference. "

The Vatican and Hanoi

At the end of 1990, a Vatican delegation, headed by Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, representing both the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and “Cor Unum,” paid an official visit to Vietnam. In that same year, some 21 of the Vietnamese bishops (most and not all bishops of the conference) were permitted for the first time to make their “ad ilimina” visit to the Holy Father, following   “a dialogue which augurs well for the future has begun,. ,,,” as the Pope said to the bishops in Rome in a meeting.  Talks between the Holy See and the Hanoi continued during the visit to the country of  another Vatican  delegation  led by Msgr. Claudio Celli  of the Holy  Secretariat  of State in early 1992 and again just this year, and a visit by Vietnam officials to the Vatican in 1992. In both instances, the National Conference of Catholic Bishops  of Vietnam presented to the Prime Minister  the restrictions imposed on them  forth and the still-existing problems facing the Church, urging  him to remedy the situation.

   

The Holy See had, just this year, concurrently named  bishop of Hanoi archbishop and appointed several other dignitaries bishops. However, there still remained an unacceptable degree of  government interference in  the  nomination and appointment. The nominee or appointee  must meet certain sine-qua-non requirements established bf the authorities.. As Msgr. Celli said, by reluctantly accepting State decision on the matter, the Church saw  its deprivation of the desire to nominate bishops on its terms" "The international documents on religious liberty affirm that every religion has a right to freely designate its own ministers.” Nevertheless, Hanoi Shows some signs of tolerance. Several of the arrested clergy had been released,, among whom Fr. Dominic Tran Dinh Thu, founder of the Congregation of Mother Co-Redemptrix, and four other priests of the congregation. Some relaxation was felt in humanitarian services. Mother Theresa of the Missionaries of Charity and the Catholic Foreign Mission Society,   

In a two-column article in the magazine “Thirty Days,” published in Rome, in January 1992, Gianni Valette reported news on a visit of a Vatican delegate to Vietnam. It consisted of Mgr. Claudio Celli and Mgr. Nguyen Van Phuong. The two Vatican officials met with Vietnamese high-ranking officials. The meetings were described as "intimate and friendly." However, the Vietnamese Catholic circles were doubtful of such a “smile policy” by the State. They were afraid that it was only a tactic in its strategy to "make peace" with the Vatican while seeking opportunities to ingeniously place docile Catholic priests in important positions in the Roman Catholic clerical hierarchy.  Pursuing this purpose, the State nominated Huynh Cong Minh, the pastor of the Saigon Main Cathedral and former leader of the Association of “Patriotic” Catholics, the representative of the Saigon prelacy. Apparently, Huynh Cong Minh was no longer a member of the Executive Board of the Communist-installed Committee for Solidarity of Catholics whose task was to help the Vietnamese Communist Party and State, to campaign, seeking support from the Catholics to carry out the Party's policy. Huynh Cong Minh, in reality, was then the key decision-maker representing the Party beside the Church's clerical hierarchy. Huynh' s pronouncements in many instances were thought to acts covert intrigue benefiting the authorities. To warn against deviations from priestly duties and performances, in 1992, Cardinal Sodano, Minister Plenipotentiary of the Vatican, sent a letter to the Bishops of Vietnam reminding them of a religious law that prohibits Catholic priests to participate in political organizations and asked them to find ways to withdraw from the State-installed Committee for Solidarity of Catholics.

       Religious Intolerance

Religious practices  in Vietnam is riddled with restrictions. This gives rise to many problems simply because of the State religious intolerance, which is pervasive in  all sectors of life. In an interview with the Vietnamese newspaper Ngay Nay (Today), published in Houston, Texas, during his accompaniment with Pope John Paul II at the Eighth Conference of the World Catholic Youth in Denver, Colorado, August 11-15, 1993, Cardinal Angelo Sodano said that the Vietnamese government needed to translate into reality the basic rights to freedoms:. He stressed that  “ to speak of the rights to freedom in Vietnam is to speak of the basic human rights. The Government of Vietnam is a signatory to international treaties and covenants pledges to  abide by the international clauses on human rights. Thus,  it needs to carry them out. When the Holy Father calls for the rights to freedom, he calls for freedom for every human person, and not only for the Catholics. Let's hope and pray for Vietnam. The Vatican would do to help the Roman Catholic Church of Vietnam to claim back its establishments, cathedrals, schools, and so on, which have come into possession of the Communist administration.  The Vietnamese government already gave signs of greater understanding of the demand for the freedom of the Church. We only demand for freedom of religion. We do not demand these rights for the Catholics but for believers of all religions, for the people of Vietnam. I believe that every community has the rights to religious freedom and religious practices.  The Catholic Church of Vietnam needs to have freedom in organizing seminaries, receiving and forming its priests according to its standards. Sooner or later, these rights should be recognized by the Vietnamese government."

Uneasiness

Uneasiness marked the preparations for the visit to Vietnam by Mugs. Alberto Ablondi during August 11-17, 1994. The prelate was then the Bishop of Livourne, Italy, and President of the Catholic Biblical Federation. It was with these two titles that enabled the bishop to make the visit. The biblical association of which he was the president had  contributed to the publication of the most recent Vietnamese translation of the New Testament. He had been invited to a reception organized for public presentation of the biblical work in Saigon.  On this occasion, he wished to personally meet the seminarians from North Vietnam of the diocese, particularly the two recipients of the scholarship accorded by the faithful of Livourne. At first,, the Embassy of Vietnam in Italy refused to give the prelate an entry visa to Vietnam under the pretext that he was a devotee of "religious propaganda." However, after many negotiations , he was accoded authorization to enter Vietnam. The Vietnamese authorities nevertheless complicated the matter when he arrived in Vietnam. (EDA. November 1, 1994)

      .

