RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION IN THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM (1954-1975)

                                         

　

THE LAWS

 

In the wake of the takeover of North Vietnam (1954), the administration applied again the methods it had learned from other Communist countries, frustrating the effects of the religions and negating their role in the people's life. On July 22, 1954, prior to the withdrawal of the French Expeditionary Corps from North Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh called upon the Vietnamese, regardless of social status, religious belief, and political opinion and all parties irrespective of political tendencies to which they belonged to cooperate with him to work for the Fatherland and struggle for peace, national unity, independence, and democracy. In his 1954 Christmas message to his fellow countrymen of the Catholic Church, he promised that "the Government sincerely respects freedom of religion. As regards deceived Catholics who have gone to the South, the government has issued instructions to the local administration to take under its custody their rice fields, gardens, and other properties and to restore these to them on their return."

On June 14, 1955, before the land reforms resumed, Ho Chi Minh promulgated the decree 234/SL on the protection of freedom of conscience and worship. Among other things, the law stipulates that "... the government shall guarantee the freedom of conscience and freedom of worship of the people. Nobody is allowed to. infringe these freedoms. Every Vietnamese citizen shall have the right to practice a religion or not to practice any (Article 1)," that "In the process of land reform, a part of the land property owned by religious groups which was requisitioned by the Government, either with or without reparations for distribution to peasants, shall be left to the church, pagoda or sanctum concerned with a large enough area to ensure the performance of worship and to provide for living conditions of priests and religious dignitaries in order for them to carry out their religious activities. The size of such allotment is to be determined by peasants in the locality in which such church, pagoda, or sanctum is situated. In rural areas during land distribution, church and pagoda servants are entitled to receive their lots as any other working peasant (Article 10)," and that "the authorities at province level shall not interfere in the domestic affairs of the various religions (Article 13). Freedom of conscience and freedom of worship are the rights of the people. The authorities of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam always respect these rights and help the people in the practice of these rights (Article 15).

Ideological Premises

The official daily Nhan Dan (The People), on July 4, 1955, ran a long article praising the new religious policy of the Vietnamese Workers' Party, saying,

 

" ... the respect for and guarantee of freedom of religion has always been a consistent policy of the Workers’ Party of Vietnam and the Government of Democratic Republic of Vietnam. The Workers' Party is a Marxist-Leninist Party, professing dialectical materialism, which is founded on the scientific analysis of the laws of nature and society. It does not admit the existence of divinities, and it has always propagated its socialism and encouraged patriotism. But, at the same time, on the basis of the Marxist-Leninist outlook, the Party recognizes that religion is a social objective phenomenon, and its appearance, development, or disappearance have deep economic and social origins and are not dependent upon the subjective will of any group of individuals.

 

The Party always recognizes that religion is a matter of freedom of creed and freedom of opinion for the people, which neither force nor coercion can infringe or suppress. The Party entertains unqualified confidence in the scientific accuracy of Marxism - Leninism, but it also admits that such belief must be self-imposed and freely accepted and cannot be forced upon anyone. The Workers’ Party of Vietnam advocates unity with any patriotic Vietnamese, regardless of political tendencies, race, or religion, in the struggle for a peaceful, united, independent, and democratic Fatherland. Historical facts have shown that communists and followers of other political doctrines and believers of different religions may and have come together in a united National Front. This Front is, at present, expanding and being further consolidated. Respect for freedom of religion and the unity policy of the Workers’ Party of Vietnam is a sincere and long-term policy.

The Party’s Declaration has made it clear: "Believers of all religions must have the right to freedom of conscience." Ever since its foundation, the Party has always stuck to this policy. Respect and guarantee of freedom of religion has been also a major policy of the Government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. It is the reflection of the feature of the people’s power, which always looks after the material and spiritual interests, of the people including freedom of religion and freedom of opinion. This policy is embedded in many practical policies and deeds of the Government of Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

 

A resolution passed by the National Assembly in its 4th session, has laid down in clear terms principles for the guarantee of the right to freedom of conscience. Implementing this resolution, on June 14, 1955, President Ho Chi Minh has enacted a decree concerning the guarantee of freedom of religion. This act once more defines in no uncertain terms the main principles of the policy of the Workers’ Party of Vietnam, with regard to religion and to freedom of religion and of worship and at the same time indicates clearly and comprehensively practical steps to guarantee such people’s rights. Article 15 of the decree reads: "Freedom of conscience and freedom of worship are the rights of the people. The authorities of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam always respect these rights and help the people in the practice of these rights." Such are the intents and purposes of the decree. It is a fresh evidence of the concern and care given to the people’s interests in every field by the Government of Democratic Republic of Vietnam. Freedom of religion is one of the people’s rights. It has now been enacted by the laws of the State, and everyone must correctly carry it out. Those who infringe this people’s right contravene the laws and shall be punished in accordance with the law.

The gist of the decree is the guarantee of the people’s freedom of religion and worship. It clearly points out that " ... the Government shall guarantee the freedom of conscience and worship of the people. Nobody is allowed to infringe these freedoms. Every Vietnamese citizen shall have the right to practice a religion or not to practice any." (Article I)." The authorities shall not interfere in the domestic affairs of various religions." (Article 13) On the other hand, the decree underlines that those who use the signboard of religion to serve imperialism by destroying peace, unity, independence, and democracy shall be punished in accordance with the law. This provision is not at all repugnant to freedom of conscience. On the contrary, it constitutes the very substance of the guarantee of this freedom ... (Foreign Publishing House, 1956., pp. 20-23).

The Flip Side of the Coin

 

The flip side of the coin proved to be true as soon as the laws were promulgated. The Geneva Accords of July 20, 1954 partitioned the country into two regions, the one north of the 17th Parallel was the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and the other south of it, the Republic of Vietnam. After the withdrawal of the French Expeditionary Corps and the Viet Minh troops took over Haiphong, the city of last hope of the immigrants to the South, Ho Chi Minh, again, made "volte face." The Communist regime carried out oppressive measures against all religions they had learned from the Soviet Union and Communist China to put them under its control.

 

The Workers’ Party of Vietnam, the reincarnation of the Communist Party of Indochina, within 10 years, had made efforts to repress the religions, especially the largest Churches, the Buddhist Church and the Roman Catholic Church. The Party and its administration, step by step, eliminated all Buddhist organizations. They instituted in their place the Association of Patriotic Buddhists and placed them all under the control of the Communist-linked Fatherland Front. hey closed down all institutes of Buddhist studies. They returned home monks and nuns. Only old bonzes were allowed to perform religious services in State-patronized pagodas. Religious education and renewals at monasteries were strictly prohibited. The Buddhist faith could only survive in silence.

 

As regards the Roman Catholic Church, unable to destroy the Church's religious organizational structure, the Communists stroke at the Church’s pastors and priests, diluting their clerical duties with interdiction and restriction. They sought to separate the faithful from the clergy, wearing out the clergy’s prestige, and frustrate their influence among the faithful. Still, they made efforts to prevent the faithful from practicing their religious faith and restricting the priest from performing their religious services. Other measures consisted of cancellation of the formation and ordination of priests, denial of permission to provide monks and novices at abbeys and monasteries with foods and the necessities of life, and the prevention of the faithful from attending masses.

Under the direction of the Party, the authorities and cadres initiated the so-called anti-superstition campaigns to ridicule Christ and saints and deride religious practices and activities. They fabricated incidents of opposition activities, intimidated the clergy and laymen, and placed them under strict surveillance. They even attributed to certain priests or prominent laymen as the reactionary elements to arrest and send hem to reeducation camps. To weaken the Church’s propagation of the faith, they prohibited all religious associations to operate. They created the Association of Patriotic Catholics to direct religious activities. Like its fellow Buddhist association, this organ evolved within the orbit of the Father land Front, trying to replace the bishop as the representative of the Church beside the Communist leadership.

To divert the faithful from their religious practices, the atheists oriented them towards achieving to their purposes --to dutifully serve the Party’s political policies. With a scheme in sight, from 1954 to 1975, the Party tried hard to dismantle the Church and win over the faithful’ s minds. As a result, all through the period after the partition of the country, the Roman Catholic Church suffered tragic losses, both materially and institutionally. The formation and ordination of priests were in alarming decline. There were only 277 priests, including the priests who were ordained in hiding, for the whole North. The total number of priests was lesser than that of the clerical body of Saigon Diocese. In many regions cathedrals and chapels turned into granaries or store houses or became ruined.

 

By a similar approach, the atheist regime neutralized all religious services and activities of Evangelical Christianity. Ministers’ and pastors’ religious services at chapels and houses of worship were restricted. All congregations became the target of suspicion and control, and religious activities were made inactive. Only few pastors were allowed to practice the faith, being used as an instrument in the hands of the administration. Their role as the representatives of the Church was nominal. Bui Hoanh Thu, the President of Hanoi Congregation, was one of them.

RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION DURING THE INDOCHINA WAR (1946-1954)

Overview

In May 1945, the Fascist Germany-Italy Axis surrendered to the Allies in Europe. Two atomic bombs were dropped on Japan. On August 19, 1945, the Viet Minh seized power in Hanoi by a "coup d’etat," overthrowing the administration of the Tran Trong Kim government in the North. All through the period that followed it, members of national party leaders of all faiths were targeted wit elimination. Religious leaders and the clergy were not an exception. The Communist-led Viet Nam Doc Lap Dong Minh Hoi abbreviated Viet Minh sought to destroy all forces they regarded the enemies to the "Revolution" while wooing free-floating party members and credulous believers to unite under their leadership to serve the fatherland.

On September 23, 1945, the French troops with the help of British General Gracey, the commander of the Allied Forces, attacked Saigon to retake Vietnam on the order of De Gaulle, who then headed the French Privy Government in Congo Brazaville. The War of Resistance began in the South and developed into a war of attrition throughout Indochina. For ten years, from September 1945 to July 1954, the Viet Minh led the war and regained national dependence. They drove the invaders out of the country and, at the same time, achieved the elimination of all national party forces and furtively dismantled the country’s religious organizations to which they attributed as the counterrevolutionary elements. The question of religious freedom from then on presents a problematic issue without a solution. The Communist administration resorted to violence, political measures and practices, and the laws but has still failed to subdue the believers under its control. Arrests and imprison clergymen and believers. Instances of persecution persisted though all periods under the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

The Persecution

Having seized power in China, the Government of the People’s Republic of China, in December 1949, declared its recognition of the Republic Democratic of Vietnam led by Ho Chi Minh. In 1950, Red China sent military advisers and arms and ammunitions to North Vietnam to support the Viet Minh. Along with military aids, Maoism was introduced into the country. Beginning in 1951, the Vietnamese Workers’ Party, the incarnation of the Communist Party of Indochina, modified its lines of strategy, pushing forward the people’s struggle from the period of anti-imperialism to that of anti-feudalism. The strategy inspired from the Chinese advisors aimed at the same time to establish a new economic system of the Republic Democratic of Vietnam, destroy the influence of French imperialism and subordinate all sectors of society to the new rule and pave the way for the Maoist-style socialism.

To carry out the new strategy, the Party executed plans for thought reform with which it transplanted methods of agrarian reforms training and thought reform into the minds of party-members and cadres for the performance of the task. In 1952, courses of political struggle were conducted with utmost fervor to prepare ground for a class struggle in the Maoist-oriented revolution. Sessions of crimes revelations and denunciations of the elements of imperialism and feudalism unfolded. The clergy of all faiths were also targeted with elimination. Among the victims were the mandarins of the French regime, rich peasants, members of national parties, Catholic priests and Buddhist monks. Communist cadres and their servile followers spied on these priests and monks. and ransacked their cathedrals pagodas and temples for the least suspicion.

Terror plagued the countryside. The Communists carried out their political struggle with which they vowed to eradicate the remnants of feudalism and destroy the vestiges of imperialism. It was a true class struggle in the rural areas. Village authorities were to submit to the central government a list of at least 5 typical reactionaries consisting of a landlord, a Buddhist monk, a Catholic priest, a laureate Confucian scholar, and a mandarin. This class struggle was a prelude to the performance of the agrarian reforms that took place after the defeat of the French Expeditionary Corps at Dien Bien Phu in Summer 1956.

As in a gale, the struggle blew up and swept away with it all traditional moral and spiritual values. Sons- and daughters- in law denounced false crimes or corrupted manners, treachery, and treason of their parents. Blood relatives avoided contact with each other or stayed away from one another out of fear of being accused of having blood relation with some traitors, wicked landowners or village bullies. Bovine peasants turned out to become fanatic executioners who acted freely and violently against the victims of all ages. There was a total loss of a sense of kinship. Filial piety, traditional social conduct, and the cultural system of values were made to disappear. There existed no respect for the old age, the prestigious intellectuals, and the priests and monks of thought and behavior. Along with the erosion of traditional moral, spiritual, and cultural values, the cult of ancestors gradually declined, and the cult of ancestors and worship of titular genius degenerated.

Before the battle of Dien Bien Phu ended (1954), the Vietnamese Workers’ Party had launched a "sky-splitting" campaign paving the way for the Land Reform (1953-1956). The campaign was, first, preceded by the implementation of the Chinese system of taxes, namely the Land Rent Reduction (1953), whose aim was to carry out social, politico, and economic measures to gradually transform the agricultural Vietnam into a s society in the Maoist-style socialism. Those who evaded taxes were regarded the reactionaries and, were subjected to investigation. Quite a few victims were charged with false crimes such as treason, association with dangerous elements of clandestine political organizations or espionage for the French. A black list was dressed. There had to be from three to five individuals in each village, a landlord, a Buddhist monk, a Catholic priest, a laureate scholar, and a mandarin.. In Thanh Hoa Province, as a case in poit, the landlord Nguyen Huu Ngoc and the Buddhist Monk Thich Tue Chau were given the death sentence, the Catholic priest Mai Ba Nhac, and two compradors were sentenced to 15 years of forced labor. The old mandarin Ha Van Ngoan, and the laureate scholar Le Trong Nhi did not appear before court: they died in prison.

The Buddhist Church

In his memoirs addressed to Party Secretary-general Do Muoi, the Most Venerable Thich Quang Do denounced how the Communists had exterminated the traditional Buddhist Church in North Vietnam. Among other things, he wrote:

"Before the Communist takeover of Hanoi in 1954, the Most Venerable Thich To Lien was the chairman of the Executive Board of the General Association of Buddhists in North Vietnam. He was the leader of the Buddhist Church in the North. The General Association of Buddhism at that time consisted of 6 congregations of "Sangha," including the laity Buddhists throughout the region. The Church was admitted to the membership of the World Buddhist Friendship. In 1957, three years after the [Communist] takeover of the North, a number of monks and nuns, for unknown reasons or possibly out of fear, threat, and personnel interests, assembled at Quan Su Pagoda and denounced with crimes against the Most Venerable Thich To Lien. They then offered the pagoda to the state-affiliated National Salvation Buddhist Association. The Most Venerable Thich Tri Do was invited to live in it. A new Buddhist organization was founded. It was actually the State-created Unified Buddhist Church of [North] Vietnam with the Most Venerable Thich Tri Do at the head. The traditional General Association of Buddhists of Vietnam in the North was consequently absolved.

Not only did the Communists eliminate the legitimate Buddhist organizations, they also destroyed all its affiliated religious institutions and establishments. They expropriated the Duoc Tue Printing House and closed down the Institute for the Studies of Buddhism, the Khuong Viet High School and all libraries and religious establishments belonging to this organization. After having used the very Buddhist monks and nuns of the General Association of Buddhists in the North to eliminate it, the Communists forced them not only to raise pigs as a form of obligatory social contribution but also to kill pigs and poultry to serve the Communist party [to provide it with food] ... The purposes were to disfigure the solemn aura at the worship place and at the same time to destroy the Sangha' s Buddhist spirit of clemency and atomize the most popular Buddhist commandment, which prohibits the killing of living creatures.

At each pagoda, only an old monk was allowed to live and assumed the function of a head of a "ho" (household). Young monks had to return to their secular life in their villages, to work for [economic] production. When an old monk passed away, the pagoda naturally became abandoned. In the cities, empty pagodas were requisitioned by the State. They were used as workplaces for production, instead. In the countryside, empty pagodas were demolished for more land for production. Anyone who felt enthusiastically attached to the religious life or wanted to become a monk had to apply for the priesthood. He had to give a curriculum vitae to the security police. Until he got authorization from it, could he be a student-priest. Many young devotees, who are old now, have had to wait until these days (1995) to become monks; yet, they have not got the authorization from the security police. In Thai Binh Province, fervent devotees would prepare celebrations in hiding at a pagoda to congratulate a relative or friend who entered the priesthood. If found out, they were immediately arrested..

Together with coercive measures on religious practices, programs of religious education were abolished. Worship places in the French-occupied zones communal houses, pagodas, and temples, were demolished under the pretext that they would be easily used as military headquarters of the French. In the rural areas where the Viet Minh were in control, communal houses and pagodas were requisitioned. They became the commune cooperative' granary, warehouse, pigsty, and so on. In other areas, they became a warehouse for craft or handicraft productions, an office for the village People's council or a meeting hall or a place for gatherings for political propaganda. Many pagodas were also used for domestic animal house for the agricultural commune. In the pagodas where the monks were still in residence, the Communists allowed common people to occupy the pagoda's dependent houses. The new occupants dried their clothes everywhere around the worship place, thus disfiguring its solemn and serene aura.

The State-created Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam had its main seat at Quan Su pagoda. The principal task was to serve the Vietnamese Communist Party's political goals, carrying out its political programs. State-affiliated monks fulfilled their nominal role --to participate in the Party conference or religious international in Mongol or Moscow. Until 1991, that is nearly forty years after the Communist takeover of North Vietnam,, most pagodas disappeared. In Thai Binh, the most populous province in the Tonkin delta, there was only a small number of old monks and nuns. They were 70 years old or over.

