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.”