     In an interview with the Vatican Radio on his return from Vietnam, the prelate gave his impressions on his visit when replying to a question on the religious situation in Vietnam as follows:

"The religious situation in Vietnam may well be summarized in terms of the celebration in which we participated --a great ceremony that was organized by the archdiocese at the living room in the residence of the archbishop,  with the participation of many personalities, common people, and, especially that "before his arrival, Bible specialists and people who are interested in  Bible . This ceremony of presentation of the new biblical translation had minutes of difficulties: two people could not obtain authorization for participation from the police because they came from abroad. However, a joyous ambiance prevailed creating an event that was manifest in the life of a Church that is capable of expressing the Words of God in a modern language.

 Sources from Vietnam said that Archbishop Nguyen Van Binh had to give the authorities words of guarantee that visit of Bishop's of Livourne would only be a peafowl reunion so that the prelate could obtain permission from the authorities to participate in the ceremony. The personalities "coming from abroad" who could not participate in the ceremony were, in fact, the two pastors of the Evangelical Christian Churches. Mgr. Ablondi himself was not able to visit the seminarians as he had projected.

  The Church in a Cage

Msgr. Claudio Celli, declared, in an interview with Radio Vatican on October 24, 1996, that he "always said- that the Catholic Church of Vietnam is in a cage. The objective of the Holy See is to make every effort to enlarge it. And, the path towards full freedom is still very  long."   The statement by the prelate from the Vatican was attested by  various instances of harassment by the State security Forces, such as the case of  H’mong Catholics (EDA 305).

      Ease of Tension

During the trip to Vietnam of the delegation of the Vatican, June 11-16, 2001, the authorities of Vietnam agreed with the Vatican about the proceedings for  Episcopal nominations, one the diocese of the North, Bui Chu, and two for two the Phan Thiet Diocese and Saigon Diocese in the South.  It was not until  more than one month later, July 14, 2001, that the Vatican could officially publish these nominations. The Reverend Joseph Hoang Van Tiem, a Saleascean priest, was chosen to be the principal bishop of the diocese Bui Chu. The Reverend Paul Nguyen Thanh Hoan, a secular priest and native of Hue, was nominated the coadjutor bishop of the diocese of Phan Thiet, and, the Reverend Vu Duy Thong became the coadjutor bishop of Saigon. The Episcopal ordinations were all officially celebrated.

      

It is noted that the new Bishop of Bui Chu, aged 63, is a native of Nam Dinh in North Vietnam. He came to reside in the South with his family at the time of the exodus to the South  in 1954. He was educated  at the Saleasean institution Granted a diploma from the Institute for Theology of Bethlem in Cisjordanie, he taught moral theology at the Grand Seminary of Da Lat. Since 1995, he had also been invited to give lecture at the grand seminary Saint Joseph of Hanoi. The ceremony during which the bishop was ordained, August 8, 2001, the Cardinal Archbishop of Hanoi Pham Dinh Tung, assisted by the bishops of Thai Binh and Phat Diem, celebrated the nomination ceremony that was described as  particularly solemn. Eighteen bishops, two of whom from Thailand and Taiwan, as well as 300 priests the majority of whom belong to the clergy of South Vietnam participated in it. More than 40,000 adepts assembled on this occasion. The bishop of Lang Son, who was in charge of Homily, offered meditation and prayer at the ceremony. At the end of the ceremony, the new bishop of Bui Chu, in his  address to his assistant celebrants, expressed joy, explicating  the meaning of  the Episcopal motto by and for himself : “All that you wail say, do them!”

    

The diocese of Bui Chu, considered as the cradle of Catholicism in North Vietnam, remained without a titular bishop after the death of the preceding bishop, Msgr. Vu Duy Nhat, on December 11, 1999. It sheltered 362,000 adepts distributed in 129 parishes. There were 51 priests, 432 nuns and 3602 Bible instructors.  The new bishop of Phan Thiet, Msgr. Nguyen Thanh Hoan is a native of Nghe An in Central Vietnam. Aged 69, he was ordained priest in 1965. His first pastoral experiences took place in the region of Dong Ha where he created and directed an orphanage, a charge he continued to assume his role when the hazards of war occurred, in 1972. He and his faithful had to move f Ham Tan where he was nominated bishop.

Ordained by Msgr. Huynh Van Nghi, the principal bishop of Phan Thiet, on August 11, 2001, in a cathedral which is too small to hold the ensemble of assistants, the new bishop Nguyen Thanh Hoan confided to the Vietnamese press that it was his directional ideas that helped animate his performance. His Episcopal motto was: “The Gospel for the Poor,”  which to him really represents the essential` goals of his program. Before his nomination, the prelate had been well known for his social activities. Since 1994, he had engaged in the social work in favor of the poor, allowing them to raise cattle or recycle paper. Attending to the youths, he helped them to elevate their education. He even helped them to pursue higher education. Msgr. Nguyen Thanh Hoan thought that one could separate propagation from the service to the poor and that the diocese of Phan Thiet is a place particularly adapted to this task. 