Most historic sites were in ruins. The famous Hoa Yen Pagoda on Yen Tu Mountain, Dong Trieu District, Hai Duong Province, was burned down. The Phat Tich Pagoda in Bac Ninh Province, which was built under the Ly dynasty (13th century), was destroyed. The Thay Pagoda in Thach That District, Son Tay Province, which was built under the Ly dynasty and in which the legendary Monk Tu Dao Hanh was honored, was very much in ruins. The pagoda was supported by bamboo trees and was doomed to collapse at any time. There was no monk in residence. The sanctum of Phap Vu Pagoda, also called Dau Pagoda, in Thuong Tin District, Ha Dong Province, where the dried bodies of the two legendary monks of the Vu family under the Le Dynasty (15th century) had been honored, was destroyed. There was no monk in residence in Quynh Lam Pagoda.

The historic site pagoda of Co Phap Village, built by the legendary Monk Minh Khong (729-808) was destroyed. It was a historic site in which the Buddha statue erected by the legendary Monk Khong Lo, the Royal Teacher under the Ly dynasty stood and in which the country's most precious religious relics were preserved. There is a history about the destruction of Co Phap Pagoda. To elude their bad reputation for the destruction of this historic site, the Communists lent their hands to the French invaders to erase the site. A red flag was a good signal for a French reconnaissance agent to identify the target. Fighter planes then launched a bombing raid. The Viet Minh achieved a twofold objective. One, they could easily motivate the people's to take revenge on the invaders. Two, they borrowed the hands of French troops to destroy the pagoda to delude from the crime of destruction of religions. The villagers in the area recalled that, after the bombing, the pagoda was all in flames, and fire continued to flare up for a month. There was no rescue on the part of the Communists.

The Huong Tich pagodas in Chuong My Ha Dong were not an exception. The Thien Tru (Heaven's Kitchen) commonly called Chua Ngoai (The Outer Pagoda) suffered heavy damage. There was no monk in residence at Thien Tru Pagoda. A number of pagodas are listed in the category of historical site. All of them are under the management of the local authorities, most of whom have little knowledge of the humanities. Visitors have to pay for their visit. That's is real deceit. The Communists are real religion mongers. They "kill" Buddha and "sell" Him at the same time. " (Thuy Giao and Ngoc Phuong, 1995: 12-14)

Annual pilgrimages to famous historic sites such as Huong Tich increased considerably. Religious services and activities resumed. Seasonal festivals honoring Buddha attracted large pilgrimages. Believers in all directions, from as far as Ha Bac Province in the high plateau and Ha Nam Ninh Province in the low delta, came in crowds to pray for wealth and happiness. Tourists in crowds came to visit the Tram Gian Pagoda (One-hundred-compartment Pagoda in Ha Tay Province. The temple had been labeled a vestige of feudalism. The temple was destroyed in the way the Great Walls had during the Cultural Revolution in China. The temple’s construction materials were taken away and shared among the local cadres. It was not until after the reunification of the country, for the sake of interests, it was recreated to become tourist site, specifically to attract overseas Vietnamese.

The religious life before reunification fell into a decline Nguyen Thi Diep, aged 64 (1994), a native of Thuong Tam, Dong Hung District (formerly Thai Ninh Prefecture), Thai Binh Province, North Vietnam after her visit to her home town, remarked that, "nowadays, once in a while, the villagers, mostly women, go to pagoda. There are no more monks. There are guardians but they know nothing about Buddha, Buddhism, and Buddhist practices --ceremonies, prayers, rites, and rituals. Before 1954, there were two pagodas in the village, one in the center of the village and one outside of it, in the open fields. In 1956, the local officials had the one in the center of the village destroyed and built in its place an office for the People's Council. Now, only the one in the open fields remains. They didn't destroy it because they can control the access to it and those who come and go. They fear that a pagoda can be a haven for counterrevolutionary elements or a place of reunion for them. The communal house is also a primary target of suspicion. It is to the Communist authorities the symbol of feudalism and imperialism that has to be destroyed. There is always an exception, however. In some areas, the Communist authorities were unsuccessful. In Me So Village, Khoai Chau District, Hung Yen Province, for example, the villagers have persistently resisted the local authorities’ order to demolish their communal house (Thien Nhan, VNHRW,: Interview with Nguyen Thi Diep, 7 (March 1993).

The Roman Catholic Church

During the first phase of agrarian reform of 1952-1953, the Viet Minh launched a new wave of terror in the territory of Thanh Hoa Diocese, prestigious and fervent Catholics were attributed to as members of the Interfaith anti-Communist groups of "Lien Ton Diet Cong." Catholics and non-Catholics were arrested and abducted to unknown whereabouts. In Hung Hoa Diocese, many priests were brought to stand trial before the People’s Court for having evaded taxes. Among them were Phero Nang, Phero Thuyet, and Phero Ngo. They were imprisoned and were released until the Geneva Agreements (July 1954).

In Phat Diem Diocese, in October 1953, the Viet Minh authorities in Ninh Binh held a 5-day congress at Trinh Dong, Village Nho Quan District, executed the decision to order the Catholics to cut off connection with Bishop Le Huu Tu. This congress also denounced the Catholic priests of the Chau Son Order of which Bishop Le Huu Tu was a member as a network of espionage for the French. As a consequence, several of priests of the Order were abducted to unknown whereabouts. Chaos spread. The Viet Minh troops attacked Hoa Lac Parish. Fr. Gioan Huong was abducted. Fr. Phaolo Duc, the pastor of Yen Quy, was abducted, imprisoned, and tortured.

Elsewhere, the Communist administration imposed strict laws, rules, and regulation on all sectors of the social life. The religions were primary targets for elimination. Catholics who survived the periods of hardship and religious repression during 1952-1956 told about the State measures of control that were so severe that even the most fervent Catholics were resigned to submission without the t least resistance. In the distant rural areas, the agricultural commune kept a close watch on the daily life activities of every laborer living in it. Everything was for socialist production. Cathedrals and chapels were closed down. The teaching of Bible was outlawed. Assembly for prayers were forbidden. Religious practices were performed in hiding, and religious activities went underground.

Persecution against Catholicism became increasingly atrocious as soon as the Viet Minh gained control of the self-administrative zones of Phat Diem and Bui Chu. After the defeat of the French at Dien Bien Phu on May 7, 1954, the Laniel government of France planned the withdrawal of troops from outlining areas of the Red River delta, shortening their lines in order to protect Hanoi, Haiphong, and the connecting Route 5 The withdrawal from Phat Diem, Bui Chu, Nam Dinh, Phu Ly, and Ninh Binh occurred in late June. Laniel’s successor, Premier Mendes France, informed US Ambassador Douglas Dillon on June 2 that the French had offered to provide transportation for those of the local people who desired to move with them. However, many had preferred to stay where they were because since Dien Bien Phu the Viet Minh had behaved very well toward the local people, which might be a temporary policy to facilitate the Geneva negotiations." (Wiesner, 1988:215).

As the immigration was moving on, it attracted along the way increasing crowds of refugees. In fact, many Catholics were persecuted for their faith. Many others feared of the same fate and sought to leave their parishes. The Pentagon Papers reported that ".. as soon as the [1954] truce became effective, the Catholic bishops entered a test of power with the Viet Minh, using their self-defense forces to back DRV occupation. The response was predictably ruthless. Catholic villages were attacked by the People’s Army of Vietnam). In two instances, inhabitants reportedly were massacred, churches were burned, church property confiscated, priests tortured or jailed, and heavy taxes levied on church land and buildings Among the consequences of violence was a Catholic propaganda campaign against the Viet Minh -- the Virgin-had-gone Saigon theme-- and mass migrations of whole parishes (Pentagon Papers, 1972:12)

At the close of the withdrawal of the French and the forces of the National Army from North Vietnam, the executions of Catholic clergy and faithful of the Viet Minh resumed at various parishes. Fr. Phero Dinh, the pastor of Viet Lam Parish and the owner of the Yen Binh farm in Tuyen Quang Province, was charged with crimes of treason and was persecuted on July 16, 1954. The Bible instructor Thuyet of Phu Nhan in Son Tay Province was executed without an explanation. From the end of June 1954, the French troops withdrew from the southern provinces of the Tonkin delta. the dioceses of Phat Diem and Bui Chu fell into the hands of the Viet Minh. On June 30, 1954, the Viet Minh troops from two directions, Phuc Nhac and Dien Ho, advanced to occupy Phat Diem. The self-defense groups "Nghia Dung Quan" had to withdraw. They were disbanded afterwards. The Catholics, one group after another, evacuated to Hanoi and major townships and cities in the delta. The Viet Minh troops stormed into Catholic villages. They destroyed cathedrals, diocesan office buildings, schools and other establishments. Witnesses on either side of the Tra Chinh River saw with horror dead bodies were floating in waves towards the Kim Doi sea-mouth. They were all Catholics, the victims of a blood bath, having failed to resist the Viet Minh massacre.

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

 

　

DECADENCE AND REVIVAL OF POPULAR BELIEFS

　

The Cult of Ancestors

　

In line with the ideological tenets of atheist materialism, the Communist Party and administration in the years following the Indochina War sought to dislodge the traditional Vietnamese popular worship, and replaced it with the cult of Ho, of Marx, of Lenin, of Stalin, and of Mao. In the countryside where the peasants had the least knowledge of politics of any kind the practice of the cult was particularly incorporated in their ways of life. Portraits of Ho and world Communist leaders were hung on the walls of the central partition in replacement of the ancestral altar. Ho was the "Lord,," and his comrades, the "Saints." Blasphemy against them was linked to counter-reactionary crimes and subject to imprisonment or even death. The villagers nevertheless commemorated their ancestors with or without an altar. Filial piety illustrates the popular saying: "Drinking water, we think of its source."

