Bishop of
Kontum denounces the Vietnamese authorities for seizing religious buildings
AsiaNews
06/27/2012
In a letter the prelate calls for "fairness and
justice" and defends the "feelings of the people." Issue at stake, three
properties "borrowed" by the authorities and never returned. For Msgr. Michael
Hoang Duc Oanh religious freedom is also a matter of "application of the law"
and the principles of "truth, justice and love."
Ho Chi Minh City
(AsiaNews / EDA) - A battle to achieve "fairness and justice," to safeguard "the
feelings of the people" Vietnamese and Catholic and their legitimate
"interests". This is the message at the heart of a letter written by Msgr.
Michael Hoang Duc Oanh, bishop of the diocese of Kontum in the Central
Highlands, regarding Church property illegally confiscated by local government.
In the letter addressed to the highest institutions of the province, the
prelate, a passionate defender of religious freedom in past campaigns (see
AsiaNews 05/03/2012 Kontum: attack against priest and Christians generating
"frustration and misunderstanding"), denounces "the destruction of a key charity
centre", the latest act of a series of seizures and confiscations of property
and assets belonging to the Vietnamese Catholic Church.
The open letter was dated 28 May, but only in recent days appeared on the
Vietcatholich News section in the local language. It is addressed to the
President of the People's Committee of the province of Kontum and, in the first
instance, wants to clarify that the loss of property or tangible property is not
a "mortal wound". However, Msgr. Michael Hoang Duc Oanh adds that the fight for
religious freedom also involves the "defense of justice and inalienable rights"
of people and property, taken "on loan" from local governments in recent decades
and never returned.
The prelate cites "several sources" according to whom the provincial section of
the Ministry of Education "is preparing to demolish the Kontum diocese charity
center" to build in its place, "an institute for the training of nursery school
personnel". The manner by which authorities have requisitioned the property,
according to Msgr. Michel, is symptomatic of the "manner and political ways of a
regime." Regardless of the fact that the property belonged to the Church and
"should be returned to its rightful owner," added the bishop, the local
authorities "continue to act as if nothing has happened and violate the very
principles they have laid down."
In practice, there are three cases mentioned explicitly by the Bishop of Kontum:
the convent of the Sisters of Charity, built in the 1930s, and demolished to
make way for a government institution, the expulsion of the Sisters of
Providence from their convent and who have been left for 30 years without a
home, the charity center "borrowed" in 1978 and never returned. In addition
there are other small and large examples of violations, leading religious and
faithful to loose trust in the government and its institutions.
"This case is not just a matter of goods and property," adds Msgr. Michael Hoang
Duc Oanh. "It is a factor of fairness and justice: it is also a question of
people's feelings, their rights, the law and the wellbeing of the individual."
We are not asking for "favors," said the prelate, but "we just want to be
treated with the same justice that is due to all citizens who have the right to
live successfully in a society where the law is fully applicable in practice"
built on the principles of "truth, justice and love."