Hanoi:
attacks continue against Thai Ha parish
by
Paul Nguyen Hung
AsiaNews
– 11/24/2011
Local authorities, hooligans and police intensify
attacks, threats and acts of violence against Catholic religious and laity
trying to defend their parish from unlawful dispossession. Dozens of people have
been arrested. Prayers are being said around the world for Thai Ha.
Hanoi (AsiaNews) – In the past two weeks,
Vietnamese Catholics both at home and abroad have prayed non-stop for Thai Ha
parish, northern Vietnam. Incredibly, 600 police and local government officials
have surrounded the Redemptorist parish church, seizing its land. Redemptorist
priests and religious were mistreated and threatened, but parishioners,
including young people, are still gathering at Thai Ha to pray to God and Our
Mother of Perpetual Help.
Communist Party officials broke the cross in Dong
Chiem. They poured dirty oil on the statue of Our Mother of Perpetual Help in
Thai Ha parish, broke into a church courtyard and desecrated the Eucharist in
Hanoi Cathedral. In Thai Ha church, more than a hundred hooligans attacked the
Redemptorists and threatened to kill them.
Local authorities, which are supposed to protect
religious freedom, instead violated it. Wherever Communism and atheistic
materialism rule in Vietnam, religion is oppressed.
“Many people have endured the injustice of prison
without trial,” Paul Hung, of Thai Ha parish, told
AsiaNews.
“In the city of Hanoi, local authorities are using thugs and police agents to
crack down and arrest the faithful, patriots like Fr Nguyen Van Ly, but also
some 20 bloggers and 15 young Catholics.”
For many members of Thai Ha parish, the authorities
“are engaged in dialogue with Redemptorist priests in Thai Ha, whilst using
hooligans to devastate and destroy the parish. They use plainclothes police to
break the law. They rely on hooligans to attack the faithful and the clergy so
as to avoid criticism from Human Rights Watch and other human rights groups.”
Speaking to
AsiaNews
on ‘Teachers’ Day’ (20 November), Fr Nguyen said, “Once the educational system
is built on atheistic materialism, the regime becomes egocentric and deceitful
towards the people.”
“We need prayers for ourselves and for the young
generation to protect us from atheistic materialism,” said Bishop Hoang Duc Oanh.
In reference to education today, he said, “Let us
pray for a just educational system, one that can prepare people to be good in
society. Let us pray for a harmonious development based on justice and love as
Jesus taught us.”
Recently, some 500 Vietnamese-Australians organised
a prayer vigil in Melbourne for Thai Ha parish and their homeland. “We have a
duty to speak for those who have no voice,” said Bishop Vincent Nguyen Van Long.
Urging the gathering to pray for those treated
unjustly, he said, “Our concern is for our brothers and sisters, who are victims
of deceit. Let us raise our voice to demand the protection of justice and the
public interest of the Vietnamese people.”
Sadly, such solidarity towards the Vietnamese
Church is hard to come by in other parts of the world.