Tran Trung, 68 (1994), a native of Ha Son Binh Province, North Vietnam, had this to say, " ... for many years, the Party has tried to break the family bonds, but it has been not successful. Not every Vietnamese Communist is like Truong Chinh, the Secretary-general of the Vietnamese Workers’ Part who brought his own father before the People's Court to be insulted. Not every Vietnamese is like "Uncle Ho, "who dared address to our national hero Tran Hung Dao with an equal "I" and called Him with an equal "You" when he visited Kiep Bac Temple in Hai Duong."I wonder how Ho would address to his father and ancestors when he bowed his head at the altar for his ancestors."

Tran further argued that the Communist Party had not officially forbidden the belief practices of ancestral worship. but they were practically regarded all the forms of superstition. To an ordinary Vietnamese, to perform the rites and rituals of traditional popular beliefs was common religious behavior. The Vietnamese, however poor they are, will still offer an incense stick, a bowl of steamed rice, and a boiled egg to commemorate a departed parent. Old customs and manners often prevail. Local authorities, in principle, do not allow any assembly of any kind or celebration at home without prior authorization. However, in the village where everyone knows everyone else, the laws and regulations of the State often give place to sympathy between and among people of the same village. The villagers are all relatives in one way or another. Besides, an anniversary is a good opportunity for all to have a good meal with meat and rice wine. In the villages where the cadres or party members strictly observe the rules, they are either given bribes or isolated, and the villagers will go ahead with their celebration. The cult of ancestors still has a religious coloration and retains some of its moral, spiritual, and cultural character.

According to a staff editor of the official journal Tuoi Tre, who asked anonymity (December 20 2000), " ... the cult of ancestors still plays a role in the social and cultural life of the Vietnamese people. The results of an investigation into the religious life in Vietnam by a State researcher shows that ancestral worship is practiced in almost all families that do not adhere to Christianity. The percentage of the practitioners is very high, with 92,25%, in the urban area of Hue, 84,.3%, in Ho Chi Minh City, and 82.2&, in Hanoi. The number of families that occasionally pay respect to the ancestors in Hue is 4.8%;, in Ho Chi Minh City, 11%, and in Hanoi, 17.4%. The number of families that do not practice ancestral worship of in Hue is 3%, in Ho Chi Minh City, 4.7%, and in Hanoi, 0.6%’

The cult of ancestors is truly powerful. It is even practiced in the interior of the homes of pious adherents to various religions. It is an inspirational source of exaltation. Catholicism that began by refusing to accommodate the practice of it now accepts some forms of veneration of the cult. In 1992, in Hanoi, only 14.7% of the Catholic population did not have an alter of ancestors; 6.3% in Ho Chi Minh City, and 6.5% in Hue. Practically, the Catholics performed the ancestral veneration l in different practices of the rites and rituals.

　

The Worship of Titular Genius

　

At the beginning of the Resistance War (1945-1954), most communal houses in the war zones throughout the country were destroyed as a consequence of the Viet Minh' s scorched earth tactics. After the war, the worship of Titular Genius at the communal house was undermined by the Party's hostile religious policy.. The worship of the Titular Genius was interpreted as a legacy of feudalism. The rites and rituals in the celebration commemorating the merits the village’s "patron saint" were all the vestiges of absolute monarchy. In many areas of the countryside these worship practices were derided, and the worship place was neglected. The scenic "dinh" (communal house) of Quang Ba Village near Hanoi, for instance, was destroyed.

Historically, until the 1940’s the villages in Tonkin were still close communities strictly impermeable to outside cultural influences. Living within their bamboo hedges, the villagers hung on to their land, cherished their homes, honored communal and ancestral cults, and perpetuated filial lineage. The villages were organized according to a sociopolitical hierarchy and a system of spiritual and cultural values that they held dear. The cult of ancestors and the worship of village benefactor were practiced with ceremonious rites and rituals. Traditional customs and manners were preserved. Respect for the notables and the seniors was keenly observed. All these characters formed the backbone of the religious, social, political, and cultural life of the village. (Porter Gareth, Vietnam: The Politics of Bureaucratic Socialism. Cornell University Press. Ithaca and London, 1993:2).

The worship of the Titular Genius at the "dinh" symbolizes the spirit of solidarity and democracy and reflects the respect for order and the sense of duty of the village. It was the siege where the villagers worshipped their benefactor or protector genius. In the old days, "dinh" was a hall for public meeting place where the villagers congregated or elected their representatives to the council of notables to attend to the village ‘s titular genius and communal celebrations and take care of administrative matters of the civil life. It was the headquarters where the council of notables met and discussed the village’s affairs and solved the village‘s problems and settled the dispute between and among the villagers. The village was, in essence, a self-administrative unit whose authority was recognized by the Royal Court. Emperor Tu Duc of the Nguyen Dynasty (1847-1883), as a case in point, had edicts specifying the respect for the villagers’ rights to choose their communal representatives exercise communal authority, practice the communal worship and preserve the village’s customs and manners.

Under French domination, the colonialists, throughout almost a hundred years, managed to attenuate the role and function of the council of notables in the conduct of communal affairs. For political purpose, they colonial regime gradually abrogated the village notables’ role and authority. They established the Hoi Dong Cai Luong Huong Chinh (Council of Reform of Rural Administration) to work side by side the council of notables. With this new policy, the colonial rule sought to do away with the traditional social and political communal life and gradually efface the notables’ prestige over and influence on the villagers while lending hand to their followers to exercise real power over the villagers to serve to the best interests of the colonial rule.

The colonial administration executed with flexibility a policy of acculturation, to gradually reform the village administrative system while preserving its cultural legacy. They uprooted the very political base of democracy which the Vietnamese people cherished throughout successive imperial dynasties. They nevertheless showed respect for most traditional ways of life of the native. Rarely did they interfere in the internal affairs of the religions and the worship practices of the indigenous population.

Tragic social and political disorders expanded with the rise to power of the Viet Minh. In the first years of the war of resistance (1947-1950), the Viet Minh government carried out the anti-imperialism struggle, traditional social and cultural values and institutions gradually perished. In the Viet Minh- controlled zones, the village Council of Resistance and Administration replaced the Council of Notables and the Council of Reform of Rural Administration to manage the village’s administration. Satellite organizations of the Lien Viet (Viet Minh League) helped to shape new modes of life in line with the Marxist ideology. The members in the new body of administration was totally composed of the Viet Minh cadres or Viet Minh-linked elements. Most members in it, however, were the opportunists or Viet Minh followers who only knew to carry out the orders of the Viet Minh local cadres.

Together with traditional customs and manners, the cult of the Village Titular were regarded as backward. Everyone must devote oneself to the service of the resistance, and every task must be fulfilled for the cause of independence. Disobedience in this case meant treason. Communal activities other than those permitted by the Viet Minh were considered as uncivilized. Gatherings to denounce war crimes by the French troops and meetings to support the Government of Resistance at the communal house were encouraged. Worship services, seasonal celebrations, and the annual festival at the "dinh" were all regarded as corrupt performances --the vestiges of feudalism. Consequently, the traditional system of village administration and cultural values and merits, and ways of life were exterminated, and the cult of the Village Titular Genius gradually disappeared.

In many cases, a "dinh" was razed to the ground simply because the village Communist party members and cadres wanted a share of its construction materials for their own houses or courtyards. In most rural areas, "dinh" was transformed into an office for the village People's Councils of Administration, a classroom, a hangar, a barn, and even a place for entertainment. Centuries-old communal houses were not maintained and became ruined. In the old days, every village had a communal house. Nowadays, very few communal houses stand. We walk for kilometers in the Thanh Nghe Tinh Province, Uncle's Ho native province and cannot see even one.

Other communal religious practices, celebrations, and festivals fell into oblivion. The worship of Buddha at pagodas, the veneration of heroes, saints and deities at shrines, and the commemoration of national heroes and heroines at temples suffered decadence. Except for the worship of Christ at the cathedral, in which place the Church maintained independence from the Viet Minh, the clergy performed religious services with persistence, and the followers served their faith with resilience. mostly in hiding. The atheists tried in vain to place the Catholic Church under their despotic control.

　

The Revival of Popular Beliefs

Until the 1940"s, on the first and fifteenth days of every month of the lunar calendar, men went to the communal house to offer sacrifices to the Titular Genius, and women went to pagodas to pray respects to Buddha and prayed for happiness and favors. Such traditional religious practices were no longer observed in the North until the later years of the 1980’s. To guard against sabotage and subject the population to control, the authorities kept a severe eye on any activity or act that might cause loss of prestige or physical damage to the regime, the authorities never hesitated to apply whatever measure they regarded as necessary to oppress or eliminate the reactionary.