   

The new auxiliary bishop of Saigon, Msgr. Vu Duy Thong, aged 49, was the youngest of the three new bishops. He was born in North Vietnam, in the province of Thai Binh. After his education at the secondary seminary of Long Xuyen, he entered the grand seminary of Saigon in 1975, at the time of change of regime. Because of economic difficulties and in the absence of courses at the grand seminary during long periods, the young seminarian practiced diverse occupations to make his living. He worked as a peasant for a year at the agricultural yard of Cu Chi, as a labor at a factory of tires of bicycles, or a worker at  clothes-making shop. In 1985, he was again called to sacerdotal vocation. He was responsible for a workshop at Hoc Mon. During seven years, he devoted his sacerdotal ministry in the parish of Bach Dang and fulfilled the functions of assistant professor at Saigon Grand Seminary. From 1992 to 1998, he studied in Paris and obtained a Master’s degree in theology. Upon his return, he resumed teaching at Saigon Grand Seminary.   

The Nomination

As regards the hierarchical rank of “hoa thuong’ with respect to Buddhism or cardinal and bishop with respect to Catholicism and corresponding ranks in other religions, approval for promotion of the Council of Ministers is necessary (Article 18). Priests or religious devotees, ordained or nominated by overseas religious organizations all have to be granted approval  by the Council of Ministers.  The Roman Catholic Church, in particular, ever met difficulties in the domain of  nomination.  Nomination of high dignitaries to the prelacy by the Vatican was thus complicated by decisions  and law orders, creating  a serious  problem to  ten Roman Catholic Church of Vietnam.

 The Reverend Chan Tin voiced dissent in an interview with the Radio VNCR, January 28, 1998, contending that the Communist State infringed on the rights as citizen of the Vietnamese Catholics and committed serious religious violations against the Roman Catholic Church of Vietnam. The State imposed restrictions with rules and restrictions regulating on the religious life and intervened in the Church’s internal affairs. It negated the Vatican’s nomination of Bishop Nguyen Van Thuan to be Coadjutor Archbishop of Saigon Diocese. Worse still, it eliminated the bishop from the Saigon prelacy. The dignitary was charged with false crimes for treason -a - blood debtor to the people. He was arrested and  imprisoned without a trial for 13 years. in prison. Such an hostile act to a high dignitary of the Church not only constituted  offense against the constitutional law but also a violation on the right to religious worship  and an infringement of religious freedom .

     

The Difficulties

After April 1975, the Episcopal leadership was in crisis.  Highest dignitaries in the South were either arrested and imprisoned or placed under residence.  In the North, the body of bishops thinned out after decades of  persecution. In 1980, the year of the establishment of the Episcopal Conference, there were thirty-one bishops for forty-two dioceses. Many bishops were  very old. Only two coadjutor bishops were nominated, four dioceses had no titular bishops, and many Episcopal sieges were vacant. The siege at Phu Cuong, Bui Chu Diocese, had been vacant since February 1995. No bishop had been nominated for Hung Hoa Diocese to replace Bishop Nguyen Phung Hieu who had passed away.

In the South, the diocese of Saigon had been without a titular bishop for a long time. The apostolic administrator Bishop Huynh Van Nghi of the Phan Thiet diocese could not fulfill his functions in an official manner. The civil authorities had not recognized his nomination by the Vatican.  It was not until March 9, 1988, five years of delaying of the approval of the State that Bishop Jean-Baptiste Pham Minh Man could be nominated archbishop of Saigon. The nomination had strained the efforts to normalize the Church ' s religious life, causing discord between the Vatican  and the Communist administration. Tension, in fact, began after the fall of South Vietnam with the negation of the Vatican nomination of Bishop Nguyen Van Thuan to the post of coadjutor archbishop of Saigo Diocesen. It was flatly denied by the civil authorities who not only sent the nominee out of the city but also inflicted on him 13 years in prison and house arrest. For the diocese of Hue where the Episcopal siege was also vacant, the situation was not much less complicated since the apostolic administrator, Bishop Nguyen Nhu The, who was recognized as titular prelate by the civil authorities, could only perform his duties under watch, however.

Elsewhere in the country, the situation remained entangled in difficulties. At the Episcopal ordination of the coadjutor bishop in Nha Trang, Cardinal Pham Dinh Tung, the Archbishop of Hanoi, maintained that amid the renovation of the country the urgent need for rejuvenation of the Roman Catholic Church of Vietnam as well as the upgrading the standard of competence of the episcopate, the clergy, and laity are still a must. The Vietnamese society is undergoing a radical transformation, and the Church can only respond to it by renovating and rejuvenating itself. “It is now the time the Church of Vietnam should be suitably equipped with a new contingent of bishops capable of assuming their role to meet the challenges  in the coming millennium.” He also hoped  for “the advent of a competent, generous, clear-sighted, and united clergy to work in collaboration with a laity that is well-formed and firm in faith”  The appeal of the cardinal was possibly addressed in part to the  authorities. The Episcopal nomination in Vietnam, in any case, must necessarily be approved on good will  by the civil authorities. The call fell to the deaf ears however. The delays of nomination for the two new coadjutor bishops, the prospective  bishop Nguyen Thich for Ban Me Thuot Diocese, andthe prospective bishop Nguyen Van Nho for Nha Trang Diocese, were the cases in evidence. 

