Thousands of
Catholics protest illegal expropriation of Church’s land
VietCatholic News (24 May 2010)
Protests erupted in Vinh
diocese to stop a construction project on parish land. The removal of Archbishop
Joseph Ngo Quang Kiet has resulted in immediate negative consequences on
Church’s property issues, observers warn.
After
the mass of the feast of Pentecost on Sunday May 23, an estimate of 5000
Catholics from parishes of Cau Ram, Yen Dai, and Ke Gai of Cau Ram Deanery, Vinh
Diocese gathered at the church of Cau Ram to protest a construction project on
the church’s land. The faithful poured into the streets of Cau Ram with Vatican
flags and banners demanding the immediate stop of the construction.
The church of Cau Ram (330 km south of Hanoi), an awesome complex of
constructions containing a church, sacristy, pastoral ministry rooms and
priest’s house around a lake, was built at the early of 1900.
Like the church of Tam Toa, which was the ground for confrontation between
Catholics and the government in July last year, the church in Cau Ram was
converted into a military base in order to lure American pilots to attack it and
therefore give Hanoi something to serve for its anti-Americans propaganda.
The church was hit heavily by American bombing during the Vietnam War. At the
end of the war, despite the aspiration of parishioners to reconstruct their
church, the land of the church was divided into two parts by a road built to
take tourists from Hanoi to the house of "Uncle Ho", the communist leader who
brought Vietnam into communism.
Hanoi also ruled that the church would become “a memorial site” and that it was
to be “preserved and protected for future generations, in memory of the war
crimes of the Americans".
The diocese has asked in vain for its return as the local government has
repeatedly attempted to build on the “memorial site to be preserved and
protected for future generations, in memory of the war crimes of the Americans"
an apartment building to sell housing units to individuals. It would bring about
millions of dollars for local officials.
In the last two years, during the wake of strong protests of Catholics on Church
property issues in Hanoi, Vinh and other regions, the local government had to
put aside its plots. But it is now becoming more resolute in seizing the parish
land. A contract has just been signed with a construction company which has
started its work immediately.
Almost after the removal of Archbishop Joseph Ngo Quang Kiet, an event described
by communist officials as a “glorious victory” in the international stage, local
authorities have started a new wave of attacks on Church’s properties. Catholic
observers warn of more chaos and persecutions against Catholics as the regime
becomes more ready to act much bolder in seizing Church's properties.
J.B. An
Dang