In Hanoi, the Van Mieu (Literature Temple) at Cua Nam (South Entrance) of the old Capital Thang Long lost its centuries-old beauty thousands of generations of Vietnamese had preserved. The city authorities had all the picturesque walls surrounding the site broken up under the pretext of securing the place from sabotage: " Bad elements may use the site for a secret reunion to plot sabotage against the regime." The Go Dong Da (Mount Dong Da) a historic site on the route to Son Tay, west of Hanoi, where the defeated Chinese Governor-general Sam Nghi Dong committed suicide by hanging himself on a bough of a pagoda-tree. The governor and the army under his command were routed out of the city by the Vietnamese army of Emperor Quang Trung of the Tay Son Dynasty (1778-1802). The site was destroyed as it was a site of reminder of an odious defeat the Chinese invaders had suffered. (Then Nhan, VHRW, 7 (March 1993)..

Soon after the reunification of the country, the religious sentiment of the population revived as the route communication between the two regions partitioned by the war became wide open. Curiously enough, like a fresh breath of wind fanning throughout the country, coincidences of love for the country and religious sentiments were warmed up and thrived. Soon after the "liberation" of the South. the cult of ancestors, the veneration of geniuses and deities, and the worship of Buddha reemerged. The traditional ways of spirits worshipping all regained activities. Beginning in 1995, popular demands for religious worship began to reappear. Venerable old men at Can Huu Village in Son Tay Province voluntarily took an active part in the repair and maintenance of the communal house and village pagoda instead of giving a free hand to the State. They managed themselves the project. The initiative helped them stop worrying about the interference from the village Communist Party's secretary The result was the loss for the construction expenses was reduced to 10%. In the Duong Lieu village, Ha Dong Province, the villagers themselves were in charge of the reconstruction of Huong Tra Pagoda, where, in 1994, the Ministry for Culture inflicted the construction losses amounted to 50% due to poor management. In the suburban area of Cam, Haiphong, formerly the Gia Vien Village, the local resident voluntarily contributed to rebuilding the dilapidated "Tho Xuan Dinh." The worship place is dedicated to King Ngo Quyen and his two generals Nguyen Tat To and Doan Thuong who had helped him to rout the Chinese invaders on the Bach Dang River.

In many villages, the thirst for having a worship place enlivened the villagers' enthusiasm. They boldly claimed back their rights to ownership at the communal houses and pagodas, even though these worship places were in ruins or turned into crumbled worship vestiges with some forms of foundation. The Canh Phuc Pagoda in the village of Dong Van, Duy Tien District, Nam Ha Province, which was built in 1665, was a case in evidence. In many villages in the countryside, people were concerned with the rebuilding of worship places. In addition to the reconstruction the communal houses and pagodas, they were also concerned with reconstructing temples, shrines, and ancestral worship places. In the Yen So Village in Ha Dong Province, venerable old men contributed to the reconstruction of the village's communal house, neutralizing all intervention from the authorities (Tieu Huyen, Phong Trao Doi Hanoi Tra Lai Chua, Nguoi Viet, December 23, 1996).

A research on the on the religious life of the Vietnamese notes that the religious feature that is characteristic of the Vietnamese is the expression of gratitude to their ancestors and benefactors inherent in ancestral cult and the worship of Titular Genius. All Vfamily members venerate their ancestors, who acquire the merit to beget the offspring. All villagers render homage to their benefactor, a patron of a profession, a national hero or heroine, and to the legendary Kings Hung. No profane power could ever destroy it. (Trung Tan, An Interview with a Staff Editor of Tuoi Tre. December 20, 2000)

　

The Practice of Superstitions

　

Tieu Huyen, in an article on the practices of popular beliefs in North Vietnam in the recent years, reported on the Nguoi Viet Daily in Southern California:

" Besides organized religions, there exists a mixture of beliefs without an institutional structure. They nevertheless have enduring impact on the Vietnamese life well into the 1980's. These beliefs, which were derived partly from Confucianism with emphasis on filial piety, family solidarity, and ancestral veneration-- all central to the family system of the ancient society. Taoism, another popular belief from China, which emphasizes the importance of the mystic mutual illuminating communication between the individual and the universe, also plays a role.

Despite the official disapproval of superstitious practices, most Vietnamese, regardless of their professed religion, level of education, or ideology, are influenced at one time or another in their lifetime by such divination practices such as astrology, geomancy, and sorcery. Diviners and other practitioners in the occult science remain on demand. Quite a few Vietnamese believe that they have illuminating power, and with it they are able to diagnose causes of illness, establish lucky dates for personal undertakings, or predict the future. Still, many others believe that individual destiny is guided by astrological phenomena. By consulting one's horoscope, one could make the most of auspicious times and avoid disaster. It is not unusual, for example, for a couple to consult an astrologer before marriage. A divine teller would determine if the betrothed were suitably matched and even fix the date of the wedding ceremony.

Animism antedates all organized popular religious beliefs in Vietnam. It permeates through the life of the society. People in the rural areas or the highlands especially hold the belief that the divine spirits control all phenomena on earth and supernatural forces in the universe and that the souls of the dead are instrumental in determining the individual's destiny. If propitiated, they provide the living with protection; if ignored, they bring misfortune. Although officially condemned as superstitious practices, these practices s continue to proliferate in the rural and highland areas as well as in the cities in the 1980's. (Tieu Huyen, Phong Trao Doi Lai Chua. Nguoi Viet, December 23, 1996).

In the heydays of the "August Revolution" when the Hoi Nghien Cuu Chu Nghia Mac-xit Viet Nam (Society for the Study of Marxism) came into force in replacement of the Communist Party of Indochina, the followers of Marxism held themselves bound by it. Communism to them is not a political doctrine, but a religion,. They firmly believe that no other religion but communism should exist in Vietnam. A Communist lives for it and dies as a martyr for it. Communism is an all-powerful miracle that emancipates humanity from serfdom and imperialism. It brings Vietnam full independence, freedom, and happiness, making it a paradise on earth. Addicts to communism in those days ever believed that the communists would soon govern the world and that the world communities would all soon stand under the ever-victorious banner of communism.

Hoang Hoa, a student at the School of Pedagogy, Ho Chi Minh City (1998), disclosed his heart: " The collapse of the Eastern European Communist Bloc liberated quite a few communism addicts from utopia. Marxism-Leninism has become a subject-matter which he teacher is reluctant to teach and which bores the student to learn. It becomes a clothe-doctrine, even to one-time ardent Communists. The worship of Marx, of Lenin, and of Mao is on the wane. Various study circles of communism have died out n the recent years. Quite a few of them think that communism has dissipated. Its painted appearance is worn off, and its brazen face is exposed under the sunlight. It is no longer "A Book of Miracles" as Uncle Ho had firmly predicted .Corrupt party members cease to believe in it and look for new modes of worship or come back to traditional beliefs and faiths in search for peace of mind or beseeching geniuses and deities for luck, interests, and hope for a happier life. Quite a few of them consult a diviner to how to modify an office building in the way that is best suited to the laws of "fang-sui." An enchantress is entrusted with the task of searching for and identifying the remains of the "Viet Cong" MIA’s in Kampuchea. Cadres and common folks alike believe in some forms of superstition. Fortune and divine tellers sit in rows before the temples and pagodas. Witchcraft is practiced without inhibition."

Sorcery practices appear more superstitious than religious. The spirits worship in many places is commercialized. Most guardians at the temples and state-designated. They assume the function of state cadres and have full authority and act according to their whims and wishes. Superstitions practices are allowed and performed in broad daylight. At many temples and pagodas in Hanoi. rites and rituals for religious services and those for sorcery practices are practically the same. They are performed by the guardians or even monks who have little knowledge of Buddhism and the Buddhist laws. Many do not observe celibacy. They have a family life as do the common believers. They can be seen worn as a charm at a pagoda or temple such as Quan Su Pagoda, Tran Vo Pagoda, Ngoc Son Temple, or Hai Ba Trung (The Two Trung Sisters) Temple. Rarely can people see a monk or guardian at a pagoda or temple in the outskirts of the Capital where pilgrims rarely come to visit, and money contributions for offertories are meager.

True religious worship presents a different picture, however. Many pagodas and temples were either destroyed became ruined due to lack of or poor maintenance reconstructed and repaired.. In the areas where the villagers are rich enough, the believers begin contribute to reparation of an old pagoda or temple or build a new one. The pagoda at Thanh Oai in the Ha Son Binh Province was on repair. The Boi Pagoda at Quoc Oai in the former Son Tay Province was restored. On the annual anniversary of the Founder Monk at Boi Pagoda thousands of believers from all directions came to pay respects to Buddha and attend the festival. Nevertheless, contributions to and offertories for reconstruction of pagodas and temples are to be administered through lines of the State authorities. Being asked if such services as restoring or rebuilding the worship places came out as a result of "coi mo" and "doi moi" (openness and renovation). common folks in the North, like their fellow countrymen in the South, actually don't know and don't care about what "coi mo" and "doi moi" meant to them.