Sources reported that since the nomination of Msgr. Pham Dinh Tung to be the head of the Hanoi prelacy, the relations between the civil authorities and the ecclesiastic members in the Saigon diocese became much more uneasy than it had been. Likewise, the nomination of Msgr. Huynh Van Nghi to the apostolic administrator of the Saigon prelacy presented a typically thorny problem,  causing severe damage to the relations between the State and  Church. In September 1993, the State showed its open opposition to the Vatican's nomination of an apostolic administrator for the Saigon prelacy. It openly downgraded the prestige of the clergy of Saigon that unanimously supported the Vatican's nomination and, mostly, that of the bishop concerned, Msgr. Huynh Van Nghi, who was performing with caution  his functions of Coadjutor Administrator instituted by the Vatican. Additionally, it seemed to ignore the demands of the Episcopal Conference of Vietnam. In fact, in a petition sent to the prime minister, the Episcopal Conference had reminded the “the government of "the rights to freedoms which the Church deserves to exercise and which are ignored by the government."  The Ho Chi Minh City People's Council had even shown its disapproval to the proposal of the Vatican. The negotiations between the city authorities and the Saigon prelacy became increasingly worsened. The apostolic administrator was obstructed from performing his functions. The apostolic authorities at the Vatican might have plighted to restore Msgr. Nguyen Van Binh, whose health had been ameliorated, to his old position. A proposal announced in April 1994 presaged the nomination of  Msgr. Huynh Van Nghi to be Bishop Coadjutor of Apostolic Administrator of the Saigon diocese. His nomination, which took place on August 11, 1993, seemed to have caused dissatisfaction among the civil authorities of the city. The reaction was revealed in the City authorities’ hostile attitude. which was sonorously reflected in the letter of communion of September 15, 1993, in which the People's Council of Ho Chi Minh City categorically disapproved the nomination of the Vatican.  (Eglise d'Asie, October 1, 19994).   

    

Bishop Huynh Van Nghi, the apostolic administrator of the Saigon diocese, who had been nominated to the post by the Vatican since August 1993, was obstinately denied approval by the authorities. As a result, on September 6, 1997,  he could not preside over the sacerdotal ordination of 7 priests that took place in the church of ND on Ky Dong Street, Saigon. The police warned him that his participation in the celebration or even his presence at the event would cause its immediate intervention. On October 7, 1993, he planned to organize an ordination for a group of 11 priests in Saigon. The civil authorities, again, denied the authorization to perform the services, arguing that the bishop, who had been not recognized by the State as coadjutor administrator of the Saigon diocese, would not be allowed to preside over the ceremony.  

In addition, the government still held the decision to appoint Bishop Huynh Van Nghi to the Saigon prelacy to replace the ailing Archbishop Nguyen Van Binh. A Catholic priest who asked anonyrmity said that the Party voluntarily troubled itself with  the ”religion of the Lord in Heaven.” The nomination of Msgr. Huynh Van Nghi to be Bishop Coadjutor at Saigon Diocese of the Vatican was not the sole object of disapproval. Tension grew as the authorities had already put the blame on the conduct of affairs of Msgr. Huynh Van Nghi, who, in their eyes, did not qualify for the post. Premier Vo Van Kiet  in his remarks confirmed this during an interview with the monthly magazine Cong Giao va Dan Toc (Catholicism and the Nation) on February 27, 1994. This was the reason for which  the civil  authorities of the city disapproved of Msgr. Huynh Van Nghi's conduct of affairs at the archdiocese.

   

 Msgr. Huynh Van Nghi, in an interview with a correspondent of the journal “La Croix en Asie et du Sud Est,” explained that there was  a reason behind the conflict between him and the civil authorities. This resulted from  the difficulties in his conduct of religious affairs with the authorities of the city of Saigon. The prelate particularly complicated the matter, relying on the blame the administration had mounted on him . He was accused of  trying to exclude "the Committee for Solidarity of Catholics" from the Saigon prelacy. The accusation was unfounded since the bishop only committed himself to the Church’s services.  He had been nevertheless obstructed from performing his duties in the diocese of which he had been in charge and where he had been officially nominated to perform his services. His duty was to obey once he had been nominated to the posit.

In its issue of October 1994, the bulletin of information of the Vietnamese Communist Party published a report on the political situation in the country. Among other issues, it stressed the intricate situation that entangled the relationship between Hanoi and the Vatican, imputing the blame to the Holy See for complicating the matter in the nomination to the highest prelate of Saigon Diocese. “The Vatican has striven to install Bishop Huynh Van Nghi in replacement of Archbishop Nguyen Van Binh and continues to obstruct priests and bishops from participating in political activities.” The allegation was an allusion to the letter of Cardinal Sodano to the president of the Episcopal Conference of Vietnam to help bring under protection the Vietnamese priests against political attempts of the Committee Of Union of Patriotic Catholics or political organs of similar type.

The deplorable situation of human rights in Vietnam became the center of attention of rights organizations worldwide. Australia, in particular, showed particular concern. A parliamentary delegation made a visit tour to Vietnam after the visit of Vietnam Foreign Affairs Minister Nguyen Manh Cam to Australia in February 1995. The delegation led by the Honorable Gareth Evans came to Vietnam to inquest the situation, which action had been accepted in principle by Vietnam Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet during his visit to Australia in May 1993. The Honorable Gareth Evans in an interview on the radio on February 7, 1995, declared that whereas the economic reforms inspired confidence and were even attractive abroad, a long way remained to go in matters of respect for political and civil rights.

