Catholic prayer vigil turns into clash with Vietnamese police – CNA  25 Jan 2008

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Vietnamese Catholics continue pressuring government over stolen property

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Hanoi, Jan 25, 2008 / 03:01 am (CNA).- The Vietnamese government continues to face petitions from Catholics over properties confiscated by the government after 1954, the Associated Press reports. 
However, improved church-state relations have meant the Vietnamese government has not cracked down as harshly as it has in the past.
Catholics have focused their prayers and pleas on the old Vatican embassy, a 2.5-acre lot in central Hanoi worth millions. 
"It is a tragedy for us that our holy land was taken away," said Father Nguyen Khac Que, a priest of the Hanoi diocese who helped organize the prayer vigils.
Church officials say they have documentation showing the property belongs to the diocese.  Government officials claim a former priest voluntarily turned the land over to them in 1960.
"This whole matter of returning land is very complicated," Duong Ngoc Tan, of Vietnam's national Committee for Religious Affairs, told the Associated Press.
Only five years ago, the public prayer vigil of the protesters would probably have led to jail time.
"There is now a sufficient feeling of comfort on both sides that the church feels it can air its grievances publicly and the state feels it can tolerate them," said Peter Hansen of the Catholic Theological College in Melbourne, Australia, speaking to the Associated Press.
Despite city officals’ requests to stop the protests, church leaders plan their biggest vigil yet for this Friday.  Because public protests are generally forbidden, leaders are careful to refer to the gatherings as vigils, rather than demonstrations.
Pham Vu Thuc, a lay Catholic in Vietnam, said globalization had caused the Vietnamese government to become more attentive to global standards of religious freedom.
"Things have changed a lot since we've become more connected with the outside world," she told the Associated Press. "We have the Internet, we've joined the World Trade Organization. Now Vietnam has to follow the rules of the international community."
According to Independent Catholic News, thousands of California Catholics have been holding prayer vigils in solidarity with their fellow Vietnamese Catholics.   Two thousand attended a candlelight vigil and Mass at St. Maria Goretti parish in San Jose, California, praying for the Vietnamese Catholics’ effort.
There are six million Catholics in Vietnam, a predominantly Buddhist country.

Archbishop of Hanoi responds to government threats and accusations
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Archbishop Joseph Ngô Quang Kiêt
Hanoi, Jan 28, 2008 / 12:48 pm (CNA).- Over the weekend, members of the Vietnamese government issued a statement about the recent Catholic protests in the capital city of Hanoi.  In a response dated January 28, Archbishop Joseph Ngô of Hanoi disproved every accusation leveled against his flock by the government.
The statement comes after the city's governing body issued an order on January 26 giving the protestors until 5 p.m. Sunday to leave the premises and to remove statues of the Virgin Mary and the cross that they had erected on Friday, but none of the instructions were followed.
Instead, 3,000 Catholics showed up to sing, pray and demand the return of the Church’s property. “We are not afraid of death”, said Huong Nguyen, 34, one among hundreds who stayed all night to protect the statues and cross that Catholics have placed in front of the former Vatican embassy. 
State-controlled radio, television and newspapers reported that the archdiocese in no way can challenge the ownership of the building because “on 24 November 1961, Fr. Nguyễn Tùng Cương, the then Financial Administrator and Property Manager of the Archdiocese, donated the property to the government.”
In answer to the claims of the government, the archbishop has responded by saying that Fr.  “Canon 1292 specifies that ‘… the competent authority is the diocesan bishop with the consent of the finance council, the college of consultors and those concerned. The diocesan bishop himself also needs their consent to alienate the goods of the diocese.’ Fr Nguyễn Tùng Cương was only a Property Manager, he himself was not the owner of the property and had no authority to make such a decision. We know for sure he never did it. In fact, he simply made a report as required by laws, he did not donate [the property], he did not have authority to do so.”
The archbishop also pointed to the Vietnamese constitution, saying that “the legal property of places of religious belief and of religious organizations is protected by law; any violation of this right is forbidden.”
The statement, signed by Fr. John Lê Trọng Cung, chancellor of the archdiocese, also challenges attacks by the state controlled media. The media claim that Hanoi Catholics have destroyed state-owned properties, occupied state-owned land, gathered and held prayer services illegally in public areas, attacked and insulted officials, disturbed public order, illegally erected a cross in the garden of the former Vatican embassy, and spread distortions about the government on Internet.
Archbishop Joseph Ngô responded to these accusations by insisting that, “The government does not have any evidence that the Church in Vietnam did donate it, nor a decree saying that it was confiscated. Hence, it is still a property of the archdiocese”.
The prelate also argued that worship on the site, which is owned by the Church, is a right “protected by laws”. Therefore, it cannot be interpreted as “gathering and praying illegally in public areas”. Also, “the cross and statues of the Virgin Mary were there originally. The faithful just moved them back to where they were”.
The allegations of distortions being spread about the government on Internet, cannot be pinned on the archbishopric or the Church, but are the responsibility of those who posted them, said Archbishop Ngô. Nevertheless, "most of them are accurate and it is the right of citizens protected by the Constitution” to post their comments, he continued.
In fact, the archbishop said, “It is the radio and the television of Hanoi, the New Hanoi newspaper, and the Capital Security newspaper who intentionally distorted the truths in order to humiliate our clergies and faithful.”
The archbishop of Hanoi closed his statement by calling on the New Hanoi and Capital Security newspapers to “investigate thoroughly following legal procedures” attacks on the Church by their reporters and publicly reply to Hanoi Catholics.
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HANOI - 28 January 2008 - 160 words
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Vietnam: government issues ultimatum to Catholic protesters
Local government delivered an ultimatum to the Archbishop of Hanoi's Office ordering that sit-in protesters must leave the ground of the old building of the apostolic delegation, and that the cross erected on Friday and all the statues must be removed. The dateline was set at 5pm last night local time. .
During the Friday clash with police, Hanoi Catholics took control the building for a while ­ long enough to put up a large cross in the garden. That cross "must be removed", said the ultimatum.
On their first vigil at the site, just before Christmas, Hanoi Catholics wheeled a Pieta Virgin Mary statue from St Joseph's Cathedral to the building where it had once been located before the communists illegally seized the building. That statue "must be removed" as well, said the ultimatum.
Despite cold rain, strong warnings and many other threatening gestures from security forces, Hanoi Catholics have been holding sit-in protests on the garden of the building since Friday. These people "must leave the ground of the building", the ultimatum ordered.
During Saturday, The government sent some officials to the site to persuade demonstrators to leave but to no avail. Some army and security units were also deployed in the area.
In weekend Masses, the Catholic community was informed about the ultimatum, and urged to be united in prayer that God may bless, strengthen and guide them in the fight for justice. This indicates that Hanoi Catholics will defy the ultimatum and plan to continue protests.
Source: VietCatholic.net

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