After the "liberation of the South," people in both regions happened to have close contacts with one another. The Northerners have heard and seen so many things that are contrary to what the Party and State lied to them about the people and their life in the South. Now, the people in both regions ignore what the Communists propagandize, even with threats. They have overcome fear. They do things that are unauthorized. The local authorities oftentimes dare not lay hands on them. Why? The North Vietnamese had sacrificed everything: their properties, labor and sweat, and even their lives and those of their beloved for the country in the Resistance War, on the battlefronts in the South, along the Ho Chi Minh Trail, and in Kampuchea in the Vietnam War.. What do they get in return? Nothing but poverty and misery! The Party and State blind their eyes on certain things. What the authorities’ main concern is collect money. At every celebration, there is a contribution-to-building-socialism offertory box. That is really a kind of tax, and that is the most important task for which the State really cares (Quang Nhan, VHRW, December 1992)."

The revival of popular beliefs nevertheless brings with it corrupt practices. Sordid superstition by religion mongers is often seen in the performance of some sort of witchcraft that appears to be some form of religious practices to a foreign observer. These corrupt religious practices flourish even in the heart of Hanoi. The practitioners are allowed to perform even with a special permit and encouragement from the authorities, who are really those who pull the string behind the scene and who take most interests. These odious practices bring them a lot of money from the malicious practitioners and innocent lookers-on. The most common performances are the wild witchcraft dancing with traditional music on a flowery boat sailing to-and-fro on the Great Lake in Hanoi. A man or woman clad in old-style motley clothes is seen going into a trance, swinging arms and legs to the wild rhythmic ancient music. The performer acted as if he or she were possessed by evil spirits amidst a throng of "believers" who bow their heads murmuring prayers. They are free to practice their job, and the authorities take it for granted (Viet Tan, A Report on Religious Practices, 1992).

THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH OF VIETNAM

　

　

Catholicism the 19th Century

　

By the end of the nineteenth century, the Catholic population in Vietnam was estimated at a million with one-third of whom lived in the North. Vietnamese Catholic congregations, usually created by mass conversions of the poorest peasants in the Dang Ngoai (North Vietnam) beginning in the seventeenth century. They voluntarily founded their own "ho duong" (Christendom) in which the parish priest was the real leader who tool care of the religious life of the community. Until 1939, as a consequence of religious intolerance, the "luong" (non-Catholics) and the "giao" (Catholics) segregated from each other and settled in separate quarters. The Catholics were found no peace to live in the villages inhabited by obstinate "pagans" who performed village ceremonies to honor geniuses and deities and practiced family worship to venerate the dead with different rites and rituals. Little by little large congregations came into existence, and small and large parishes mushroomed throughout the country, regardless of discrimination.

Catholicism grew fast. Large dioceses expanded their boundaries in the immense fields of the old South and North. From 1914 to 1939, the Catholic faithful increased from 870,000 to 1,297,000 followers. The increase in the personnel of the Church was eight percent, from 385 priests in 1900 to 1,158 priests in 1932.

Parallel to the development of parishes, the Church’s prelacy in both regions of the country was established at a rhythmic pace. Hanoi Diocese was founded in 1892, Vinh Long Diocese, in 1899; Saigon Diocese, in 1899; Hue Diocese, in 1900; Quy Nhon Diocese, in 1902; Haiphong Diocese, in 1902; Vinh Diocese, in 1904, and so on. The body of clergy became more and more heterogeneous. Episcopal nominations varied among dignitaries from different nationalities, including Portuguese, Spanish, French, Canadian, and Vietnamese. The nominees were equally indiscriminately chosen among the Vietnamese clergy. Mgsr. Nguyen Ba Tong became the first Vietnamese bishop in 1933. Of importance, various Orders, congregations, little and grand seminaries, and educational and charitable foundations were established. Religious associations developed as the years went by. By the middle of the twentieth century, Roman Catholicism became one of the most prestigious faiths of Vietnam.

　

The Roman Catholic Church under the Viet Minh

Regime

A Typical Case

Typical of the religious life of this period is the case of the Christendom of the commune of Khac Can, Thanh Liem District, Ha Nam Ninh Province. This is small congregation that settled on the left side of the Day River, some 60 kilometers south of Hanoi. In the early days of the Christendom in the second half of the 19th century, the congregation practiced their religious services without a priest. Even though a poor Christendom, it erected a chapel and built it into a cathedral until later. Its members nevertheless served their faith with fervor. They had to travel as many kilometers to attend Sunday masses at a nearest church. Until the first decades of the 20th century, they could only receive the Sunday Mass once a month due to the scarcity of priests. They gathered and prayed .every Sunday Mass when a priest was not available. They dutifully attended Masses and participated in ceremonies and annual events at the churches nearby around the year.

A distant and isolated Christendom in the rural area, Khac Can suffered little political hatred and religious intolerance under the Japanese occupation of Indochina and after the Viet Minh uprisings of August 1945. Political animosity and religious discrimination were felt but not strong during the Resistance War (1946-1954) against the French. Misfortunes, however, befell the poor Christendom during the days of agrarian reform and the following years (1954-1956). The consequences of campaigns of revelation and denunciation of crimes swept away with it all the kindhearted habits, religious practices and activities the Christendom had ever held dear and preserved. Many bovine followers became fierce members of the agricultural commune. New practices of "socialist" and economic productions molded the most fervent followers into new modes of communal life Religious services and practices were considered as superstitious. The centennial cathedral was turned into a shack where the agricultural commune stored its farm implements. Sunday Masses were forbidden, and religious services were banned. For decades under the policy of religious repression that reigned over North Vietnam until the Communist takeover of Hanoi in 1954,, the Christendom ever remained loyal to the Catholic Creeds and were resigned to serve faith in silence. (Trung Tan, Interview with Pham Mai, October 2, 1991).

 

　

Catholicism during the August Uprisings

　

Artful Division of Religions

　

The Viet Minh lured free-floating political leaders to side with them while trying to eliminate the elements among them they considered the enemies from within. Among those people were credulous Catholics. To destroy Catholicism at the base, they even conspired artful practices of propaganda to sow division between the non-Catholics and the Catholics. Executing the order from the General Headquarters of Viet Minh, party cadres initiated campaigns to denigrate the Church, fabricated stories and spread evil rumors about the Catholic Church. Catholic priests were charged with false crimes of treason and the Catholic followers with making troubles to the new regime. They were mostly attributed to as the henchmen of the French, serving as spies for the French Expeditionary Corps. Evil rumors even hissed that the very authors of the crimes were the French bishops. They were French nationals, and thus they worked for the interests of the French. As a consequence, many of these dignitaries were targeted with elimination. Others were abducted to unknown whereabouts. Still, others were arrested with ungrounded reasons, imprisoned, and tortured. Everywhere in the country, the Catholic parishes lived under repression.

　

The Repression

   

Nghe An

   

Repression began during the Japanese occupation of Indochina. In the northernmost provinces of the Center, the persecution was pervasive. The Catholics became the victims of hatred and political discrimination. The sufferings were excruciating, and the material losses were tantamount to extinction. By the time the Japanese surrendered to the Allies (August 15, 1945) and, notably, during the uprising in Hanoi (August 19, 1945), the Catholics faced insurmountable hardship. Student priests and novices were sent home. The priests and missionaries of all Orders, who had been imprisoned in the camps under the Japanese occupation following the "coup d’etat" of March 9, 1945 were either regrouped in the camps or placed under house surveillance. Fr. Delaine Tan, Director of the Grand Seminary at Vinh, died after three days under house surveillance.

The events that ensued after that complicated the situation. Catholic laymen, seminarians, and priests were politically discriminated, regardless of their patriotic fervor and sympathy to the "Revolution." On September 2, 1945 when Ho Chi Minh in the name of the Privy Government proclaimed the independence of Vietnam, Catholic laymen, the seminarians and the clergy at the Grand Seminary in Vinh Diocese, indeed, gathered at the township meeting to welcome the "Revolution" and joyfully celebrated the Day of Independence. Nevertheless, new measures were applied to suppress theism, particularly Catholicism. Religious education was abrogated, and the role of religion in education was denied.

By the implementation of educational programs at the national level, the Ho Chi Minh government issued the Order of December 1945 and introduced among other things atheism into the school curricula. In face of such a catastrophic educational policy, the Catholics in the Nghe (An) - (Ha) Tinh provinces instantly withdrew their support for the Viet Minh. Many anti-atheist organizations were founded to oppose atheism and protest against the atheist Viet Minh authorities. The opposition moved on as years went by. During the later years of the Resistance War, clandestine anti-Viet Minh activities ever rose. Uprisings took place here and there in Nghe An, Ho Chi Minh’ s home province. The opposition lasted for many years but was flattened out, The local Viet Minh authorities never hesitated to lay heavy hand on the opponents. The most resilient revolt happened in the summer of 1952 in Hung Nguyen, Nghe An. During the event, Fr. Vo Viet Hien, a native of Trang Nuc, assumed the role of leadership. The Viet Minh flattened the resurrection without mercy. Many Catholics were killed, and many Catholic priests were arrested and imprisoned.

Thanh Hoa

The situation in Thanh Hoa Province was much more deplorable. The Second World War broke out (1939). The Japanese invaded Indochina (1940). By the "coup d’etat" of March 9, 1945, the Japanese replaced the French to rule the country. They nevertheless allowed the French colonialists to stay and administer the country under their supervision. Discrimination against anything that was French was strong, and, by coincidence, hatred for Catholicism developed. French missionaries were suspected of espionage, to work as spies for the Trench. Foreign priests were regrouped and brought to the concentration camps at Cau Ram, Vinh Township. Catholic laymen, suspected of treason. They were attributed to as the pro-French elements and were either imprisoned or placed under surveillance.