The issue of religious freedom remained the subject of hostility. Vu Quang, Director of the Bureau of Religious Affairs, did not hide his uneasiness on the first day of meeting of the Conference of Catholic Bishops during September 5-12, 1994 after its Standing Committee had presented programs of activities. The presentation of the Conference was part of the proposal that the bishops had addressed to the government in 1993. It was a three-point proposal, including such matters as confirming the nomination of Msgr. Nguyen Van Thuan, who was then in Rome, restoring the position of Msgr. Nguyen Van Binh to his functions as Principal Bishop of the Saigon diocese, and nominating the Bishop of Phan Thiet to be Bishop Coadjutor at the Saigon prelacy. An agreement seemed to be far from taking shape. However, the government and the Church agreed to arrive at a decision within the several months to come. Nevertheless, until  November 1996, both the Vatican and Hanoi had not reached an agreement. The Vietnamese State refused to accept the nomination of Msgr. Huynh Van Nghi to the prelacy of Saigon Diocese but was ready to accept the nomination of any other bishop (Muc Vu (Ministry), No. 152, November 1996).

    

In his meeting with Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet, Msgr. Nguyen Minh Nhat, President of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Vietnam, expressed his "satisfaction to see the doors more largely opened" with regard to "unity and promotion of democracy."  In his meeting with Party Secretary-general Do Muoi, Msgr. Nguyen Minh Nhat also reminded the Party leader of his speech at the Congress of the Fatherland Front whereby "it is necessary not to intervene in the internal affairs of the religions." No action had practical  been taken since then.

Msgr. Nguyen Van Sang, Bishop of Thai Binh, evoked two major obstacles that faced the clergy of his diocese. One of them was the transfer of priests. In 1993, in a petition sent to the prime minister, the National Conference of Bishops requested the rights to appointment of bishops and to transfer of diocesan priests from one parish to another within a diocese. In his reply, the prime minister said he considered that "the appointment and transfer of  posts of priests in the diocese are determined by the exigencies of the work in the diocese." In a way, the appointment of a priest is conditional on certain specified criteria. The Bishop of Thai Binh remarked that “it is still uneasy to arrive at an accord between the government and the diocese on this issue. The prelate stressed that "disagreement took place at all levels, between the province authorities and the diocesan clergy and the local authorities and the diocesan clergy. This State’s conduct of affairs impedes the priest’s from performing his religious duty and disables the religious life of the diocese. obstructing the equitable services of 31 priests in 64 parishes of the diocese with total faithful of 120,000."

The problem of nomination became an issue at the arrival of a Vatican delegation in the capital (EDA 338. There were still no response to the proposals for the three auxiliary bishops at Bui Chu, Phan Thiet, and Saigon   On June 11, 2001, while conducting negotiations with the Vietnamese Communist government, the Secretary of the Episcopal Conference, Mugs. Nguyen Son Lam, in an interview accorded to “Radio France Internationale,” drew up a broad picture of the situation of the Roman Catholic Church  of Vietnam.  The prelate presented a certain number of problems that he thought to be appropriate at the moment.   In the first place, he evoked the problem of nomination of bishops. This was the principal object of discussion between the representatives of the Holy Siege and Hanoi, Msgr. Celestine Migliore, of the Secretariat of State at the Vatican and Msgr. Nguyen Van Phuong of the Congregation for the Bible Propagation, on one side, and the officials of the State Bureau of Religious Affairs, on the other. The Vatican delegation had made proposals but  had  received no answer from the Communist government. The delegates of the Vatican, on their part, had received no clear answers on many of these proposals.

 Msgr. Nguyen Son Lam himself had expected positive answers concerning the nominations of certain prospective bishops that had been approved by the authorities, especially, the nominations for the auxiliary bishop for  Saigon and the coadjutor bishop for the diocese of Phan Thiet in the Central Vietnam. As a matter of sine-qua-non principle, the decision should be agreed upon by the Vietnamese Communist government. The situation in these two dioceses presented separate difficulties.  The Vatican desired to see Msgr. Nguyen Van Hoa, the bishop of Nha Trang, occupy the post of coadjutor cardinal of Saigon Diocese because the cardinal in charge was then aged and weak. The Prime Minister, on the other side, opposed to this nomination, and, to clarify the situation the cardinal in charge had  to  testify,  expressing his opinions in writing. Again, no practical decisions were made, and the Episcopal Conference had to wait and see  (EDA 319).

The Formation of Priests

     

 

The number of candidates to priesthood was conditional on rules and regulations by the State authorities. Only ten students in each diocese were admitted to a seminary every two years. These conditions and others eventually hindered religious services and the performance of religious duties by lack of priests.  Impediments to formation of priests, therefore, created serious problems to the Church.  In the North, religious education was banned before the Vietnam War (1955-1975). The penury of priests in the North after decades of persistent repression during the Vietnam War was critical. Beginning in 1988, seven dioceses in the North could send prospective seminarians to Hanoi for religious education. For 5 years (1988-1992), the number of candidates still remained very low. Only a hundred students were admitted to the grand seminary. When the grand seminary of Hanoi reopened, it could only operate one class every two years. Worse still, it could only receive from each of seven dioceses 10 students every academic term. Of 100 candidates that were officially recommended by the local authorities, a diocese could only receive about ten due to such factors considered as "unfavorable" social and political backgrounds. by the authorities.

 

In the South, after the fall of the Republic of Vietnam on April 30, 1975, the Communist regime closed down the inter-diocesan seminaries in Saigon and Vinh Long. Seminarians were to return to their local dioceses. In the 1980’s, only six seminaries were permitted to reopen but were subject to strict State rules and regulations. For example, a new education term could only begin every six years, and only fifty seminarians could be admitted each new term.  The rules and regulations vacillated between permission and withdrawal of permission from the authorities. No sooner had a measure been put into effect than another one nullified it.

