World Watch - Catholic World Report

Enemy of the Regime
A Catholic priest is arrested for speaking out on human-rights abuses.

When he delivered his testimony to the US Congress on February 13, 2001, Father Nguyen Van Ly, arguing against American approval of a bilateral trade pact, began by listing the government’s offenses against religious freedom in Vietnam. The following passages are taken from that portion of his testimony.

A Catholic priest was detained by Vietnam’s Communist government late in February, for actions which the government claims were part of a plot to undermine socialism. Orders for the priest’s arrest went out less than two weeks after he submitted testimony to the US Congress regarding violations of religious freedom and human rights in Vietnam.
The state-run Hanoi Moi newspaper told its readers that Father Tadeus Nguyen Van Ly was one of many anti-Communists who were deliberately seeking to cause social upheaval, timing their subversive actions to embarrass the government in the weeks leading up to a major meeting of the Vietnamese Communist Party. “Ly’s tricks were part of the plot to undermine the regime, to cause political instability,” the paper said. The priest, Hanoi Moi reported, was a partner in “a wicked plot by hostile forces against socialism.”

Father Ly was put under “administrative detention” in the central province of Thua Thien Hue, and branded a traitor, after he urged the US Congress not to ratify a historic trade pact. The trade pact, which was signed last July, would give Vietnam access to US markets, but it requires approval by the US Congress and Vietnam’s National Assembly. The pact is considered vital to the Vietnamese government’s plans to boost exports and attract foreign investment.

“Citizen Nguyen Van Ly has committed actions in violation of the laws and harmful to the national security,” the government announced. An official proclamation announcing the priest’s detention said that “Mr. Ly should be given time to be educated and favorable conditions to correct his mistakes.”

At this very moment, anywhere in our beloved country, one can see the slogan “Nothing is more precious than independence and freedom.” Ironically, maybe because they are so precious and rare, it can be said very precisely that nobody anywhere in our entire country is living with independence or freedom.

In the realm of religion, the control of the Communist government has stripped all churches of their independence and freedom.

Since April 30, 1975, after conquering South Vietnam, the Vietnamese Communists have implemented a severely oppressive policy toward religions in this country. Many legal decrees have been issued to confine, limit, or ban religious activities in the cruelest fashion, never before seen in the history of religions in Vietnam. Many plots and traps have been used to detain and jail the leadership of those religions that oppose and demand an end to the oppressive and anti-religion policies carried out persistently and ruthlessly by the Communist government for almost 50 years (1954-2001). Many clergymen and followers suffer for years in the concentration camps for just living out their faith.

Many plots and ploys have been used to penetrate, undermine, divide, and politicize religions such as the Cao Dai, Catholic, and various Protestant churches. Many offices and properties of the churches—Cao Dai, Catholic, Buddhist, Hoa Hao Buddhist, and Protestant—have been confiscated or expropriated by the Communist government for its arbitrary uses.

As for the Vietnamese Catholic Church, the Vietnamese Communist government has taken control of the most fundamental rights of the Church. This fact has been repeatedly listed in the petitions of the Vietnamese Bishops Council from 1980 to this day.

The Vietnamese Communist government blatantly interferes with the Vietnamese Bishops Council’s annual liturgical meeting. Before the meeting, the Council has to apply for permission for the gathering and submit the meeting agenda for government’s approval. After the meeting, the Council must submit the meeting minutes to the government. If the Council has anything to announce to the followers or people in general, it must first submit the text of the announcement to the government for pre-approval.

The Vietnamese Communist government blatantly interferes with the process of selection and assignment of bishops, selection and ordination of priests. When the Holy See in Rome wishes to assign a bishop to any diocese, it must discuss the matter with the Vietnamese Communist government in many meetings over many years. The government usually disapproves of the Church’s candidates and only allows those clergymen who have appeased them. After years of having various positions unfilled, the Vatican reluctantly agrees to the government’s list, to end the damaging effect of leaving the bishops’ offices empty for so long. Today, the dioceses of Hung Hoa, Hai Phong, Bui Chu, and others are still without bishops after over 8 years and the Holy See is still unsuccessful in negotiating the assignments.

Both the young candidates who wish to enter seminaries and the Church which wishes to ordain priests must submit applications and the candidates’ personal histories to the provincial Public Security office for review and consideration.

Candidates who agree to work as government moles inside the seminaries and monasteries have better chances of being approved. On the other hand, candidates whose families include associates of the former Republic of Vietnam and those who are not afraid of revealing their disagreement with the government would have no chance for admission to the seminaries or ordination to the priesthood regardless of their devotion, talents, or love of the Church.

Bishops who wish to ordain priests or to assign priests to certain tasks must first write application forms and discuss the matters with the government for a long time. In some cases, it has taken almost 20 years without a solution. The standards set by the Vietnamese Communist government have nothing to do with the qualities the Church requires of the candidate to become and perform the duties of a priest. Due to this process, the number of new priests being ordained every year has fallen sharply, not enough to meet the needs of the Church or even to fill positions left by attrition. In remote areas, many priests have to take care of as many as 10 parishes far apart. In addition, it is very difficult for a priest to obtain permission to move from one area to another to work.

The Vietnamese Communist government still imprisons and detains many priests, clergymen, and followers.

The Vietnamese Communist government blatantly interferes with the Church’s rights to freedom of the press and freedom of expression. The Church is not allowed to publish any periodicals at any level—from parish to national—and therefore, cannot fulfill her religious teaching responsibilities. Before 1975, there were dozens of Catholic periodicals in South Vietnam. Today, there are two weeklies—Cong Giao & Dan Toc (Catholics & the Nation) and Nguoi Cong Giao Viet Nam (Vietnamese Catholics), both of which are directed and financed by the Vietnamese Communist Party.

Meanwhile, freedom of expression is totally absent in our country. It is even harder for churches to express anything. Statements like the one I am expressing now cannot be propagated in Vietnam simply because no copy shops dare to reprint them. Not many people dare to keep documents of this kind in their home for fear of the dear price to pay, for themselves and their families. Only those who are already willing to die for their faith dare to keep the documents.

The Vietnamese Communist government requires all high school and college students to learn and love socialism but almost nobody wants to either teach or learn this dogma. It is all right for the 3 million members of the Communist Party and the 5 million members of the Communist Youth League to study that doctrine (should they still believe in it) and use it in such a way that it benefits the economy, the society, and people’s lives. The rest of the population, however, should have the right to question whether the building of socialism in Vietnam would actually lead to the future it promised or is it just an illusion.

The fleeing of 2.5 million Vietnamese for freedom despite the danger of the high seas is another clear proof that, at best, there is nothing special about socialism. To force all citizens, including members of the churches, to learn and love the dogma that has bankrupted both its birthplace and the nation of Vietnam is a flagrant oppression of thought.

The government has either confiscated or resorted to forced concession to take over all of the Church’s facilities for educational, social, and health-care works. The number of confiscated properties from 1954 in North Vietnam and from 1975 in the whole country has reached a thousand, even ten thousand. Without these facilities, the Church cannot train seminarians and clergymen, help students, and serve the poor, sick, handicapped, and orphans.