The Japanese politics of hatred against the French added weight to the repression on the Catholic clergy and laymen throughout the diocese. The situation grew worse when the Viet Minh came to power. The anti-Catholic policy of the new regime left disastrous consequences, creating social turmoil and political instability, and thus upsetting the religious life of the Catholics thereafter. Persecution against the Catholics ensued. It became more intolerable in Thanh Hoa than any other dioceses in the country. The Catholics in the uppermost north of the province faced such a fanaticism that they could only bow their heads to utmost violence of the Viet Minh. They were trampled underfoot, immersed in downcast hatred, suspicion, and terrorism for many years. Catholic missionaries were, again, targeted with elimination. They were falsely attributed to as the spies for the French. Catholic followers were accused without ground of being the agents for the French. They were even attributed to as the culprits of genocide crime who intentionally spread poison into the wells in the countryside to kill innocent people. This artful division split the Catholics and non-Catholics, especially among the peasantry.

Terror reigned the diocese. On June 10, 1946, Fr. Can, the pastor at Chan Lao Parish, was killed at Hoi Xuan. The Seminary at Ba Lang (The Trio Villages) was razed to the ground. The Viet Minh troops penetrated and occupied the place and built on it an outpost. On July 1, 1946, Fr. Chu Thao Tien was killed at Phuong Son. Fr. Mai Ba Mhan died of hard labor at the Cam Thuy agricultural camp. The congregation of the Sisters for the Cross was dissolved, and all the novices were forced to return home.

　

Phat Diem Diocese

A Hidden Scheme

In the beginning of the Resistance War (1946), the Ho Chi Minh government sought to woo the religions to ally with it to fight against the French under its leadership. On the eve of the Lunar Year of Dinh Hoi (January 1, 1947), at Phu Da Hamlet, Son Tay Province where the Viet Minh Resistance Government had its seat, Ho Chi Minh wished on the radio the faithful and leaders of all Churches a happy new year. The following days, he and other members of the government, Nguyen Van Tao, Minister for Labor, Nguyen Tan Nhon, Minister for Agriculture, and Cu Huy Can, Vice-minister for Agriculture made a visit tour to Nho Quan District, Ninh Binh Province. The aim was to seek support from the Catholic Bishop Le Huu Tu of Phat Diem Diocese. The dignitary was invited to Nho Quan where the Viet Minh greeted him with great welcome. The bishop was named the Supreme Advisor to the President of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam by Ho Chi Minh himself.

In reality, the Viet Minh, for political reason, solaced the religious leader into cooperating with them and got support from the Catholic faithful in the fight against the French. Nevertheless, shortly after that, in the beginning of 1947, Ho Chi Minh and the Communists made "volte face" shortly after that. The Viet Minh searched for and eliminated fervent Catholics. In the Phat Diem Diocese only, they arrested as many as 5,000 people, mostly lay Catholics "for lack of vigilance for the Resistance." Many of them were accused of being "reactionary Catholics." Many were also suspicious of being the members of various national parties. Lay Catholics who were arrested were only the ones who still kept in their houses a French tricolor flag or a royal "long tinh," which flag was officially recognized as the national emblem under the reign of Emperor Bao Dai. Other victims were those who were doubted for having had connection with the national parties. Still, others were those who helped with the Church's religious services such as the head of a congregation or the leader of a Catholic association (Pham Van Pho, 1994: 14)

　

Hanoi Diocese

Throughout the period following the August Uprisings, Hanoi Diocese suffered the most tragic losses. It endured severe hardship under the Japanese supervision during World War II and was targeted with enmity of the Vietnam in the fratricidal fights for power between the Vietnamese Communists and Nationalists during the August Uprisings of 1945. The situation of the embattled Vietnam became increasingly tense with the arrival of the Chinese Koumintang troops in North Vietnam when they came to disarm the Japanese troops stationed from north of 16th Parallel. All through this period of crisis, the Church was imperiled with all sources of animosity coming, first, from the Japanese Fascists then from the atheist Viet Minh. The Catholic clergy and Orders were the target for oppression of the Japanese and the object of repression of the Viet Minh. Catholic missionaries were regarded the allies to the Western Allies by the Japanese, and the collaborators of the French colonialists and the supporters of the national parties by the Viet Minh. Both the Japanese and Viet Minh, the one after the other, treated them with disdain and hatred.

In Thai Ha Parish, where the Remptorists Order was most active, religious services and practices came under surveillance. The Church’ s faithful served their faith with fear for repression. In the adjoining parishes, educational and charitable establishments were forced to shut down. Religious services and activities in chapels and houses for prayers were discouraged. Church organizations were dismantled The Associations for Worship Services, the Association of Catholic Youths, the Association of Catholic Scouts, the Saint Vincent Association, and the Order of Sisters of St. Paul all suffered dissolution.

With the Viet Minh’ s ascent to power, the Catholics were truly at a loss. In the beginning, quite a few Catholic priests and intellectuals in Hanoi had the idea that the Viet Minh were patriotic. On September 23, 1945, a lage group of Catholic priests and followers joined the Viet Minh at Ba Dinh Square to express confidence in the Provisory Government with Ho Chi Minh while innocent foreign missionaries in Hanoi and elsewhere suffered persecution. A large number of them were regrouped and sent to the concentration camps. Many others living in the rural areas had to escape and sought refuge in Hanoi and large cities. Distressfully, Vietnamese pastors in the countryside equally coped with utmost difficulty, discrimination, and persecution.

At the reception party to welcome Ho Chi Min after his return from France, October 23, 1945, the Bishop of Hanoi expressed his anxiety about the fate of Church’ s clergy to Ho Chi Minh. The dignitary asked Ho Chi Minh to help out the French missionaries who were taking refuge in Hanoi from difficulty, to free them from suspicion.. Ho declined, saying that he had to attend to the fate of the bishop first. Persecution began. Calamity befell the Redemptorists Order at Thai Ha Ap (Thai Ha Hamlet), Hanoi. By he end of 1946 when the Indochina War broke out, the Viet Minh arrested and detained all the Order’s priests and seminarians in residence at the Thai Ha seminary. The Thai Ha abbey was pillaged and destroyed. Terrorism intensified. On December 19, 1946, Fr. Xavier Bay, the pastor of Vinh Phuc Parish (Long Bien Bridge area) was abducted and killed at midnight.

　

Thai Binh Diocese

Persecution was pervasive in the most populated province of Thai Binh. Fr. Sedaro Thai was killed on Tra Ly riverbank on February 22, 1946. Fr. Gallego Wan and Fr. Labayan Trung of the Dominican Order presented the case of discrimination against the Catholics to Ho Chi Minh during a presidential audience. Ho promised, with tears in his eyes, to punish the culprits and made every effort to bring security to everyone. Nevertheless, persecution resumed. Foreign missionaries and the priests in the Thai Ninh and Kien Thuy districts had to leave their parishes and sought refuge in Nam Dinh and Hanoi.

Hung Hoa Diocese

　

Adjacent to Hanoi Diocese, the diocesan area of Hung Hoa was also exposed to turmoil and persecution all through the periods of Japanese occupation and the Indochina War. On March 9, 1945, when the Japanese troops overthrew the French colonial rule the situation in Hung Hoa Diocese was prone to chaos. The Japanese troops regrouped and brought all French missionaries to Hanoi where they detained them in separate concentration camps. During the August uprisings (1945), imprisoned Catholic priests and missionaries were released from the camps and came back to their old parishes and missions. They never enjoyed peace thereafter. The Viet Minh, suspicious of their possible relationship with the remnants of the colonial rule, subdued them under tight surveillance. It was not until the Indochina War broke out that these missionaries and priests were relieved from painstaking restrictions. Bishop Maze and the clergy in Hung Hoa Diocese successfully evaded to and sought refuge in Hanoi. Until 1950 when the parishioners in Hung Hoa could organize self-defense groups to protect their cathedrals and the local faithful that the Bishop and the clergy of the diocese could return to the diocese offices again.

　

Catholicism during the Indochina War

During the Indochina War, the Viet Minh secretly carried out measures of attrition .against the Catholics, trying to immerse the Catholic faith in the darkness of oblivion. In 1953, during the first phase of Land Reform (1952-1954), the Viet Minh launched a wave of white terror allegedly aiming to destroy the remnants of colonialism and imperialism and possible sources of opposition. The main target of elimination was nevertheless the Roman Catholic Church. Ardent Catholics were attributed to as the members of the Lien Ton Diet Cong (Anti-Communist Interfaith). Many of them were arrested on ungrounded charges of counterrevolutionary crimes. Terrorism persisted until the Viet Minh takeover of Hanoi following the Geneva Accords of July 20, 1954.