    

The seminaries in Da Lat,  Phan Thiet, Xuan Loc, Saigon, My Tho, and Can Tho were authorized to reopen, but  operated conditionally on restrictions. The requirements to be met were: 1) A new scholastic term will only  begin every other three years; 2) The  appointment of a member of the Church to the teaching staff must be approved by the State. Each teaching staff comprises six professors with one of whom must be state-designated; 3) Applicants to the seminary are required to have good social and political records and are to be recommended by the local authorities; and 4) Programs of education must be submitted to and approved by the State.

   

Under these conditions, the Church unavoidably faces a severe shortage of priests. Given that 50 applicants admitted every other three years for a six-year scholastic term, only 10 out of the 50 seminarians are expected to become priests each term. Reality shows that the majority of young seminarians generally wilt  not be able to overcome trials of an ascetic life of priesthood and abandon vocation to the priesthood halfway. Besides, the number of old and retired priests increases every year. Worse still, those priests who returned from the reeducation camps are forbidden to resume to perform priestly duties and forced to return to their families. This situation poses a serious problem to the Church.  The shortage of priests will lead to an erosion of the clerical body of the Church,  adding weight on its ministry throughout the country.

 

From 1986 to 1988, six seminaries in Da Lat, Phan Thiet, Xuan Loc, Saigon, My Tho, and Can Tho were authorized to reopen, but the conditions were still rigorous. They were to meet such requirements as: 1) A new scholastic term will begin every other three years. 2) The requirements for seminary professors must be approved by the State. There will be six professors at most, and one of them must be State-assigned. 3) Applicants for these institutions are required to have good social and political background and their nomination must be approved by the local authorities, and 4) The programs of education must be submitted to and approved by the State.

     

Candidates to the priesthood are subject to verification of identity. The center of sacerdotal training has to clarify the social and political background of the student. The State-affiliated National Assembly deputy Phan Khac Tu complained at the eleventh assembly (1997) that young men and women in the country who want to become priests or nuns actually face strict restrictions simply because they are not accorded permits of permanent residents in the city. Numerous requirements affect the recruit of the candidates. The restriction on the number of candidates to seminaries or nunneries create difficulties to the formation of priests.

   

Given that 50 applicants were admitted to a grand seminary every other three years for a six-year scholastic term, only 10 out of 50 seminarians are expected to become priests each term. This remark, which is based on fact and realty, shows that the majority of young seminarians generally will not ably overcome the trials of the ascetic life of priesthood. In addition, old and ailing priests are due for retirement, and priests who returned from the reeducation camps are forced to return home, thus reducing the number of priests on duty and adding weight on the extreme shortage of priests throughout the country.

 

In late March 1993, the chairman of the State Committee for Religions Affairs Vu Quang in a circular  informed the  Church of the government’s new religious policy.  The law-order specifically stated that  “ There will be solutions to the current issue of religion. The government will be ready to allow a number of Catholic priests to go and study religious subjects overseas. Those priests who return from reeducation will be allowed to resume their priesthood if their conduct proves to be appropriate. Seminaries who are legally accredited by the government will be allowed to function whether they are in the South or the North.” Nevertheless, these problems remained unsolved, unavoidably discrediting  the government new policy. Only a small number of priests were allowed to go and study in Paris, France.  Quite a few priests who returned from “reeducation” were not permitted to perform  pastoral services. In Dong Soai Parish, Saigon, where the State priest Phan Phac Tu was the pastor, as a case in evidence, several priests of this category could only do their duty “in hiding” under the pastor’s “umbrella.”

 

Under the new rules and regulations, the candidates to the priesthood were subject to rigorous requirements. Over the years, only 10 candidates of each diocese were admitted to a seminary every two years. These conditions and other difficulties eventually hindered the Church religious education and ministry. Msgr. Nguyen Son Lam, Secretary of the Episcopal Conference, brought up the question of religious formation before the general assembly of bishops. At the Episcopal Conference of Vietnam (2001, the dignitary hoped that the term fixed for the recruit of the seminarians should renew every two years, and the limited number of candidates imposed by the State should be abolished.

 

 A diocese like Thanh Hoa of which Msgr. Nguyen Son Lam was in charge, only had the right to receive 12 candidates every two years. Nonetheless,  the local authorities unilaterally interfered in the Church's internal affairs, exercising  control on it, fixing the number the number of the candidates.  Only 8 of them were authorized to accede to the candidacy. The Episcopal Conference also  wished to see more seminaries to be instituted o the candidacy. Two new institutions should be instituted as annexed seminaries functioning within the grand seminaries of Saigon and Hanoi. One annexed seminary should be established at Xuan Loc, in the South, and another one, in the diocese of Thai Binh, in the North. However, difficulties arising from overt disagreement between the central and regional authorities, negating the bishops’ wishes. Until 2001, there was no response from the authorities.  (EDA 323. Visit of the Vatican to Vietnam (June 11, 2001).

 

The  Ordination

 

The Decree 69/HDBT of March 21, 1991 stipulates that the ordination of priests of diverse religions has to be approved by the authorities concerned of the provincial people’s council. For two decades, the  Church's obsolete clergy diminished incontestably. In spate instances, priests had to be ordained "in hiding," as was the case of Fr. Pham Van Lois of Hue Diocese.

Worse still, old seminarians had to wait for years to be ordained. The case of the diocese of Kontum in the Central Highlands is an example. On August 25, 1998, Bishop Pierre Tran Thanh Chung was allowed to confer ordination on the prospective priest Joseph Tran Ngoc Tan, who had been waiting for 23 years to receive ordination due to delay of authorization  from the civil administration. The preceding ordination in this diocese took place in 1992.  It was also the case of Fr. Nguyen Quang Vinh, who was the first priest in the diocese to be ordained with State authorization. He was then 45 years old. He had begun his theological studies at the pontifical seminary of Da Lat before the Communist takeover of South Vietnam in April 1975.   

 

In the North, after more than forty years of interruption, a cleric was ordained priest in the monastery Chau Son of the diocese Phat Diem. Everyone agrees to qualify the recent ordination of Father Bui Van Hung, a cleric, as an historic event. A celebration presided over by the Cardinal Joseph Pham Dinh Tung took place on July 2, 2001. at the abbey of Chau Son in the diocese of Phat Diem, Ninh Binh, North Vietnam. In effect, not only did this celebration, which was a discreet-mark of the beginning of revival of a monastery whose life had been  perturbed since 1954, but also and above all,  the rebirth of the religious life in North Vietnam. Fr. Bui Van Hung was the first cleric ordained priest in North Vietnam since the political partition of Vietnam in 1954. Fr. P. Antoine Doan Minh Hai who served the parish nearest to the monastery confided that this ordination was, for him, the sign of gleam of hope that shined again on the religious community after so many years of adversity.

The Difficulties

The Shortage of priests

Violations of religious freedom are evident. The Council of Ministers, at the national level and the local administrative authorities and party members, at the lower levels are empowered with legal authority to control the citizen’s secular and religious life. For instance, the most serious problem facing the Catholic Church is the shortage of priests.  Young Catholics are not only discouraged to enter the priesthood but also are bound to meet strict requirements, rules, and regulations  if they wish to serve their Catholic faith as a priest.

   A case in Evidence

Phan Van Loi was born on March 9, 1941 in Huong Tra, Thua Thien Province (Central Vietnam). He was admitted to the Little Seminary Hoan Thien, Hue, in 1961 then to the Grand Seminary Xuan Bich, Hue, in 1969. In May, 1978,  Phan Van Loi was dismissed from the priesthood and ordered to leave the Grand Seminary on ungrounded reason by the Communist administration in Hue. However, Phan was determined in his decision firm to continue to serve his religious faith as a priest. He was ordained without State authorization, that is “in hiding,” by Bishop F. X. Nguyen Van Thuan at Giang Xa, Son Tay (North Vietnam) on May 21, 1981. He was arrested and imprisoned by the Communist administration on October 21, 1981 for "unusual" religious  practices  He was sentenced to 4 years in prison and incarcerated in Dong Son Camp, Dong Hoi, Quang Binh Province. 

The reason for his arrest originated from his involvement in a play entitled “Let’s Offer Mother Mary Our Children”  on the “Day of Student Priests.” The play, which is based on a true story, relates he pilgrimage to La Vang Holy Cathedral on August 14, 1981 of a Catholic couple in Phu Cam, Hue. They earnestly prayed for the Holy Mother of La Vang and God’s divine favor, in their belief in God that their child would successfully enter the priesthood and successfully lead a priestly life. They were stopped and interrogated at a police checkpoint at My Chanh. Catholic nuns in a vehicle met the same difficulty. By kneeling down on the roadside to pray God for favor they were finally allowed to go.

The players were mostly seminarians. For unspecified reasons, they were all arrested and brought to stand trial before the Court. The Communist administration later discovered that Phan Van Loi, one among the convicts, had been ordained “in hiding.”  Phan  was  separated from the other convicts and transferred to another prison in Binh Dien, Thua Thien Province. He was imprisoned for three additional years. After his release from the prison, he was placed under house arrest  at 90/13  Phan Cu Trinh Street Hue, from October 1988. In the beginning of the ministerial year 1996, he served as  editor-in-chief of the “Ban Duong” (The Companion), selection of articles reflecting his meditations on the needs of the Children of God.  On April 21, 1998, he was convoked “to work with” the security service as a result of the publication of “Ban Duong.” His printed materials of a photocopy type and computer were confiscated.

        

The approximate version of the report by the priest on the “session of work” at the police headquarters  is as follows:

“[I said to the interrogator] Yesterday you came to my residence. You ransacked it unmannerly. You found no evidence whatsoever. You got improperly angry and seized a number of written religious  materials the possession of which, in your views, is in violation of the law, and thus is considered as illegal. Any Catholic priest is  naturally in possession of these photocopied religious materials like this. If you ransack any Catholic priest’s dwelling all over the world, or any place of residence of the Catholic priests in Hue Diocese, you will find the materials of this kind. I would then consider that you have enforced the law unlawfully. Those books are not on the black list. I bought them here and there. Naturally, Books of this kind are published without State authorization.  Control on religious publication is strict. But, they are sold in the street Why do you arrest those people who sell them and ransack the houses of those people who buy them, instead? Is it right to cause harm to a honest man --a priest-- to admonish other priests in Hue. You abuse authority to do this while our Bishop is absent from Hue. It is evident that it is an act of repression against religion.    

[The interrogator said]: We will carefully read the books we confiscate one by one to examine their contents and their techniques of printing then settle the matter. Any book that violates either one of these criteria will be held back. However, the main problem to solve  is that you have to admit that you have distributed the “Tin Nha” (News from Home) to Catholic priests in Hue.

      

[I replied]: I have already reported to you on this matter. We need not talk more about it. You should bring in witness for confrontation. That will settle the matter.