　

The Persecution

In the South

Strict measures against the religions began with the repression on the religions in the later years of the 1940' s. In the beginning of the Indochina War, the Ho Chi Minh government sought to woo the religions to ally with it to fight against the French under its leadership. During the war, having successfully integrated the pro-Viet Minl religious groups into the Communist satellite Lien Viet Front, it about-faced and repressed them outright. The Catholic clergy throughout the country, again, suffered persecution. In the southernmost province of Bac Lieu, Fr. Truoung Buu Diep, the pastor of Tac Sang Parish, Phong Thanh, as a case of evidence, was abducted and executed on March 18, 1946. The priest voluntarily suffered death in exchange for the lives of more than 70 parishioners of Tac Say who had been accused of anti-revolutionary crimes. His grave was later discovered, and his remains were unearthed and reburied in Tac Say Parish.

　

In the Center

　

In the provinces of Central Vietnam, where the Viet Minh were equally fanatic, Catholic priests were targeted with elimination even before the war. On November 30, 1945, on the order of the Council of Resistance of Khanh Hoa Province, the missionaries of the Franciscan Order had to leave their abbey without reason. They had to travel as far as Qui Nhon, Binh Dinh Province where they were separated and placed under surveillance. In Khanh Hoa, religious practices were prohibited. Fervent Catolic followers and priests were arrested and persecuted. Fr. Simon Ton of Khanh Hoa was killed.

In Nha Trang, eight cathedrals were demolished, and many others were razed to the ground. In the Central Highlands, persecution began when the French troops occupied Kontum (1947). The Viet Minh executed the so-called scorched-earth tactics. Under the pretext that the French would use any solid facilities to station their soldiers, they burned down the cathedrals at Pleiku. They charged the Catholic clergy with false charges of treason. Fr. Romanef Phuong of Ban Me Thuot, as a case in evidence, was arrested and sent to the concentration camp in Nha Trang in Spring 1946.

　

In the North

 

　

Phat Diem

Phat Diem, the southernmost diocese in North Vietnam, maintained relative security owing to the reconciliation between Bishop Le Huu Tu and the Viet Minh. After the August uprisings when chaos and violence reigned everywhere in the country and the Viet Minh failed to control the situation, the bishop had the faithful in his diocese to found the Phat Diem Zone of Safety with Ho Chi Minh’s approval. Later, the Viet Minh about-faced and had their troops surrounded the diocese and isolated it from the adjoining areas. The diocese had to challenge the French and the Viet Minh as well. Phat Diem transformed itself into a military stronghold and a haven for members of national parties. Fr. Hoang Quynh was then assigned to the task of leadership of the militia Nghia Dung Quaqn.. Until 1953, the population in the diocese enjoyed relative security. Neither the French troops nor the Viet Minh military forces ventured into the Phat Diem self-administrative zone.

　

Bui Chu

Applying the same approach, Bui Chu Diocese established itself a self-administrative zone. The diocese nevertheless distanced itself from the Viet Minh Government and never reconciled with the Communists. It formed itself self-defense groups to protect its seminaries, cathedrals, diocesan offices, and the faithful. Due to resilient stance against the Communists, it suffered tragic losses subsequent to the Viet Minh occupation of the diocese later. During the period of 1949-1950, Phu Ninh Village of Dai Dong Parish, notably, became the target of elimination of the Viet Minh. The local Communist propaganda spread the rumor that F. Nguyen Duy Ton, the parish pastor, organized the parishioners into groups in arms and instigated an uprising to overthrow the resistance government. At 5:00 A.M. of November 16, 1949, when the morning Mass was over, a battalion of 500 Viet Minh guerrillas suddenly rushed in, surrounded the cathedral, and searched for the pastor. The priest escaped death owing to due intervention of the nationalist troops from Dai Dong that came in rescue in time. Nevertheless, from then on, the faithful of the diocese lived under constant threat in fear for revenge of the Viet Minh. Also, for this reason, the parishioners themselves had to take charge of self-defense to protect themselves.

The security in Bui Chu Diocese deteriorated as the Indochina war drew to an end. In 1952, the battles between the French and the Viet Minh became increasingly violent. With massive military aids from Communist China, the Viet Minh launched all-out attacks on all battlefronts. The French troops suffered great losses and had to fight on the defensive. The nationalist troops equally found themselves at a tight corner. In many areas, they fought in despair. Many of their outposts were wiped out. The Van Dan stronghold in Hai Hau District was under continual attack. The parish offices and the Grand Seminary Thomas at Quan Phuong were in danger of destruction.

The Viet Minh aggressed on and gradually took control of a larger part of Bui Chu Diocese. In 1953, the French-Vietnamese forces launched counterattacks on the Viet Minh and reoccupied many areas in the diocese. Nevertheless, when they withdrew, the Viet Minh guerrillas came back and avenged themselves on those who they thought had connections with the nationalists. Tran Van Dinh , the village head of Quan Phuong Trung, Hai Hau District, was abducted in broad daylight and executed.

Lines of battles of revenge crisscrossed the country, and abductions and killings multiplied. At Ba Trai and Tang Dien, many youths were executed. At Cho Con, a number of unidentified priests and seminarians were abducted to Inter-zone IV and imprisoned at Ly Ba So Camp in Thanh Hoa Province. During June 4-5, 1953, the Viet Minh guerrillas attacked the Little Seminary at Trung Linh Village. and destroyed the diocesan offices and establishments. Four sisters of the Man Coi lost their lives. Sixty seminarians were placed under surveillance. The diocese was under the control of the guerrillas . Fr. Giuse Phan Phuc Huyen, Fr. Gioan Baotixita Vu Ngoc Huan, and Fr. Joseph Bruneau Kinh were abducted to unknown whereabouts.

At the end of June 1953, the Viet Minh guerrillas attacked the nationalist troops at Quan Phuong who were then subdued and surrendered. The guerrillas laid siege at the local seminary. Fr. Hoang Gia Hue was abducted to Inter-zone IV. The old pastor later died at the camp because of poor health on June 30. On October 6, 1953, Dai Do Theng of Giao Thuy Parish fell to the control of Viet Minh guerrillas. Fr. Phan Tuan Duc was abducted to Ly Ba So Camp, Thanh Cam, Thanh Hoa. He died at the camp.

Thai Binh

　

In Thai Binh Diocese, the situation was even worse. During 1946, the local Viet Minh consolidated their newly-established administration with violence, chaos spread. In many parishes, the followers voluntarily armed themselves with coarse weaponry to withstand the Viet Minh. They were nevertheless brutally crushed by the Viet Minh forces that were superior in arms and military tactics., Many priests could not escape the execution. Fr. Giuse Mai Duc Tinh of Phuong Xa was shot dead by a Viet Minh firing squad. Fr. Ho Quang Luat, the pastor of Cao Mai Parish, was abducted, imprisoned, and tortured to death at Ly Ba So Camp, Thanh Hoa. The Catholic monk Tran Thuan Hieu of the Dominican Order at Thuan Nghiep, Nghia Chinh Parish, was beheaded. Many priests and Bible interpreters, among them were Bao Loi at An Vi and Thinh at Phuoc Le and a number of seminarians were put into prison. They were only released when the Geneva Agreements of July 1954 took effect. 

　

Lang Son

　

In the distant diocese of Lang Son, the Catholics endured a true tragedy. Intermittent battles between the French and Japanese troops, then ferocious fights between the French Expeditionary Corps and the Viet Minh guerrillas, and, lastly, bloody clashes between the Viet Minh guerrillas and the Nationalist militia ensued. Chaos took place in the diocesan territory. Beginning in March 1945, the faithful lived in agony. Hunger raged the country. The Japanese troops overthrew the French rule. French missionaries were put under surveillance. Many of these priests sought in vain to evade to other cities in the plains. On August 15, 1945, Japan surrendered to the Allies. The Viet Minh came to power. Catholic missionaries became the objects of suspicion of crimes of espionage The Bishop of Lang Son and foreign missionaries were eventually turned out of their abbey and left for Hanoi to seek refuge.

On December 19, 1946, the Indochina War broke out. The French troops from the plains advanced to Lang Son and sized the township and other provinces in the highlands. The Viet Minh carried out the scorched-earth tactics. They destroyed the villages and harvests to slow down the move of the French troops and retreated to the forest, leaving the people behind unprotected. The French troops, in turn, destroyed without hesitation all buildings, cathedrals, pagodas, and earthworks that obstructed their advance. Bombs turned townships and villages into ruins. The Viet Minh propaganda put the blame on Catholic priests and followers for this calamity. They were attributed to as the spies for or collaborators of the French. They were thus the allies to the invaders, aiding and abetting the enemy to reoccupy the country. All through the war, the Viet Minh targeted them with violence and elimination.

　

Cao Bang

At Cao Bang, terrorism spread. Many priests were persecuted or abducted to unknown whereabouts. Fr. Giuse Ngoc of Nam Loat was killed on September 16, 1947. Fr. Phero Thao, the pastor of the Main Cathedral of Cao Bang, was killed on September 17, 1947. Fr. Giuse Ngfyen Van De was killed at Quang Uyen, on October 6.1947 At the end of 1947, Fr. Phero Hao and Fr. Dien of Ta Lung were abducted to unknown whereabouts. Sources affirmed that Fr. Mallet Binh of Quang Uyen was buried alive, having refused to leave the parish. Fr. Brebion Uy, who was then 80-year old, was allowed to stay. Nevertheless, he was found dead, mouth gaped, in his bed several days later.