At this point, the interrogator changed his tone. giving a lecture on  moral conduct and principles of honor of a priest. Playing the role of a counselor, he explained to a priest  how to perform self-examination in the interests of the Church's service and individual life in the future. He advised me to legalize my status as priest to better serve my Catholic faith. The lecture is sometimes coupled with warning, threat, and insult with a tone of superiority “dare to do things but dare not admit  doing them” and “do things of which  the Church is really ashamed.” 

       

[I ] sat reading prayers [I then said]: “For a long time, I have preached about faith to people. Today, I listen to you  doing the preaching. Thank you.

       

They produced a whole pile of printed materials with this remark on the cover sheet “Report on the Violations of the Conduct of  Public Administration.” As they prepared to list the items they intended to confiscate in the report, I :verbally reacted::  “I protest the way you conduct public affairs. You do as you please, regardless of l due legal procedures. You can only draw up minutes and execute a temporary seizure of “evidences,” if you like. While paper is already at hand, list the items on it.” 

When one cadre of the Culture Department  prepared to draw up minutes, another one showed me a small sheet of paper with the printed word “SEALED”  and this line: “the offender signed” on it.  I protested: “Should I sign this paper, I would voluntarily avow that I have committed a crime, and you will use this as proof to arrest me in the future? I demand that you correct that line. “All right. Correct it yourself,” they replied. I crossed out  the line and wrote: “The proprietor signed.”

Phan Van Loi was arrested without a proof thereafter. (Tin Nha, No. 34, July, 1998).

     The Shortage of Priests in the South

Harassment of this type was common practice, discouraging the Catholic youth to enter the priesthood.  In the parishes in Saigon, where international organizations and agencies have their ears to the ground, the ratio of priests to the faithful was exceptionally low, with only one or two priests for about 7,000 followers. There were 5 priests for 95,000 followers in the Phan Thiet diocese. The shortage 0f priests was also critical in the provinces of the Center. In the diocese of Nha Trang where the Catholic faithful  numbered about 150,000 out of the population of 1.4 million inhabitants. The entire diocese had only 117 priests for this huge faithful. The diocese of Ban Me Thuot in the Central Highlands had only 56 priests for 185,000  followers.  The State tightened control on the Church. The State-created “Patriotic Catholics Committees” was vested with authority to direct the Church functioned alongside the Church’s clergy in the parishes. Methods of  administration and political measures as such, within twenty years, had decreased the number of the Church’s  Orders and priests to an alarming rate.

     The Shortage of Priests in the North

In the North, the shortage of priests became increasingly critical. In many parishes, there were no priests at all. In the Bac Ninh diocese, there were two bishops and one priest for 120,000 followers. In the Lang Son diocese, there was only one priest for 5,000 followers in a region of 25,000 km2. The priest was the Reverend Hoang Trong Quynh, who was then  over 70 years old. Bishop Vincent de Paul Pham Van Du was also very old. He was ordained in 1948. He became the bishop of the diocese in 1960 and had been in office there ever since. In 1990.  after 36 years  under the Socialist regime, the number of Catholic priests deteriorated immensely. There were only 7 priests for the faithful of 145, 000 in the Haiphong diocese. There were 2 bishops and 1 priest for 72,000 followers in the Bac Ninh diocese. By 1993, the total number of priests in the North was about 277 including 30 priests who were ordained “in hiding. In the Hanoi diocese, there were 16 priests 7 of whom were over sixty years old for the faithful of 150,000. In the Phat Diem Diocese, there were 23 priests for the faithful of 125,000. In the Bui Chu Diocese, there were 27 priests and 27 “illegally-ordained” priests for 300,000 followers. In many parishes, there were no priests at all. In the diocese of Lang Son, there was 1 priest, who was 93 years old (1998) for approximately 5,000 followers.

The total number of priests throughout the North  decreased alarmingly the following years. There were  about 277, including 30 priests who had been ordained “chui” (in hiding). It was much less than the number of priests in Saigon Archdiocese, where 300 priests served their faith. In  Hanoi Diocese, there were only 16 priests, 7 of whom were over 60 years of age, who were in charge of 150,000 faithful. In the Bac Ninh Diocese, there were 5 priests and 12 nuns for the  service of 100,000 faithful in 46 parishes. In  Phat Diem Diocese, there were only 23 priests for the 125,000 faithful.  In Bui Chu Diocese, there were 27 priests and 27 "illegally ordained" priests for 300,000 followers. The Communists expect that, in 15 to 20 years when the older priests will have died, the faithful will become leaderless and the Church will disintegrate by itself.  (The Committee for the Struggle for Religious Freedom in Vietnam, 1993: 11-12).

     

The shortage of priests in Thai Binh Diocese, which comprises Thai Binh  and Hung Yen provinces, was most critical. In March 1996, Bishop Nguyen Van Sang  could ordain only 4 new priests, raising the number of priests of the diocese to 35 for 140,000 followers. Many priests had to take charge of  two parishes. Since its foundation in 1936, the ecclesiastic personnel had never been obsolete. According the statistics established in 1938, the diocese was administered by 1 bishop, 25 priests, 333 Bible instructors, and 12 brothers for 120,000 followers.  The Bishop indicated that restrictions on the formation of priests instituted an obstacle. A large number of seminarians of the diocese had to wait for decades to be admitted to the seminary. Some seminarians  became old, 50 or even 60 years of age. Politics was all that matters. The Church  performed its sacerdotal services with a small number of priests.  “The Office of Religious Affairs disfavors the candidacy to the priesthood of people of old age. Young candidates devoted to the sacerdotal life are numerous, but the number of those who are permitted is limited. Only 14 students from Thai Binh Diocese are admitted to the candidacy.”